Home of Don Charisma

Welcome to Don Charisma  dot org

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This is my personal and professional site, which is dedicated to CHARISMA – the art of being strong, wise and happy. Many people visit for me for my blog, here’s the entrance :

DonCharisma.org-blog-entrance2

I love to work with media such as photos, video, graphics and text. Art, graphic design, photography and videography – or there or there about. Browse my Photography category :

DonCharisma.org Photography

I’m passionate about promoting, it’s very very important for any online presence. So you will find articles here about promoting and SEO. Browse my SEO category :

https://doncharisma.org/seo/

Also of importance for any online presence is writing. So you will find writing here varying from creative to humorous to serious writing. People find blogs and websites with words, so wordsmithery is key skill on the web and in life.

DonCharisma.org-writing2

Advertising on this site goes towards meeting the costs of running this blog and is provided by the WordPress WordAds programme. We actually make very small amount from it, but it does help a little with costs.

If you would like to make a DONATION or GIFT towards current and future expenses of DonCharisma.org please contact me, so that I may let you know my paypal details. All such gifts are gratefully received.

Please have a quick look at my FAQ page before asking a question – many times questions have been asked before …

Unless otherwise specified all work here is (c) DonCharisma.org and (c) DonCharisma.com. Explicit permission is required from copyright owner for inclusion anywhere outside of Don Charisma websites. With the exception of *official* sharing buttons – reblogs and sharing on FB, Twitter, WordPress.com etc helps us. If in doubt please ask, usually we’re glad to oblige.

Welcome and enjoy your visit.

Warm regards

Don Charisma

4,733 thoughts on “Home of Don Charisma”

  1. Thank you for the follow! I cannot imagine your reasons to do so – you seem like a man if many skills and interests. But, I appreciate your interest very much! I’ll be back…

  3. Hi Don–What a nice surprise to find you following my humor blog–I hope you enjoyed it! I am going to peruse yours carefully because I am intrigued by the categories, they’re topics that interest me. All the best in your varied and ambitious endeavors! 🙂

    1. You are welcome. I like good honest straightforward bloggers and when I spot one I follow. Have made a lot of friends here that way 🙂

      Happy Christmas and merry new year

      Warm regards

      DC

    1. Hey Amelia, I do accept awards and thankyou. I’m a little behind on my awards but promise I’ll get to them as soon as I possibly can. Warm regards DC

  12. thanks for fallowing my blog, yours is so awesome, how did you make your banner animated like that ? , that’s cool

    1. Thanks, and yes agree “anything is possible”, within obvious limits and constraints that reality imposes, for instance I’ll never win gold in the Olympics for 100m sprint … but I could coach someone to win, and that might be just as, or more rewarding than actually doing it!

    1. Hi Deborah, firstly sorry for the delay in approving your comment and reply. And you are most welcome, I’m always happy to make new friends and acquaintances here on wordpress. For business it’s best to discuss via email, I will send you a message. In short yes, we would be able to help you with that.

      Warm regards

      Don Charisma

      PS I’ve removed your email address from the comment, as spammers do trawl the web looking for email addresses.

  19. who is this please? how did you find my blog to follow? (thank you for looking at it) curious greetings!
    lieber don, wer steck hinter dieser name bitte? wie sind sie auf meinem blog gekommen? neugierige grüße

    1. You are welcome. I am doing some research into videography, because I currently know little about it, this is my current level of “expertise” – https://doncharisma.org/2013/12/12/my-first-ideo-christmas-lights/ and https://doncharisma.org/2013/12/15/ideo-2-new-year-lights/ Your site is listed on the search engines, and came up on one of my searches. You have also made your blog public, which means that anyone with an internet connection can follow it.

      As for the question of “who am I”, this is a subjective question and also would depend on context. As I’m not asking you for a job or work of any kind then a resume or CV does not seem to be what you are requesting. Perhaps you want to ask me to do some work for you, in which case then a resume or CV might be appropriate.

      As we only very vague acquaintances, who’ve “just met”, then a full life history or an extensive list of my personal likes, dislikes, beliefs etc would be far too much information at this stage. So I’m curious with you having read my blog in detail, looked at what I write about, what I’ve written at the top of this page, my “who am i” page, what further question you have as to “who i am”. Could you please be more specific ?

      I would like to apologise but my German is very little, danke, bitte, nein etc, so unable to converse effectively in German without using Google translate. This is entirely my own responsibility, I learn languages very slowly and I’ve never been extensively exposed to German speaking people, which would be the quickest way for me to learn.

