Over the past several months, I have been honing my basic skills in both Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop; branching out from tutorials and creating my own art and designs. While I am no expert with a camera, I am fortunate enough to have access to excellent photographs taken by my sister-in-law – Gayle Sutherland. While practice on stock photos is useful, it is nice to have access to more personal – and exclusive! – images.
The challenges of simultaneously learning two kinds of graphic design software are not inconsiderable, but I have found the process to be good for my (aging) brain which has been over-exposed to kid’s TV and reading books. While I have not given up the fun of creating with Legos, I have found that the discipline of learning skills useful in the “Real World” to be oddly empowering, perhaps easing my way back into “a real job.”
I never considered my self to be an “artistic” person. My painting and drawing skills are elementary level at best, but – as was pointed out to me a few weeks ago – “Art” can be found in many forms. Music, sewing, embroidery, woodworking, and, photography are all valid art forms as, I think, is writing – one of the few things that I think I do well. When I first began learning Photoshop and Illustrator, it was more in terms of learning a new skill – like HTML or Java – that I may find useful in developing this here blog. However, the more I learned, the more I found that, not only were they useful skills to have, but that I enjoyed the creative process and was – gasp! – quite good at adapting my lessons to real life logos, posters and designs. I now create all my own FB covers and have recently started modifying already excellent photographs into more “classical” Fine Art pieces.
The interesting thing is that as I have slowly embarked on my personal creative journey, my brother, Gordon – always artistically gifted – has started a business based upon his own considerable talent. Cicero Pens of Distinction clearly shows his skills with wood-turning and his eye for design and detail. The fact that he let me design his first advertisement on Pinterest is an honor indeed!
To view a selection of my work click here!
Karen emily Anderson
Very well done. Your work looks very professional. With those ads, Gordon may not be able to keep up with his orders!