What They Give You

Is Rarely Pretty

If you're entering the field of Graphics thinking you can play all day, you are sadly mistaken. The lovely item at the left is what you will generally be given by those who wish to employ your expertise, and you have to turn it into something that many other people can read and understand. 9 times out of 10 your best efforts will not be enough to satisfy them, even though they had no idea what they wanted in the first place. That's when you produce something like the image on the right. It took you hours to interpret the chicken scratches, but they wanted to add all the extra items you see plastered into the one in the middle. You think it's ugly, but you do it anyway. Because the customer's always right, right?

Unfortunately, you also did the job on spec , and the client decided 'to go in a different direction' once you spent two weeks on the darn thing with 327 changes. That means, you're not getting paid.

(See 'Art for Art's Sake' in my book Art Speaks: A Poser's Guide to the Gallery.)

Bring on the Fun!

When you Get to Do Whatever You Dream.

Either you meet a client that 'gets you' like this one from Taos, NM, or the client gives you typed copy that is legible and indicating exact placement of pix to make you joyous. Or you discover those wonderful 'print on demand sites that let you create to your heart's content for no reason but that you can. If you haven't found that dream job, you're still wondering how to get that degree (or denying that you do need one), and you still think you have talent for this difficult field, then download the free design programs you can find all over the web and start creating. You can design your own book cover, like the one above. It rarely makes you a bundle of cash, but your Christmas gifts will be cheap and personalized!

Graphic: As an adjective, this usually means the broader commercial arts used to sell something or those done by computer. However, it can also be used to describe a horror level in one’s opinion. “This piece is too graphic and could incite people to kill their children or molest frogs.”

Hating Picasso

For the Wrong Reasons

I'll have to admit that I was obnoxious and opinionated when I entered college. After Art Theory, I learned to appreciate many artists I had previously considered hacks, Picasso among them, and for one major reason. He put in the effort to learn the basics, fundamental knowledge from the classics before him. Only then did he branch out and recreate art as we know it.

I was fortunate to fall into graphics from high school in a small print shop and not really knowing what it was. But I was trained 'old school'; we didn't even know what a computer was back in that Stone Age of the Sixties. My computer introduction to graphics came at an advanced age and I fell in love with the ease of it. But the benefits of realizing the origins of my craft have saved me on many occasions - like when the electricity went off and I was the only one who knew how to use a ruling pen to make a line drawing. Bottom line, there is no substitute for learning anything and everything about your craft. It gives you the right to bastardize, compromise and recreate the world - and Picasso.



“Die reinste Freude ist die Schadenfreude.”  Our purest joy comes when people we envy get hurt.  That most genuine form of joy.” Haunted, Chuck Palahniuk