Valentine's Day Card

This year for Valentine's Day I created a card for my wonderful wife. I didn't like any of the cards I saw for sale so I decided to make one. I did a couple doodles and thought, "Oh that would make a cool heart."

I scanned the image into the computer, took it into Illustrator and created a vector line drawing. I then duplicated the one side and flipped it over to make the other half of the heart. It didn't quite fit like I wanted it to so I tweaked the lines until I liked it. I then duplicated it a couple times and created a blue "doily". I duplicated the blue "doily" and made it pink and rotated it 45 degrees. I used one of the sketch brushes on the main heart and turned it a deep red. I then brought the image into InDesign and wrote the inside (No, I'm not going to tell you what it said). I printed it on one of Neenah Papers classic crest, white, linen finish papers. The final product was a hit.

Lion E-vite

Last year the company I work for full time did an event in Animal Kingdom in Disney World. One of my jobs was to create an e-vite for it to be sent to the clients.

After discussing with our event planner what they were going to be doing we decided to feature an African theme. After all they were going to see a presentation of the Lion King.

The central icon for the Animal Kingdom is the Tree of Life, so I knew I would have to have the baobab tree on the invite along with a lion. After thinking about it and playing around with different ideas I decided to go with an African sunset, the animals gathering at the tree and the lion watching over it all. Below is the illustration I created in Adobe Illustrator as my base image.

Using this image I modified it for a flash invite, a card with a gift (the long image below) and reminder card (which had text to inform the clients about the event). Each one worked well by itself but stayed consistent to remind the clients of who sent it and what the event was.

To iPad or not to iPad?

Ok, I’ll admit it. I have been excited about the possibilities of a tablet like personal computer since the Newton first appeared. You remember the Newton, don’t you? (top picture) It was Apples first attempt at a PDA. Despite it’s shortcomings it was the first of many. I actually still have one, but it doesn’t work anymore.

I have been dreaming about having a tablet type device that I could draw on digitally, keep track of my calendar, watch and listen to media and a myriad of other things. My idea for a device was about the size of a clipboard that could be used to showcase ideas, create on the fly and even play games.

Well, in January, Apple announced my dream machine, the iPad. When the iPhone and iPod Touch came out I told a friend, “This is a test product for a tablet device.” Was it a test? probably not but it opened up the possibilities to one.

I have heard and read much of what the iPad can’t do, but as an eternal optimist I am looking forward to what it can and will be able to-do. When I got my iPod Touch the app store was only a rumor but I knew when it came out it would change the way these devices worked. I have the same feeling with the iPad. When OS 4 arrives for it in the fall it will make it that much better.

Will it replace my laptop or iPod Touch? No. It will supplement them. There are things I would love to do on a device between t

he two. But the iPod Touch will remain my pocket portable device, My laptop will be my work device and the iPad it will be my everything else device.

I don’t yet have the iPad but plan to get a 3g one. I am looking forward to seeing what it can really do. Using it as a sketch pad, PDF reader, book reader, movie watcher, music player and so much more.

Once I get my iPad I will let you all know if it meets my expectations or not. So yes I will iPad.

Here are a couple great places to get more info on the iPad:

iPad Watcher

iLounge

and of course Apple's site