Posts Tagged ‘website’

A new About Page & Annihilation Celebration updates

New About Page

New About Page

Well, it’s about time for a new “About” page.  This past week I’ve updated the Thinkpierce About page, which takes another step forward in streamlining what Thinkpierce is all about.  It also provides links to 4 new landing pages we’ve created for each of the Thinkpierce Films.   One thing we have learned is that offering each film in the form of a movie app for both Apple and Android devices has taken a lot more time than we thought! The release of the first movie app, Annihilation Celebration, was delayed last year after we made a decision to discontinue our relationship with the programmer at the time and start again from scratch.  In the end it ended up being a better fit for us to manage the development of the app ourselves. Using the “puzzle pieces” of the app I had already created, my talented wife Rhona has been managing the build of the app with a new programming team and we just received the first fully functional apple version this week! This process has taught me not to give out concrete release dates, ha ha, but at this point we are anticipating the release of both the Apple and Android version of the app to be sometime in April 2013. Until then, take a look at the updated About page which shares a few more inside scoops about Thinkpierce.com. Thinkpierce, Something New Every Friday!

Jonathan introduces uticaremodeling.com

Utica Remodeling Company - Tulsa

Utica Remodeling Company – Tulsa

I recently reached a point in my video editing when I realized I would soon be coming up on the video footage of the different remodeling projects I had done.  I began to brainstorm about how I would be presenting that footage and what place it would have in the Thinkpierce Platform.  After some thought, I decided to combine the remodeling photos and videos in to their own website… and that’s when Uticaremodeling.com was born.

 When I first started out in my remodeling business, I went by the name, “One Man Show Remodeling.” After growing the business further, I then updated the name to, “Utica Remodeling Company.”  Although I am no longer accepting new remodeling work at this time, I decided the best way to organize the videos & photos of my remodeling days would be by creating an additional “tribute” website (uticaremodeling.com) that existed in conjunction with Thinkpierce.com.

 Check out the newest addition to the Thinkpierce family; UticaRemodeling.com! Thinkpierce, Something New Every Friday!

See the new Thinkpierce Productions website!

Thinkpierce Productions Website

Thinkpierce Productions Website

Today where excited to introduce the new Thinkpierce Productions website!  The creative road we’ve traveled down has taught us how to produce videos and websites that we love.  Now we’re ready to do the same for you.  Need a video or website?  Thinkpierce Productions can make it happen, and make it happen well.

Be on the lookout over the next couple of months for additional content that will be added to the Thinkpierce Productions Portfolio, including the release of our first film in September!  Click here to see the website now.  Thinkpierce, Something New Every Friday!

Fashion Meets Art Interviews Jonathan from Thinkpierce.com

Check out an interview of me at this years bi-annual Fashion Meets Art event.  You can learn more about Fashion Meets Art by visiting fmaok.com

 

 

 



 

Jonathan Shares his personal goals

Jonathan's Goals

Jonathan's Goals

When I decided to re-launch Thinkpierce.com almost a year ago, it started as just something that I had a desire to do.  I had a general plan of what I wanted to accomplish with Thinkpierce, but didn’t necessarily have all the details worked out. When I began, I just had a desire to share many of the crazy things I had done, like photo shoots and stories.  While digging through some old things I ran across a number of drawings.  From there I was inspired to turn them into something more.  To make a long story short, I worked with Josh Dunbar to add color to each one and when the dust settled, I had a number of illustrations that represented my humorous approach to drawing that now serve as the Thinkpierce Art Collection.

 At the same time I was working on developing the direction to go in for a character I had come up with named Jim Jamkins.  At the time I had two stories on the table, one was an illustrated story involving 2 characters named Numlock and Gordon and the other was a character named Jim Jamkins.  In the end I decided to combine both characters into one and I settled on Jim Jamkins.  I never had a solid illustration of the Jim Jamkins character, and I spent a lot of time coming up with different versions.  But I eventually got there and am now drawing backgrounds and story elements for an upcoming book app.

Thinkpierce Goals

Thinkpierce Goals

In addition there were also 4 independent films that I needed to make decisions about.  After doing research and learning that it is nearly impossible to get an independent film on iTunes, I learned that film makers where getting around that, by turning their movies into “Movie apps”.  It’s actually an awesome idea that opens the door to all kinds of possibilities and that is how I will be offering the 4 movies in addition to a standard movie download option at Amazon.

 All of this has been a work in progress. There’s never been one specific moment when I felt like I had it all figured out. But there was one thing that really helped me get here. I decided to write out a list of goals that I wanted to complete in the order I wanted to complete them and get it framed. This has really been something that has kept me on track and on the path to reaching these goals.  It hangs in my bedroom and below it I have already started drafting up the next round of goals.  Having goals for these projects has materialized in to a list of release dates, which can now be seen in the Thinkpierce store tab; something that wouldn’t have happened without the goals.

