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Portfolio websites are notoriously difficult to design for, especially if it’s your own. They don’t exactly work like other websites do. In fact, they have a completely different function. A portfolio website is basically just some visual samples, a contact form, and maybe some artist information. That’s it.

Redesigning Nava Designs, I had an epiphany. Create a simple design for a simple site. It doesn’t have to be complicated or have a lot of bells and whistles, because it’s never going to have all of those. So, keep it painfully simple. And, that’s what I did . . . and I love it!

It’s Halloween time again, and the papercrafts are back (through November 7, 2010)! This year, there are a couple of new additions to the store.

First is the Halloween Countdown Tombstone. The calendar disc is adjustable for any year, and the sign numbers are interchangeable for daily countdowns. Two brads are included (one extra), so all you need is some white glue.

Next, there is now a discounted bundle pack. You can get all five papercrafts for the price of four!

One last thing: prices have gone up from last year’s introductory price. These toys are not mass-produced; I assemble every order by hand, and it does take some time (especially when I have many orders to fill). In most cases, orders will be shipped in a day or two (maybe even same day!), and they’ll arrive in a sturdy box for protection.

Many of the photos in the galleries can now be seen on Flickr! There, you will be able to get a closer look at the artwork at better resolutions.

Oh, eBay pirates are fun. I’ve been fighting them for years. They like to sell my paper models, and the photos that they use to promote their auctions are my own. They don’t take them from this website but from my Flickr photo album.

Most pirates leave the Disney Experience logo and copyright notice intact, but place their own logo or trademark on top. They’re typically unwilling to Photoshop anything out or, better yet, build the models themselves and take their own photos. But, today, I finally found one who not only Photoshopped my logo out, but placed their own logo, in a similar design, on top of the area to help mask any imperfections. It’s a nice try, but that doesn’t stop me from reporting the violation.

While I design a better watermark for all 174 of my Flickr photos, I’ve made them private, and I have temporarily closed the 3-D art gallery.

The Halloween papercrafts that I’ve been working on are now available for sale through the first week of November. Grab ’em while you can!

There are also two new videos of the piranha and vampire bat in action.

Four years ago, I partnered with a friend to design an interactive Web experience for Disneyana.com to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Disneyland®. Hence, the Disneyland® Memory Album was created. Until now, there was only a screenshot of the album. All but my own album entry and the bonus nostalgia have been deleted. Still, you can get a sense of what it was. There were a lot of nice Disneyland® stories and photos when it was whole.

Nava Designs is now officially up and running! There are a few last-minute things to include, but certainly nothing that would hinder the use of the website.

New to the site is Paper Engineering: Designing a Paper Model. The new section explains what I go through to design a paper model for the masses. It’s still a work-in-progress as I continue to work on the current paper model with the most current techniques. I hope it answers a lot of queries that I’ve gotten over the years. If there are any unanswered questions that anyone has, feel free to contact me.

Speaking of contact, I do have a brand-new email address. If you have the old one in your address book somewhere, toss it out.

Now I need new business cards, stationary, customer invoices . . .