AT LAST!!!

I finally put up the background that I wanted! I have finally created the blog I envisioned since the semester started, and I must say, I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out. Thanks to the help of my brother and his extensive knowledge of web design and HTML formatting, I know have a customized, amazing-looking blog which makes me super excited. I felt like maybe I would post a bit about this background and the process behind it, and why I chose to make my blog look this way.


First, I wanted to have my own "feel" to it. I wanted to draw something that not only represented Shakespeare, but represented me as well. So I decided to do this pen and ink drawing, that is very simply designed and almost cartoon-like. I wanted to put some representations in from some of my favorite Shakespeare plays as well, so I have the storm and ship representing The Tempest, a sword representing King Henry V, the skull in a man's hands (Hamlet), an eye (Midsummer Night's Dream) and then an ambiguous couple to represent a few different plays. It's pretty straightforward overall. The color scheme I used, although it was mostly because I found it aesthetically pleasing, reflects a bit about how I think of Shakespeare. He uses elaborate, wonderful stories to point out things - moral and ethical themes, and does it in a way that seems black and white. It could have seemed that way when he wrote them. But the red I think is reminder that you can't really look at anything that way, because there is so much gray area. We have to take the bad with the good. (And plus, red is just a much better color than gray)

Anyway, I think that this set up has some serious merit to it both visually and symbolically. I'm pretty proud of it.