Thursday, July 14, 2011

Hooray...?

So, as it's probably pretty plain to see, all the art has been taken off my blog. I had a little mishap with Picassa (Google's new photo organizing software), and unintentionally deleted everything- not just off my blog, but off my computer's hard drive as well. I was pretty devastated when happened, and as dramatic as it may sound, I felt like a little piece of my artistic identity was gone. Luckily I had most of the drawings backed up on a separate hard drive, so only a small amount of art has been lost for good.

The reason I'm writing a blog entry about this is because I'd like some feedback from the people who visit here sometimes to let me know what they think I should do. My plan right now is to redesign the blog, and delete all the old, broken entries, and start posting new stuff as soon as I can.
Or would it be better to try and fix the old entries that can be fixed?

Anyhow it makes me sad to not have my older art online somewhere. I thought about making a separate portfolio site to show older drawings that I liked, but then had the idea to just archive it myself, on here. So for a while all my entries would be older drawings that may or may not have been seen. It might be a boring bunch of entries for a while, but at least it would make me feel a little better about having lost all the old ones. It'd also be better organized than before.


I'm trying to see this as an opportunity to start fresh and anew, and I'd love to hear anyone's opinion on what they would do with a six year old blog that suddenly went kaput. I apologize for this wordy post, but my blog keeps me motivated to draw, and it's important to me.

P.S. To anyone else who is as hapless as I am when it comes to computers...be careful when using the new Google+ and Picassa. I had no idea that messing with them could make me lose so much art.


P.P.S. Here's a Photoshop doodle I kinda scrapped before finishing. I should at least post something to make up for all this text!
Thanks for reading, guys!

47 comments:

X said...

Out with the old, in with the new.

As amazing as your old stuff is, I'm sure your new stuff will be even better.

Molly said...

To be slightly helpful, hopefully, I uploaded the stuff I had saved of yours. I kept it a while ago for inspiration, haha.

http://www.mediafire.com/?q45q7uj619awyx7

It's not a lot, but maybe it will replace something you lost. I'm so sorry this happened! :(

Darby said...

If you're going to update, now is the time to do it. I think remodeling sounds like the best plan.

AMBUJ JOSHI said...

Definitely a perfect chance for fresh new entries Katie! Specially when you've got creative adrenaline running through your artistic veins. Go ahead and fill this blog again with the amazing art you've been producing from past so many years :)

Cheyenne said...

i'm very sorry to hear about that..i can only imagine how devastating it must be.

I think re-posting older art of yours in a different more organized way is a great idea, plus it's a fantastic reminder of the past beautiful work you made. Almost like a tribute! I can't wait to see how this new blog develops :)

Unknown said...

I'm so sorry what happened!! D=

Cheyenne's idea is pretty good actually! You could show your best in 2006, 2007, and so on!

But this definitely be your chance to remodel your blog! I'll definitely look forward to it!

Nico said...

So sorry to hear that happened to you, Katie :(
Ditto to Cheyenne's idea. I would personally love if you re-posted a lot of your best, older art in a bunch of organized new posts, then start with posts of brand new stuff from there. It'll be just like your blog was, just a condensed, tidy, more organized version.

Good luck!

Michael said...

I found a few of your drawings backed up online through an internet time machine thing. You can find the post here:

Wayback Machine - FunnyCute

They backup things every once and a while. At least you can back these up now, if you haven't yet. I checked more pages but this is the only one that I saw pictures for. Sorry for your loss but looking forward to new stuff!

Patrick Désilets said...

I think fixing the older posts would be the way to go if it's possible and not too much trouble. It was a pretty awesome blog.

Next best thing would be a simple wordpress site with galleries and sections instead of posts an tags, though you may need someone to help you start it.

Otherwise I'd just put all the old stuff in a picasa album or any other gallery-type site, and link to it from the blog. I've had something similar happen at some point and did that as a temporary solution, and I ended up keeping it that way. Definitely not the classiest-looking way to display I know, but it's better than not having the art online at all. And it's actually easier to look through, and for you to sort, etc. I mean the blog format is nice for updates, and browsing through older posts is fun when they're in chronological order and actually from when you made the art, but if you don't have that it's not the best way to display older stuff I think.

Your last few posts were awesome by the way.

illya said...

if you're missing your drawing of a girl sitting in the corner listening to an i-pod with her hands covering her ears (to listen better to her music of course!) with heart musical notes are coming out of her head. I have it. let me know and I'll send it to you. Not super old but just incase..
illya

Katie said...

Thanks so much for the feedback, guys. I really appreciate it! I'm gonna start the overhaul right away.

Katie said...

Patrick- I like those ideas a lot! for now doing a simple archive on this blog is easiest...but maybe the next time I'm laid off and have lots of free time, I'll make a much cooler site.

Melty said...