      Warm regards

      Don Charisma

  20. Ciao, grazie di essere passato da me lasciando le tue tracce. Son venuto a restituirti la visita. Mi è piaciuta molto la tua presentazione in questo post. Ritornerò per leggere ciò che hai scritto o scriverai per comprendere meglio il tuo itinerario.
    Buona giornata ed a presto.

    1. Ehi, grazie e siete i benvenuti

      Mi dispiace compro il mio italiano non è molto buona, così ho usato “Google translate” per scrivere questo messaggio.

      Sono stato in Italia, a Modena e Sardina, ed è un paese meraviglioso, mi sono ispirato per creare la mia ricetta di pasta qui – https://doncharisma.org/2013/10/23/tomato-pasta-the-right-way/

      E io sono un amante della pizza, la migliore che abbia mai avuto in Sardegna.

      Si prega di tenere in contatto,

      Cordiali saluti

      Don Charisma

    1. Awesome, I haven’t done much with music on my blog yet … would like to do some DJ mixes on mixcloud, but still looking into copyright, I think I can mix and post on mixcloud no problems, is that correct ?

      Peace you same … drop by anytime 🙂

      Warm regards

      DC

  26. I think you’re a wonderful and complete person, and thank you for following me – even if you don’t understand too much, maybe; because of the language. But I think it’s more of a solidarity act from you.
    I wish your future dreams come true, and have the life you deserve !

    1. Thank you, your words are very heartfelt and you said it very clearly 🙂

      I wish you all the success and happiness you wish in your life too !

      Warmest regards

      Don Charisma

  27. Thanks for the follow on my wordpressdotcomm/ChefTellGoodies blog. I like the straightforward tone and writing of your About page and will explore more here. One good follow deserves another… with charisma!

    1. Thanks that’s very much appreciated. I do my best to be straightforward and post things that I think others might be interested in 🙂 Thanks for follow back, warm regards DC

    1. Hey, lovely to hear from you, I’ve liked you FB page … I’m mostly on WordPress, don’t get onto FB that much, but yes let’s try and keep in touch, I’m always happy to have inspiring people around 😉 Happy holidays, warm regards DC

  32. Hi Don! Just to say many thanks for visiting my blog and for the follow, I do very much appreciate it. You have an amazing blog here, I look forward to visiting again and I do hope you enjoy what you find at my ‘cyber’ summerhouse. Have a great day 🙂

    1. hey sherri, great to hear from you and you are welcome, really appreciate you taking the trouble to visit my humble establishment 🙂 drop by anytime, warm regards DC

  33. Hiya! Thanks for stopping at blametheblogger.wordpress.com!!!
    Loving your blog – how can I contact you by email for updates of blametheblogger?
    Thanks for following!
    gouis23

    PS: If you don’t mind me asking how exactly did you get to my blog?

    1. You are most welcome, loving your blog too, thanks for dropping in on Don Charisma.

      I found your blog when I was searching on google for the best ipod touch apps, you have a post about it, very good.

      I get updates because I am following you through wordpress.

      Keep in touch

      Don Charisma

    1. You are welcome and thanks for paying a visit to my humble establishment … read when you have time, I know we’re all busy 🙂 warm regards DC

  39. Hi Don, thanks so much for stopping by my page and the follow! I’m impressed by your about page, it looks as though you’re very much going your own path, well done!

  44. Hello Don! And thank you for the follow on my blog! I have had a quick look at your blog! Looks very interesting, so when I have a bit more time I will be back! Keep well my friend! And chat soon! X

    1. Hey big smile lady 🙂

      Thanks for the award, much appreciated … I’m way behind on my awards but will get to it as soon as I possibly can … wamr regards DC

    1. You are welcome and thanks for dropping in … let’s just call it spidey-sense, or a friend that’s good at tracking down bloggers who might be compatible with me … don’t be a stranger, warm regards DC

