The Shoe Banter Journey – Brenda Finne’s Journal Jan 2010: Figuring how to add the Words with the Illustrations Learning how to use a computer to realize our ideas must be similar to a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, it’s quite allusive, but the end result is beautiful. It’s one thing to create your vision with fabric and paint. It’s quite another to depend on the mysterious brain inside a computer. Joyce and I have a comfort zone that’s tactile; touching the textures of the fabric, showing a fellow dancer how you want the move to be executed. Being dependent on technology to execute the vision is part of letting go of that control. Our next challenge - merging the writing and illustrations together. Still thinking in tactile terms, my first sense was to handwrite it on the illustration myself. They say your handwriting is an extension of your personality. Well, I’m a bit of rebel, and my hands were not cooperating. Not one to give up, I tried to find a place to take calligraphy lessons, but realized, that would push the project out to forever, and forever we didn’t have. The next not-giving-up-step was another visit to the local office store who had a sale on colored paper. I bought several different color reams and did my best to match the colored paper with the illustrations. Maybe I could print the words on the paper, cut them into pretty shapes! But then, the paper hid the illustration. I trudged on forward. One evening during a visit with our cousins Art & Vicky, their daughter Jaime showed us a calendar she made with her computer using photographs and words. Bingo - we had a solution! Went to the Bookstore and dug into 30 books on Photoshop. Finally picked one and attempted to learn it from the book. I was in over my head - I needed a teacher. Found a class at the Kala Institute in Berkeley. But, a few days prior they called to let me know it would be cancelled because no one else had signed up for the class. I called, and pleaded, “please do not cancel this class. I’m working on a special project with my sister and we can’t lose momentum”. We struck a deal, a one-on-one 4 hour lesson. I lucked out and gained the expert knowledge of David Harding, a very patient teacher! Now I could get the words on the illustration through my new best friend – Photoshop! Added Note: See the collection that started it all; “Collective Souls”, on our website, shoebanter. How perfect they would be as a Calendar, or Printed on T-Shirts, or Coffee Mugs. The potential is endless. Do you know any companies that may be interested? Please help us make the connection – thank you in advance. Joyce & Brenda
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 03:37:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015