So, I got the sparkly-shiny-fast
new computer up and running, and with just a few blips along the way, I got my powerful-yet-daunting
new Adobe CS3 installed and whirring along.
I'm knee deep in Adobe tutorials, a fibro flare, and sick children, but I thought I'd post my latest project here (see black and white icons, above right), along with the intro I had to write for the class. I thought it would make a pretty good "About Me" segment and it made me laugh. so here you go:
I’m Leah Smith, a thirty-mumble mom of two boys, who at this moment are obsessed with weapons, Star Wars, and Pokemon. I taught 8th grade English and American History until 7½ years ago, when my first child was born (this is what I refer to as “my previous life”). I’ve always done desktop publishing (ah, PageMaker, I loved you!) and have loved color and design – unfortunately, I can’t draw anything more complicated than the Death Star, and even then my renderings are roundly criticized as “weird”, “not really a circle”, and “whatever, Mom”. I’ve also dabbled with HTML, CSS and website design, creating (well, modifying, really) websites (and business cards and logos and flyers) for myself and a few friends.
In my “next life” (once the little one goes to school full-time), I plan to either fulfill my childhood fantasy of becoming an astronaut, OR substitute teach part-time while I persue my dream of becoming a small-scale web- and print- designer who does a bit of writing and editing. Since the shuttle program has been scrapped, and I’ve never been so good with those pesky “math” thingies, I’m thinking the teaching/publishing gig is going to work out better for me.
Because I previously worked in a school (read: low technology budget) and have been a stay-at-home mom for nearly 8 years (read: have no money), I’ve been a bit behind in the whole Adobe Creative Suite revolution. My old computer wouldn’t run anything bigger than Illustrator 8.0 and refused point-blank to run Photoshop (not to mention any YouTube videos). We recently decided to bite the bullet and buy a new computer for me, and shell out for CS3 (the education discount helped considerably…on the software part). So, I am taking a few classes to get up to speed on this CS3 stuff all the kids are talking about these days. (I also have to take 15 credits to keep my teaching credential current, so it’s a win-win).
Every time I opened Illustrator in the past, I got hopelessly overwhelmed, cried a little, and then shut it down. I would open it every few months, thinking that last time I was just in the wrong mental frame, or underslept, or under the influence of too many martinis. I kept hoping my mad PageMaker skilz would transfer, but alas it was always the same story: open program….feel powerless….close program …cry a little…pour martini.
So, here I am – ready to learn this awesome Illustrator program “for reals”. I hope to overcome my fear of these math-sounding vector thingies and learn how to create cool, scaleable logos despite my complete lack of drawing ability. Maybe my boys will find my Illustrator-rendered Death Star more convincing.