 I guess the moral of this story is, you may not have a clear definition of what you’re trying to accomplish when you begin, but begin anyways.  By sticking with it, you will start to recognize the direction you should go in.  On top of that, other opportunities will start to present themselves that you weren’t even aware of.  There have been many “aha” moments in the past months, but those moments can’t happen unless you’re out there trying things out.  Eventually you will find out how to narrow down your path and because of your experiences you’ll be able to recognize a way to pull it all together.  Just start with something basic, and your goals will mature as you try things out.  You may not choose to frame them like I did, but whatever you do, just make them happen.  In the end, you will be so glad you did!  Thinkpierce, Something New Every Weekday.

Huge Thinkpierce update! 5 New Products coming!

Today marks a huge step forward for Thinkpierce as we introduce 5 new products that will all be coming out over the remainder of this year. If you’ve been plugging in to Thinkpierce over this past week, then you’ve seen the movie cover art images for 4 independent films that will be released over the coming months. You can now read the movie overviews for each of the films on the updated “films” tab. They have also been added as products to the Thinkpierce store with pending release dates.  On top of that, you can now read the overview for the Jim Jamkins Book app by clicking on the “books” tab.  Each movie and will be offered in two formats, as a movie app from the iTunes app store and as a download from Amazon.com. Not only has each movie been completely re-worked and re-edited including the addition of all new music, but each movie will also be packed with special feature interviews and bonus content. These will be 4 original completely recreated Thinkpierce Films you won’t want to miss.

            If this isn’t enough for 2012, the exciting part is that this is only the beginning! We have massive plans in store for the future extending in to 2013 and we hope you’ll join us for the ride.  Until then, checkout the three newly updated departments of Thinkpierce, Films, Books, Store.  Thinkpierce, Something New Every Day!

Character Development for Jim Jamkins

Jim Jamkins Character Development

Jim Jamkins Character Development

Today Thinkpierce introduces the character of a new book app series that I will be writing that will go by the name Jim Jamkins.  This is actually a concept I developed more than 10 years ago after I had graduated High School.  You can actually see the first paperback version of this book by searching “Jim Jamkins” on Amazon.com. I cancelled that version of the book a year ago in preparation for developing a revamped version.  My original desire was for Amazon to take down the book down permanently so that there wouldn’t be any confusion with the new book app. But even after a letter from lawyer, Amazon wouldn’t do it, due to reasons involving keeping product history, etc… One of the annoying things about this is that one reseller still has a copy of that book listed for $77.12.  They even had it listed once for over $2000.00. lol.

One thing I can mention about my experience self publishing a paperback book was that although it was awesome that I was empowered to release my own book, the “reseller” component that Amazon offers totally sucked for an independent author like me! I had worked through an independent publisher, (now you can go directly through Amazon, back then you couldn’t.) Long story short I was starting to see all of these “used” copies of my book pop up for sale on Amazon, all sold be resellers across the United States. It wasn’t’ a ton, but more than 10 resellers selling my book seemed too odd.  Copies of my book were being printed through the network of publishers connected with the “channel distribution” and being sold by resellers, and I wasn’t receiving a dime for anything sold be a reseller!? The question was, why was that even being allowed to happen? Yeah it sucked and conversations ensued but to make a long story short, years went by, the app market was born and I ended up changing directions with the format of the book. I decided to cancel the previous paperback version in order to rework the story and character into a series of book apps.

Let me just say, I love this character. Jim Jamkins is based on a guy that isn’t the sharpest knife in the kitchen, has an interesting viewpoint on everything, and makes decisions in life based on what would be best described as: “unique Jim Jamkins logic.” Jim Jamkins has been through a lot of development changes since first creating him over 10 years ago, but the Jim Jamkins that exists today is the Jim Jamkins I felt he was born to become.  The book app will have light animation and starts the series off with a story that, among other things, explains how Jim ended up with his signature hairstyle. I will be narrating the book and will be bringing in other people to play the roles of the different characters including Jim. Now that I am posting something new every day on Thinkpierce.com, I invite you to check back every day to see the progress of the Jim Jamkins Book app as well as other Thinkpierce projects currently in development. Thinkpierce, Something new every day, and a big release every Friday!

Introducing Music by Jonathan Pierce

Mixtape + VHS + Cola

Mixtape + VHS + Cola

Today we introduce songs from the Thinkpierce archives for the first time with the release of a new album on iTunes. The songs in Mixtape + VHS + Cola are as much about the story they tell as they are about the time period in which they were created. With songs that had as much difference in the year they were recorded, as they did in what device they were recorded on, this album needed a title that put it all under one umbrella in a way that was unique as the songs themselves. Somehow when you take the words, Mixtape, VHS and Cola and add them all together, it seems to tell you everything you need to know about these songs and the era in which the majority of them were created.