I think you should definitely continue posting new works and just archive your old works. It'd be better than using all your time to fix broken links.

Toby Cypress said...

I like the idea of starting fresh with new artwork!

I've been close to losing everything on my hard drive before, but it's never actually happened (knock-wood). However I never look at my old stuff, and am always tempted to just delete it all. I can't even look at a post I posted last week other than to answer a comment. But everybody is different. Some people like to post art, and interact with their blog as a diary, so it's understandable to feel attached to the old posts.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear about everything being deleted. I remember coming to this site years ago and always finding a new bit of inspiring artwork.

I say you do a separate page called "Best of Funny Cute", with all your favorite drawings in it.

chelsea said...

I'm sad to see your older work go-- I hadn't finished looking at & learning from all of it! It's funny, my ex boyfriend (who also loves cartoons & illustration) visited me at my new place a few weeks ago, and I ended up telling him about your work, and we spent a good few days poring over your blog. I think he read all of Skadi in a couple of hours. A couple days ago he told me that visiting me and seeing everything I showed him was the most inspiring experience he's had in awhile.

To make a long story short, I'm just glad we got to do that before everything disappeared. That aside, I think you should restore the old art only if you feel like it and if you have the time. I'd love to see it come back, but I want to see new stuff more!

Unknown said...

It sucks that all you artwork you have put on here for the last 6 years is all gone.
But I am glad that you will still put more of your artwork on here.
I know it be hard for you to put you work back on here. But I'm sure it will all work out.

Ollie said...

I think a new start would be the best thing to do right now. You could still upload the older stuff again later on when you've got everything sorted out. Keep up the great work Katie.

laurghita said...

I use Windows Live Writer, a desktop free application, to blog, so every post is saved in my computer and also with a touch a button the post is send to two exactly the same blogs one hosted by blogger and one by wordpress. So you write once and is saved in 3 locations.

Hammerson said...

Wow, I'm really sorry to hear what happened... :(
Sometimes a total break with the past can be a positive thing, but it's horrible to think of all that wonderful and inspiring artwork that is lost now (at least temporarily).

I'm sure you'll fill the reactivated blog with lot of fabulous new art. Regarding the old artwork, perhaps the best solution would be to create a new blog and repost and reorganize the material that you have access to.

However, if you decide to fix the old blog entries, let me know if you need any help. I saved lot of stuff from your blog since its beginning, and got an archive of artwork, organized in folders by month and year, so it wouldn't be hard to find the corresponding pictures for the majority of your blog posts.

verna said...

Man, that is a really shit thing to happen, sorry to hear that. :(

I have saved some of your older art work from your blog (not everything though) - I don't know if it would be any help if I'd send what I have to you or something? Let me know!

Dennis Holway Driscoll said...

I saved some drawings of yours and I'll look at them the next time I'm on my computer so I can possibly give you a brief synopsis of what I could find. I loved your mouth-drawing post and remember that you'd mentioned the possibility or idea of doing a 'how to draw teeth' post. I hope that you do a 'how to draw teeth' tutorial someday. I'm really sorry that this happened. Don't worry & be well. Things will work out.
( T_T)\(^-^ )

PAUZAK said...

start new. make archive.

an easy viewed/browsing gallery would do the trick (may be a separate web site/portfolio? you could add the new stuff to the old one as well).

Laura said...

Hey, I'm some sort of silent reader, but in this case I'm gonna give you my humble opinion.
I would start again, trying to emulate what was here will only make you think about the things you lost.

Also think that will not make you as happy as creating new stuff to inspire and amaze all of us who follow you (silent or not!).

Jimbo2K7 said...

Unless you completely reformatted your hard drive it may be possible to undelete files.

BlakeJ said...

Sorry about your website, Katie! :(

I agree with others, that you should upload some old stuff in a more condensed way.

Nice Photoshop drawing, too! It matches the current website color. :-) Anyway, good luck with your "new" blog! I'm looking forward to your posts!

Jimbo2K7 said...

You might give this one a shot.

http://www.officerecovery.com/freeundelete/

I have done this myself with Picasa when importing files.

David said...

Are you running Windows? Couldn't you run Windows Restore and get it back?

glamaFez said...

I have enjoyed your blog for years and I will continue to enjoy it no matter what you do.

monkeyfeather said...

Your work is wonderful Katie. Sorry to hear about the loss of files. Stupid computers...

I would love to see an archive put together of the images that were on here, but leave the blog as a fresh start.

Fresh starts are good, but remembering the past, and learning from it is what helps us move forward.

Unknown said...

I think it would be beneficial to see your old work too. I think as long as you can get some of it back you'll feel all the better for it.

Daisy Church said...

i echo cheyenne and nico's comments! Maybe a sampling of older pieces, but don't kill yourself trying to recover EVERYTHING, and keep making new stuff! : D

Mark said...

