Get it, Play with it, Learn it, Use it.

It's Sunday morning and I am getting ready for church. Some thoughts are flowing through my head so here's what I am thinking. I really think it is too bad computer users are so stuck in what they know. You buy a PC and are limited by what's available and what you can afford. Everybody wants high technology to all of a sudden appear in their community with jobs and supporting business. The threat of recruiting foreign folks to make it happen looms above us as we are agonized over the thought of competing for the few lower jobs. You got this thing on your desk and all you can see is something to play games on, play CDs, DVDs on and cruise the internet for entertainment. We have a local library which bills itself as "the peoples university". The PC in your home is the same way. It is a tool as much as it is a toy. While some would like you to be consumed with entertaining yourself, others are struggling to pull you away from that kind of mindless play. Play is the thing but we need to expand our play in creative ways. Learn to use the word processors to write well. Learn to use all the photo and paint tools to create works of art. Learn to program. The list of things you yourself can learn and develop is very long. The killer to your concept is that you don't need the top shelf software to begin. Why steal Adobe Illustrator because it is what the pros use. You could learn to use the very same tools and techniques for free with open source Xara Xtreme or Inkscape or Gimp. You could hone your skills and talents on less expensive software that does the very same thing. You might even find you don't need the "pro" software. If you learn the skills, you can use them on any similar software package. My main point is the play. Among the world of African-American artist, almost no computer artist, why? Artist are struggling to make a living and have flooded the world with traditional art of all kinds. I have nothing against traditional artist materials and outcomes. But, there is a whole digital realm besides film and animation that could use some fresh talent. So, fiddle with your digital paint or draw program and see what you can do. And you don't always have to sale your stuff to make it. Part of making it is name recognition, a fanbase of folks who appreciate your work. Screensavers, wallpapers and backgrounds are great avenues to get your work seen and hang your shingle. I, myself am not a driven artist, but I have been a computer draftsman for years, so I learned to use the computer. I have fiddled with a few 3d graphics programs. This is the result of some of that fiddling.........

This is a rendering of some 3d objects with special lighting in a program called Rhino 3d. Then here is another picture, this time from a paint program........
The paint program is bit mapped, more like traditional painting with brushes instead of the math driven vector graphics like in Rhino 3d. I also fiddle with other artistic software and I'm just fiddling. You, if you have the drive, the interest, you can do more and better. There are online tutorials, YouTube videos, ebooks and other teaching materials on the internet, no need to pay big money to began to learn and to do real play on the computer. It takes time to develop marketable skills and the tools are already in your lap. I am plugging open source software here because they are low cost and or free. Then I am pushing Linux because Linux is after all these years, easy to use and has a great assortment of free artist tools. Ubuntu Linux, the one I use, is well suited for a great swath of computer users. Included software cover all the normal uses and once installed you have access to a large catalog of free to download and install programs. My main concern is for all those who feel they must buy the latest MS Vista machine in order get into the computer game. Not so, an MS XP machine will do just fine as there are tons of open source software to run on it. Then you should know, chances are that Linux will even run on that hand-me-down computer you were given by your cousin. If it will run MS Win98, it will run Linux of some sort. I recommend at least 512MB of memory, but it will run on slightly less. Why Linux? If your computer is newer yet will not run Vista and you can not afford to upgrade or get XP, Linux is free and up to date. You just have to let MS go and let Linux supply your computing needs, which it can do very well. We are dealing with this thing called the "digital divide" which basically says it is economically a struggle for some to get into computing, get connected and bring their families into the electronic age. Linux cuts cost by lowering the entry bar. You can't get any lower than free. The kicker is that you have to spend time playing with it, using it, to see it is no different than using MS or Macs. Get Ubuntu Linux, they will even send you the CD for free if you can't download it. You could run it with or without installing it on your MS Windows machine because it's also a live-cd. There is help to figure it all out on the internet and there might be local computer shops and support groups to help you. Go get it, play with it, learn it and use it.