Album Cover

Album Cover

The short story of how I got into music goes something like this: My Dad was a college music teacher and my mom was a private piano teacher…the end. It started with a drum set in middle school followed by guitars and keyboards. Much of my teenage and young adult years were spent playing and recording music with friends. Throughout the years I ended up recording more than three hundred songs in formats that ranged from floppy disc and cassette to Cakewalk and Garageband files. Some were less involved than others. I had spent so much time creating music, I felt an urge to share some of it rather then let it spend the rest of its life hidden away in hard drives and aging cassette tapes. I decided to create an album that symbolized that period of time in my life. The next step was to decide which songs would be the best representations of what I was doing musically during those years.

Mixtape + VHS + Cola

Mixtape + VHS + Cola

It would be an understatement to say that these songs weren’t “professionally recorded”. The majority of these songs have been in their final form now for years due to the fact that I no longer have the 4-track cassette recorder to mix them any further! Ha ha. They are what they are, and this album is about celebrating that. I played every instrument in every song with the exception of “Voyager” with Brian Spratt on second guitar and “Candlewood” with Daniel Sutliff playing bass. “Candlewood” was a song Daniel and I had created together over the course of our regular jam sessions many years back. Brian Spratt also joined me on vocals for “Loopa”. Putting this album together was a way for me to share a rich part of my life that holds fond memories and friendships that continue to this day; moments in time that were filled with…mixtapes, VHS movies and cola… Visit our music page to preview the songs. Thinkpierce, Something New Every Friday!

The all-new Video & Music page!

Two weeks ago it was time for an Art page overhaul, and this week it was the Video page’s turn.  I recently had come up with a “logo stamp” to put on the beginning and ending of each video. The 1st video I edited it into was the release of the river dance video. Next came the “Knights in tights” video.  After the release of that video, I decided it really needed to be on all the videos. To do this, I had to delete nearly all the current videos and re-edit them with the new beginning and ending. That’s what this past week has been all about.  I think you’ll like the changes. In addition each video now has it’s own title image that introduces the upcoming content you’re about to see. This also means my youtube view count on most all of my videos went back down to zero!  But I felt the new changes were worth a more informative viewing experience in the long run.

This week also brings with it the addition of the music page.  Thinkpierce Music won’t be out until July 2012, but the newly re-edited video titled “Thinkpierce Music” gives you a taste of what to expect.  The album is called Mixtape + VHS + Cola. I chose those words because in a humorous way, they represent the time period in my life in which I wrote these songs.  Combining older and newer songs, this collection of songs goes from one end of the musical spectrum to the other. None were masterfully recorded or mixed for that matter, but in a way I feel these will always be the songs I am most proud of. This is one of those personal projects where even if I am the only person who enjoys it, it was totally worth putting together. The release of that album will be very exciting for me. Until then, check out the all new revamped videos on the video page and I’ll see you next week with a Huge surprise!  Thinkpierce, Something New Every Friday.

The New logo for Thinkpierce Art

Thinkpierce Original Art Logo

Thinkpierce Original Art Logo

This week we’re rolling out the new logo for Thinkpierce Original Art. Along with this new logo comes an updated look in both the Thinkpierce Art and Mug store.  In addition to updating the store, we’ve spent a lot of time this week making detailed changes and updates on all the content in our Thinkpierce Art page.  Now that Thinkpierce Art has grown to five pieces with two more on the way, we wanted to make all the content in the category more uniform.  Also each illustration now includes a mini comical story about each piece.  Click through the individual art images to read each one.  Each image also now bears the new Thinkpierce Original Art Logo.  There are more changes that we spent time with, but probably that only we will notice!  The results of making a clean sweep through this category might appear minor, but wow, it took a fair amount of organizing and editing to get it all done!  Big shout out to Rhona my wife for diving in with me! Although she is humble in taking credit, my wife Rhona is a huge contributor to making Thinkpierce happen each week.   it’s an accurate statement to say that I couldn’t keep up with it without her.  Love you babe, you rock!

Two more original illustrations are on their way that will be introduced in upcoming Thinkpierce postings.  What is most exciting about this, is that the last of the two will be the front cover of a new book app we are working on.  This new book app will be the start of something big for Thinkpierce.  It will represent the beginning of a new character and a new book app series that we think will be very exciting. For now, enjoy the updated experience with Thinkpierce Original Art and we’ll see you next Friday! Thinkpierce, Something New Every Friday.

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