Enter the address on archive.org (the internet wayback machine) to scrape your old content, and search for it in google cache. All of your stuff is still around, because so many things cache it. http://www.searchengineshowdown.com/others/archive.shtml Nothing is lost. Also, why not use TimeMachine with some bargain bin hard drive? If you're using windows there are built-in backup utilities as well. Thanks, and I'd have several of your babies. For dinner. With Lawry's seasoned salt, or with cardamom and cream. Not really, peace!

Hobo Divine said...

I'm so sorry to hear this Katie!
(My gut dropped out just reading this) I hope a miracle presents itself which can remedy this tragedy.

Pedro Vargas said...

Oh man, Katie. Thats horrible. Maybe you can contact Google or something to see if you can fix the problem. I love looking at your art whether new or old. This makes me very sad :( But I hope you can fix the problem by doing something new with the blog or getting the old one back :)

ReactQ said...

Like Jimbo2K7 said since you just deleted the files you should be able to recover them.

You could send your hard drive to professionals and they could probably recover everything.

You could also try some of this software.


You can try Hiren's Boot CD. It has a bunch of recovery software on it.

http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download

SoftPerfect File Recovery 1.2 to restore accidentally deleted files from hard drive, USB flash drives, CF and SD memory cards.

TestDisk 6.12 Tool to check and undelete partition from Dos/Windows/Linux.

DiskDigger 0.8.3.176 Undelete and recover lost photos, videos, music, documents and other formats from your hard drive, memory cards and USB flash drives.
DiskGenius 3.2 Restore deleted partition, Rebuild MBR, Rebuild partition table, Recover files, Restore formatted partition, Backup files by partition, Disk clone, Backup partition table, Create/Delete/Format Partitions etc.

PhotoRec 6.12 Tool to Recover File and pictures from Dos/Windows/Linux.
Recuva 1.40.525 Restore deleted files from Hard Drive, Digital Camera Memory Card, usb mp3 player etc.
Restoration 3.2.13 a tool to recover deleted files.
ShadowExplorer 0.7 Shadow Explorer allows you to browse the shadow copies created by the Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service and retrieve older versions from files you accidentally deleted or altered.


http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecovery/tp/free-file-recovery-programs.htm

http://lifehacker.com/5237503/five-best-free-data-recovery-tools

E Palacios said...

Sorry for the bad luck Katie. I guess you're new kinda scary photo avatar of you up top must reflect your frustration. Don't worry you're still the bestest!

Anonymous said...

Hi Katie

I think you should read up on loss.

I've been following your blog since about 2003 or so. Feeling like you've lost part of your artistic identity is not the least bit strange. As i kept seeing you post year after year i came to understand that this was more than just a place to promote, it was a place to share and evolve and cronical your artistic history.

Break fresh anew? Rebuild the past? I'm not sure what you should choose. They're both important things to do when you reach an unexpected turning point.

I recommend the site "photobucket" for internet photos. You can link to them in the blogspot image post.

That's all i can think of.

Take care

Jonathan

K. said...

You should first try the recovery software mentioned in the other posts. You'll be amazed to see what you can get back.

As another option, the Wayback Machine still has an old version of your blog, maybe the missing works are still on it.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080729125445/http://funnycute.blogspot.com/

Sean Worsham said...

Ooooh Damn I'm sorry Katie! I guess that's why your art was gone. I hope you will reupload all of it soon! :-( I'll miss seeing your art until then!

lastangelman said...

Sad.
One part says start fresh, the past is past, another says "restore, revitalize, then renew!".
Good advice by others on possible recovery.
Perhaps a "new blog" with restored art, while you continue with this blog for new stuff.
Man, you may need an intern.

bn said...

Oh mah God, that's fearsome bad luck D: but don't sweat it dude! You could put your entire portfolio under tank caterpillars and still be one of the innernet's most sterling artistic identities. If it helps I have one of your original drawings from when I bought a poster once. If you'd like that .0000001% of your entire body of work returned I'd be more than happy D':

Best of luck with repairs Miss Rice!

Brian said...

fresh start + golden oldies!

Katie said...

Thanks everyone! You've been really helpful, not just with the ideas, but with the support as well.

To the people who recommended the Wayback machine site to get my art back- maybe it's just my lack of computer skills, but it doesn't seem to be working. I'm going to keep monkeying around with it, but for now I think I'm alright with just starting anew, and not worrying too much about what may or may not have been lost.

Thanks again! I'll be adding new (well, actually old) content tonight most likely!

Adam said...

If you cant get everything back I would do monster posts, like all the good artwork from 2006 in one huge post with no writing.That way you could get everything back up quickly

Skid Knee said...

That really sucks that you lost a lot of your art. Guess you gotta just take the loss, pick up and move on and start fresh!
I really like the drawing you put at the end of the post though!

Rogelio T. said...

She's looking up towards all your new posts. :)