I will speak for myself...a professional is someone who trains and studies his craft. It is not the software or capability to create something that makes someone call themselves a professional. Before getting into medicine, I was in advertising. I was a designer and illustrator who worked my way up to art director and creative director. I had studied in college for 5 years, was teaching college level classes, and had won numerous awards.
Unfortunately for me, computers were not part of the design ciricullum at the time (early to mid 80's). As they became more integrated into design and advertising, seemed we had to outsource our work to a handful of experts in the nation. I had the sense and the knowledge of art, design, composition, graphics from a mechanical point of view (doing it all by hand - painting, drawing, sketching, layout, storyboards) rather than an electronic point of view. No art software was available. It was still all done within the basic framework of a computer.
I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but software teaches you how to use the software. It does not replace an education in art, design, typography, composition, theory, history, etc.
So yes, it is essential to use the tools and know how to use the tools. But having art software does not make an artist.
And before anyone speaks up, these little logos in my siggy are something I knock out in a matter of minutes so I can have a visual library for domains. I am my only client and I am easy to please. And no, I am not doing them for anyone else simply because I do not want to spend hours going back and forth doing comps for something that someone wants to pay 25 bucks for. I am simply not into making 4-5 dollars an hour working for someone else.
---------- Post added at 06:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:09 PM ----------
Speaking of which, does anyone know any good, great, best tutorials on computer graphics?
Here's the issue.
I have been approached by two authors to illustrate children's books.
I love the ideas, the stories, the concepts, and think the books would do very well.
Before I spend a fortune on software, time, and study to learn new software, my first inclination is this...
design and paint the illustrations by hand.
Then I will not only have the original artwork but I can scan it and keep it on file to fit the book's sizes and formats.
I have not said no and have not said yes to the projects. The authors will commit to me if I commit to them. In other words, both are slated to be not one but a series of childrens books. One author already has enough for about 15 books around the same character.
I would most likely do these illustrations in a combination of watercolor and gouache.
But if there is some real nifty software out there with good tutorials, I'll be glad to take a look. I alread have Jasc PaintShop Pro and a couple of others (canvas, CS3) but have never learned to use them.
