What People Are Saying About Us
Are you playing with your website again?
- My Ex GirlfriendHe’s sweet, funny, and handsome. And single, ladies!
- My MomYeah, they’re good. I guess. Kinda weird, though.
- Dave
The Best Blog in History
Okay, so that’s probably an embellishment. But we are a blog, and we do exist in history! Two out of three ain’t bad! So what exactly is Twisted Jackal all about anyways? We’re part blog, part portfolio, part app development studio, and part lizard totally human. Basically, we’re the bombdiggity.
Our blog was born from all the experience and ideas we have, and our desperate need to share them with the world. You’ll find great tutorials, tips, and other musings on web design and WordPress in particular. We also dabble in the realms of freelancing topics such as productivity, time management, and marketing.
That cool quote to the left is our company creed. It’s infused into every design we do and every article we write. Whenever people tell us it’s not healthy to be a perfectionist, we just roll our perfect eyes at them. Even if we’re not quite the “best blog in history”, we sure as hell strive to be.
The Man Behind the Curtain
That handsome devil in the photo is Malachi Draven, the owner and founder of Twisted Jackal. He’s currently also the only person that even works on this site. He does it all – design, development, writing, management, etc. He’s like a one-man traveling band! Except much cooler. He’s so cool, in fact, that he gets to talk about himself in the third person! No? Okay, I’ll stop…
Random Trivia
- I have an obsession with creating custom desktop themes and CSS skins.
- I’m an avid reader and even an author! Find my horror fiction on /r/NoSleep.
- The amount of random movie knowledge I have would scare you.
- Despite being a fully grown man, I still occasionally play “The Floor is Lava”.
- Apparently I like to use cheesy filter effects on my photos. Oh well, #grunge4life.
- I collect hobbies like there’s no tomorrow. My plethora of hobbies includes: video games, playing the violin, philosophy, psychology, and learning various new skills.
Mad Skillz
- Photoshop 85%
- Illustrator 80%
- HTML/CSS 90%
- JavaScript (jQuery) 75%
- Dance Dance Revolution 95%
- Household Chores 4%
Level of Skill (Measured in Awesome)
From Hobby to Profession
I first started getting into web design back when I was about 12 years old. I was really into online gaming, and I wanted to make a website for one of my guilds. Somehow, I managed to customize (pretty well, I might add) a theme for an InvisionFree forum. Pretty old school, right? As time went on, I delved further into the web design world, learning many skills and languages.
Eventually, I discovered Enjin – a powerful hosting platform for gaming sites, with an unbeatable forum. This gave me power and flexibility with my sites, and really allowed me to grow as a designer. Most of my gaming sites – such as my old WoW guild, Fierce – won awards and were featured on Enjin’s showcase.
A few years ago, I was asked to design a business website for a construction company. I was actually going to get paid for once! I stumbled upon WordPress and was blown away by how amazeballs of a platform it is. I fell in love instantly. Since then, I’ve become a professional web designer and have designed countless sites with WordPress. This blog is my attempt to share all the knowledge I’ve gained along my journey.
I don’t do too much freelance work these days, as I’m occupied with numerous projects and business ventures. However, if someone approaches me with a unique idea, or if they simply must have my unique style and taste infused in their website, then I’ll be their design mercenary.
