This has been a long time coming and as a designer I must say, the hardest design to do, is for yourself. Although I am sure I will get compliments on the new look and feel, I believe I will never be happy with what it all looks like. I am a perfectionist, what can I say?

The site has taken a similar look to the former jbiljr.com site that is now defunct. Johnny Nines is now the place to find my personal blog and designs on the web. i am following up the launch of this site with the launch of JohnnyBackgrounds, which will be coming by end of next week. JohnnyBackgrounds will be the new home of Wallpaper Wednesday and other tasty goodies I have whipped up.

There are a ton of bugs to iron out on JohnnyNines.com but the list is getting shorter. With all the work that has been coming in it gets increasingly difficult to maintain your own web presence. I am sure there are some questions as to the name of the site so here is an explanation:

First, the former jbiljr.com was just a hard domain to remember. It did not quite roll of the tongue, if you know what I mean. It was a Geoff DiMasi that expressed the concern that JBILJR was just not a good moniker and I was in total agreement. With that advice in hand I went in the search of a new name.

So why JohnnyNines?

Well the truth is the number nine plays a bit of a roll in my life. My football (soccer) number has been 9 since high-school except for the short stint that I played with Mantua United. Also I am a craps player, and the “Nina” or 9 is a bet I use dominantly in my system. The name JohnnyNines also is a good tag for that devious looking logo I have created for myself. He looks like he belongs in a casino lounge, sipping a Makers Mark Manhattan, too cool to worry about the small stuff in life. The character also represents the Cheshire Cat persona that I walk around with. It is rare to see me with out a smile or giggling out loud as I humor myself with my reality. With all this in consideration, JohnnyNines was born.

I hope you all enjoy the new site and some of the new work that I have put up here. There is still a lot to do so you should be seeing much more here in the weeks to come.

Think about it? Huh? Huh? You hear what I am saying. The greatest hero of Philadelphia may be fictional but lets face it his actions and words are principals to live by, especially in Philly.

This idea was spawned in a conversation with Dave Speers last night at the T-Shirt Brainstorming Session at Indy Hall. Speers wanted to see a design with the concept: What would Rocky Do? Original ideas were to use images of Saints with Rock’s beat up mug superimposed over the solemn gaze of religious figures.

As I started to look around the web for images I remembered seeing an Illustration done by the peeps at Uberpiglet featuring Rocky. I took their illustration and tweaked it just a bit for this wallpaper. I am not used to using “stock” as the main element in a piece but I needed to get this Wallpaper Wednesday in the can ASAP.

I want to apologize to fans of the thread, work has been busier than ever and my move to the city was a difficult one. For that reason it has been hard to keep up with a new wallpaper every week. I try my best to get one up here every week but it sometimes does not work out that way. With the upcoming new year the additions to the thread should be more regular. I hope I did not disappoint any of you last week, or any other week I missed the edition.

Now remember the only reason Rocky fought was because he could not sing or dance!

Enjoy

Download the Wallpaper files here

So over a lunch one sunny day at Independents Hall, Alex told me that Elliot from Hackaday.com had my Hitchhikers Guide wallpaper on his laptop. To say the least I was very excited that a founder of one of my favorite blogs was sporting one of my savory pieces of eye candy. After I got this through my head I decided to create a Hack A Day wallpaper this week in appreciation to the peeps that make technology mods fun. Here is to you Hack A Day!

Download the Wallpaper files here

Seeing that it is Gary Vaynerchuk’s birthday and it is Wednesday, what better way to give a little back to the craziest wine aficionado I know than a big fat Wine Library TV Wallpaper. I did not want to mess with the awesomeness that is already the WLTV so I kept it simple and clean.

So here you go Gary from one of your biggest Vayniacs! Happy Birthday brother.

[tags]wallpaper wednesday, wine library tv, gary vaynerchuk, vayniac, wine, illustrator[/tags]