    1. You are welcome, and of course you may ask why.

      I came from middle class parents. I guess they figured that as I was a boy, that I’d be better off perusing less creative/artistic and more technical endeavours. Thus encouraged to work with computers, maths, science, physics etc. I did try to do Art in high school but the teacher said I wasn’t good enough. I’ve found some creative outlets in my technical work programming, being creative in that way, but ultimately it’s hard to talk or show people something that you’ve created that runs on a microprocessor crunching numbers. Maybe other “geeks” might understand, but largely it’s a minority group. Anyway, cut a long story short, a 10 day vipassana retreat, a divorce, a string of ex-girlfriends, a near bankruptcy, and I find that actually I want to be doing something a bit more creative, where I’m actually producing stuff that people can see and even interact with. Enter wordpress. You might like to check out my two cartoons that I did – https://doncharisma.org/2013/07/10/two-days-of-cartoonification-how-to-cartoon-yourself-or-myself-or-whatever/ and https://doncharisma.org/2013/08/16/miss-charisma-cartoonize-my-girlfriend-another-two-days-of-cartoonification/ largely thanks to the guy who did the youtube videos gave me the confidence to do them. You might also want to have a look back in my archives at that more than 100 photos that I’ve taken and published including panoramas, taught myself photo-editing, but still struggle with colours. Perhaps you’d also be interested in my graffiti/bling wall that I combined three images in Photoshop – https://doncharisma.org/2013/11/08/don-charisma-graffitibling-wall-brooklyn-nyc/
      I like to use Photoshop and would love to be better at Illustrator. I have a cartoon project in mind, hopefully will find the time to do it soon, and hopefully I can persist with Illustrator to make it a vector.

      Your site and reading about you, you are a teacher and presumably would be the first to encourage someone in drawing, cartooning and better able to express themselves creatively ?

      Also I like making friends, and it inspires me when I can inspire other people.

      Does that answer your question ?

      I like your cartoons and drawings, and wish that I was as able to express myself as clearly and well as you do, graphically. I am learning slowly, but often it’s very clear in my mind what I want to write/draw/say etc, but challenging to get it down “on paper” (so to speak).

      Warm regards

      Don Charisma

      1. So quick a reply, thanks for that. There is not much feedback in the blogosphere, get used to it and don’t be brought down by the indifference.

        I took a look at your “cartoon-ifacation” you seem to be doing it right.

        In a digital drawing class I teach we do this in both AI and PS. In both we use 4 layers; 1–the line work (in multiply mode), 2—highlight (in screen mode/opacity 20-30%, paint here in white, “erase” in black), 3–shadow (in multiply mode mode/opacity 15-20%, paint here in black, “erase” in white), and beneath them all the flat color. For the line work in AI we draw the paths first with either the pen or the pencil tool then add strokes or effects, for the other layers we use the blob brush; in PS for all layers we use the paint brush tool then add filters. I use a low-end small very-old Wacom tablet for all of this.

        There are many videos out there you are right to watch them and learn. I tap the F1 key all the time for help and I’ve been at this since these programs were in diapers. Video making is hard–I know because I had to make some for my basic photoshop and typography classes–if you get something from one be sure to let the makers know, they will appreciate it.

        Your photoshop wall is good too, that another project–faux graffiti”–I want to try out for class.

        Getting it “down on paper” is tough. I begin with paper, I write a journal and as I’m just tossing out thoughts, they sometimes congeal into images at first only in my head, I’ll make a quick sketch if I can, if I can’t I write a description and mark it with a star so I can come back to it. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. These sketches get scanned in and placed as templates to redraw in the computer.

        So consider yourself encouraged. Look at what others are doing, I subscribe to pondly, illustration age, visual news, art fixx and of course stumbleupon to see what’s out there. Google “photoshop” (or illustrator) “tutorial” and “whatever” whenever you have time and try something different.

        Good luck,

      2. Hey Howard,

        Well your outside the normal blogsphere here, and yes I’ve seen my comments just get approved and unanswered … having said this sometimes my blog gets so busy I don’t see every comment and miss a few …

        That’s really useful info, the shaddows and highlights I was doing slightly differently, but would like a more “optimal” solution so hopefully your method is just that.

        Illustrator I gave up with after a few hours trying. I couldn’t get a black black. Subsequently I think it’s a CMYK/Monitor colour issue, so know how to resolve that. Also I don’t really understand how the layers/artboards are working, but patience and a bit of googling will hopefully clue-me-in.

        I’m planning to do a tutorial on how-to do the bling/graffiti wall, so might be worth a look. It’s pending so that should be fairly soon.

        The other project is a cartoon image that I already have a copy of someone else’s to use as a guide. I haven’t done so much with body and backgrounds as yet, and that seems like it may take as long or longer than the head shot.

        I’m working on the creative process so thanks for your advice on that, will see how I can integrate that into my own process.

        Thanks for the encouragement and do keep in touch, it’s useful and enjoyable to have like minded people around.

        Warm regards

        DC

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