Computer Graphics - Photoshop Elements
I've always had a love of painting, drawing and art - I even had a moderate amount of talent at school and beyond. When I got a computer, this interest also extended to computer art and graphics, but the lack of a serious graphics program, such as Photoshop, put a dent in my creativity.
Using the free graphics program that came with my first scanner, and a Wacom graphics tablet, I was able to create some clipart that was displayed on the About Horses website that I used to run. One of my pieces, Noble Eye was even used as a Flash screen on a CD for an equine management program.
That first freebie program was okay to start with, but it whet my appetite for more creative work. I would have loved to get Photoshop or Painter, but my budget wouldn't stretch that far. However, one day, I found Photoshop Elements 2 (PE2) in Walmart, and discovered that (a) it would work with my Macintosh and (b) it was $60 as opposed to the usual $600 price tag of the full version of Photoshop. I didn't hesitate - I grabbed it there and then. I didn't get around to installing and using it for a couple of months, after a computer upgrade gave me more harddrive space to store my creations.
Once I got it installed, I started playing around with it. I was quickly impressed with the power of this inexpensive program. From what I could see, it did everything I wanted from a graphics program. I also found some excellent online tutorials to help me learn my way around faster.
I've done a lot of additional work in Photoshop Elements, including graphics for the various online groups I belong to, such as WOSIB and Friend 2 Friend. For a while, I also made graphic quilt squares, but eventually had to leave that group since it became too time-consuming.
