So here’s what happened:

Somewhere between me attempting to update one of my plugins and me doing nothing at all, one of my plugins decided to die on me. Unfortunately, this happened to be the plugin that runs the slideshow of feature posts atop the front page of my site. Even more unfortunately, none of my attempts to restore the plugin files to the versions from the day before solved the issue. Eventually, I had to restore the site back to a backup from the previous week, which had the most unfortunate effect of erasing some of my most recent articles.

It could definitely have been worse, but I’m not to happy about it, especially given the effort I put into getting the design of my site to where it was.

So I’m regrouping right now, giving some thought to what I want to do next. There will be some more animation writing from me and the site will continue; I’m just not sure in what form yet.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

You may have noticed that there haven’t been any new articles on The Ink and Pixel Club for the past couple of weeks. As I noted in one of the last updates, I have a new puppy who is monopolizing the time to the point where I can’t sit down at the computer for more than a few minutes at a time unless my husband is home to supervise her. So updates are going to be sporadic at best for the foreseeable future. It may be another month or longer before I can put in the time to write full length articles again.

In the meantime, you’re more than welcome to browse through the archives and read any articles you may have missed. Comments are always welcome and I’ll try to respond to them as my schedule permits.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

My home and driveway got buried under over a foot of snow yesterday. My husband and I spent the entire day either shoveling or recovering from shoveling so that we could go back out and do more shoveling. Consequently, this is the first time I’ve been on my computer since Tuesday. The new article just needs to be assembled and will be posted sometime later today. Sorry for the delay.

A few days ago while I was checking what sites were sending readers my way, I came across a site that was using one of my screen captures. Since there was a link to The Ink and Pixel Club accompanying the image and the image was being used appropriately (in a nicely written biography of Adriana Caselotti, the voice of Disney’s Snow White), I have no problem with it. But it did get me thinking that I should have a clearly stated policy for anyone who wants to use one or more of the images found on my site. Now of course, I don’t own these images, but I do put some time and effort into finding, saving, and editing them, which is why I would like to have a little say over how they’re used. So the new image use policy and request form can be found in the new “Site Policies” tab on the site menu.

No, not me. It’s The Ink and Pixel Club’s first birthday! Yes it’s been a whole years of stories about animation, from ink to pixels to every other style. I’m going to celebrate by considering what I want to do with the site over the next year. In the meantime, here are some fun facts about the site and the date:

• The very first Ink and Pixel Club article published (after the introductory post was Brave Little Tailor – The Measure of a Mouse.
• The first article written for The Ink and Pixel Club was Famous Firsts: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, though it was not published until Septmber of 2009.
• The Ink and Pixel Club started out as a LiveJournal blog. It changed over to a WordPress site in March of this year. The LiveJournal site still exists, but only contains links to the latest articles.
• Including this one, there are currently 85 posts on The Ink and Pixel Club.
• Currently. the five most popular articles on The Ink and Pixel Club are:
  1. Why I Love Animation: Toy Story 2
  2. The Bluth Factor: Rock-a-Doodle
  3. Why I Love Animation: Avatar The Last Airbender – The Blind Bandit
  4. TV Time: TaleSpin – Stormy Weather
  5. Thoughts on “Toy Story 3″
• On June 29, 2009, the top animated movie at the box office was Up, coming in fourth place. Monsters vs. Aliens was Ups‘s closest animated competitor in seventeenth place. Coraline, Battle for Terra, and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs were also in theaters, though not in the top twenty.
• Mickey Mouse will celebrate his 82nd birthday on November 18 of this year. Bugs Bunny turns 60 on July 27 (not counting a few earlier cartoons starring rabbits similar to Bugs). Tom and Jerry celebrated their shared 60th birthday on February 10.
• The Ink and Pixel Club would not be possible without you, dear reader, so give yourself a hand!

Comments, well-wishes, and suggestions for the future are all greatly appreciated.

Don’t panic.

The LiveJournal version of The Ink and Pixel Club hasn’t really gone anywhere. All that’s changed is where the domain name leads to. Why does it lead here? Well, this was supposed to be a surprise, or at least something that didn’t get revealed until I got the new version all set up. But i found out after the fact that I had to point my domain name here in order to edit the new blog. So, here we are.

I have nothing against LiveJournal, in case you’re wondering. It was a great, low-pressure way for me to get started blogging. But I feel like I’ve kind of outgrown it and it can’t really do everything I eventually want to do with The Ink and Pixel Club. WordPress seemed like the best option after a little research. It may not look like much yet, but I’ve got plans.

For the time being, updates will continue on the LiveJournal blog as usual. Meanwhile, I will be customizing the new blog, moving all of the content from the old blog over here, and adding in a few fun new features. When everything is ready, I will make a post of the LiveJournal blog announcing the official opening of the new site and the future of the LiveJournal blog.

This message may self-destruct, by which i mean I may delete it at a future date.

I’m spending this week recuperating from Christmas and whatever illness has hit me and my husband. Hope the holidays were kind to all of you. Check back next week for a new article.

The Ink and Pixel Club now has its own Facebook page. This page will announce when the newest articles go up and include occasional updates about the site. Show your support and become a fan today!