Capturing the brain of a zombie artist in pixels

The art I want to show is not that which is obvious at first glance. It's the one that frames the actual art. The credit for the otherworldly paintings goes to @thebyron while I recreated his website. How it came about, how it became what it is now and what the result looks like is what I want to tell you about here.

I'm reusing parts of this post to fully illustrate the whole process. Originally a series was planned, but I got so caught up in the creation that I forgot to write it. So here is the summary.

While wandering through the colourful art world of #WAX NFTs the other day, I noticed a call for help from Artist Byron, @thebyron.

I thought I could do better, but I had my doubts about being able to tame the artist's incredible flood of thoughts and projects. And what can I say, it doesn't bother him at all, I'm hired.

Byron sent me a permit so that I could analyse the inner workings and structure of the site.
And I realised why I only thought I could do it better. The site was created with Google Sites. A concept that is completely unfamiliar to me and throws all the standards I have followed so far out the window. I had previously worked with WordPress, so there was a lot to learn, as the approach here is completely different.

Byron draws zombies, lots of them. An incredible amount...
He and the Horde infect a lot of blockchains with his art, including #WAX, #Solana, #Tezos, #Stargaze, #SEI, #Uncut, just to name a few. On WAX alone, the number of projects is so large that I'm missing at least one brainwave to keep track of everything.

The current page shows sub-pages for each project, which are integrated or removed from the menu as required and when needed for a recent project. In my opinion, there is a lack of structure and even if you know the page, it will look different tomorrow. This makes my brain itch, so I started to create a new structure.

We have to get to the essence of the artist's work.

• What characterises him?
• Who supports him
• Who enjoys collecting his art?
• Which blockchains are infected and with what?
• What is the Horde?
• What is $DHC, how to get it and how to use it?
• Are there benefits for collecting besides the art?

The structure of the editor is quite logical. One tab for design, one tab for pages, one tab for content. This is a great thing, as it means you can get to make design changes later without having to customise each subpage individually.

There are settings for colours, text, images, navigation, components and column spacing. The settings are self-explanatory and make it easy even for the novice to quickly put together a simple page. But that's also where a small problem lies. The deliberate simplicity means that many of the options offered by more professional systems are missing. But that's ok, you're never too old for a new toy.

So I chose the colours for backgrounds, buttons, links etc. and fonts (work in progress) and started to create some header images from my NFTs for testing. This is all work in progress. Byron will of course also contribute images so that the new site can grow.

Now we decide what information we want to show and collect the corresponding content, links, images, text, and horde it. (sorry)

We've got to create a structure that fits the rather limited menu structure of Google Sites to keep everything clear.

I'm pleased that @cherokee4life alias Tr0cPr0cL0ck is now also on board and will support our redesign with his art of writing. This is how the Horde works!

Some time has passed, the collaboration went very well and we have managed to create a structure that provides an overview of Byron's creative work. We present the various projects and provide links and infos to dive deeper into the world of the Horde.

The start page naturally introduces the artist himself and his career. It also provides insights into a time before web3. The older readers will remember.

While I was tinkering with the site, Byron created a collecting event that is unrivalled in its intensity:

Collect puzzle pieces from packs, put them together, combine all the pieces and be the first! We had $WUF prizes for the first (and all others) to collect the final pieces.

I did not win the race because the response was overwhelming and some zombies out there have fast fingers.

From now on, these and other events will be presented in the new "News" section.

Next, we needed an overview of the blockchains that have been infected by the Horde, mainly WAX, Solana and Stargaze, and of course all the NFT projects that Byron is realising there.

You'll find all the useful links and infos to get infected, both onchain and social.

Last but not least, Byron's art can also be admired, used and worn outside the digital world. After all, the artist has to make a living from something. If you like what you see, feel free to buy a T-shirt and show the world your undead preferences.

To summarise, I can say that I imagined working with Google Sites to be worse than it really is. Once you have internalised all the functions and limitations and know what works and what doesn't, creating new pages is quite intuitive and even fun. It's easy to learn, even for newcomers, and you see success quite quickly.

Would I use it again? It depends.

The system is suitable for the purely static display of content. However, if the website is to have functions that go beyond this, I would probably favour other systems. However, for "simple" sites and to avoid the stress and costs of hosting, Google Sites is definitely suitable.