WHO IS iBATES?
I have strived to be a designer, developer and freelance graphic artist since right around my early childhood when video games had been introduced. I’m also the goofy kid that plays guitar, and blasts his music way too loud in the apartment or at home. But now, I’m tall guy, with only the greatest intentions of providing quality development and design to clients, I will always strive for the best to achieve both yours and my goals for a project.
Location
I live and work in the Big Apple. It’s like no place else, that’s for sure.
Interests
Guitar. I have 4. No they aren’t named. Probably won’t be. One is a seven string. They are all “professional” level equipment. I wouldn’t want to buy anything less. I’ve also been known to play bass, and drums, as well as that trombone thing. People say I’m pretty good at it. I did a great deal of work for my band’s image, as well as co-produce our songs.
Hobbies
I love to spend time on the computer. Anything from surfing the internet, tinkering in the Adobe Creative Suite, to laying down some tracks for song ideas. I also adore my Playstation 3 – quite possibly the best HD experience in video games. Also, I’ve spent some time playing PC games, either on my PC, or through Boot Camp. But yes, I do go outside. I’m not a basement dweller, despite that is how it may appear.
How it began
The days of video games have brought many a young boy to drain hours of his life into the somewhat mindless machine we call video games. This however, triggered more than just a brain-drain. It led me to creating one of the most ambitious and successful websites I’ve ever dedicated to a video game (and I’ve only made one gaming site… hence the “most successful”). How could video games trigger anything other than spontaneous violent outbursts you ask? Well quite some time ago, the game SOCOM: US Navy Seals hit stores, and so did Gameshark. Gameshark was a cheating device, and so did the vast world of codes to enhance gameplay. I had crafted my first website showcasing all of the popular codes, maps, screenshots, and anything else related to this game to bring the best gaming resource for the particular series. I kept up with the first three games in the series until the codes became more scarce.
My Rig
All design related work is done on my late 2007 MacBook Pro. It was all decked out at the time, 160GB – 7200rpm hard drive, glossy coated screen, and 4GB of RAM. It’s been upgraded to Snow Leopard OSX and still flies. When “parked” it connects to a Western Digital MyBook Studio 500GB drive, mainly for backup, but also the occasional overhead for large files. When at home, It’s connected to a Samsung 24″ P2570HD monitor for added screen real estate, HDMI connections, and multi-PC screen sharing. Don’t fret PC lovers, it’s companion site right alongside the Mac, also connected to the Samsung and an additional Samsung P2570, and thats a workhorse as well. 3 Screens, 2 computers… it’s incredible. Talk about productivity.
JOB HISTORY
I’m a Front-end Web Developer at Fox News. Responsible for all PSD->HTML conversion for web properties. Heavy cross-browser testing is done before sending files out to ensure the site will look exactly as designed. When not working during the day I enjoy building websites for clients. That work can be seen in my portfolio. Request a quote and I’ll draft up a proposal with excruciating detail.
CURRENTLY
As of now, I’m a graduate of York College of Pennsylvania, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Graphic Design. I’m typically tinkering in Photoshop or any of the other Creative Suite programs, but also expanding my knowledge of scripting languages into the more complex families. I crave design work, and have a knack for web design. Check out some of my web work, but more importantly, let the portfolio speak for itself. Away from my design world, I also experiment with audio production, which has helped my friends and I produce a full-length album or two.
