Archive for the 'reviews' Category

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Acorn: The Leatherman Tool of Image Editors

Published on October 2, 2007 in reviews, software and tools. 0 Comments Tags: Acorn, Adobe, Adobe Photoshop, Apple, art, bitmap, CMYK, drawing, graphics, graphics tablet, Mac, Mac OS X, MacBook, OS X, Photoshop, Pixelmator, RGB, shareware, sketch, software, tool, Wacom.

The more I try out image editors Pixelmator & Acorn, the more Acorn’s simplicity and new perspective on the interface grows on me. Pixelmator is looking to be just about perfect for those people who need a Photoshop Elements style app with low overhead at a sweet price point.

Acorn, on the other hand, seems to be carving out a new niche, and developer Gus Mueller has shown in some of the details that’s he’s not trying to compete with Photoshop (or even Pixelmator), rather he’s attempting to do something new & unique. From the single, unified tools palette to the Option & Control key resizing & crop features (with the live pixel dimension display on the bottom left of the window frame) to the live brush size on the brush slider, Mueller demonstrates that he’s been using graphics software, he’s been frustrated with some things, and he’s thought of a way to make it painless, effortless and intuitive.

Once you’ve worked a bit in Acorn with some of these novel approaches to old habits, you’ll soon wonder why it was never done this way before.

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by George Coghill
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Default Folder X – Essential Mac Productivity Utility Software

Published on September 9, 2007 in productivity, reviews, software and tools. 0 Comments Tags: Apple, art, keyboard commands, keyboard shortcuts, Mac, Mac OS X, OS X, productivity, shareware, software, tool, vector.

Default Folder X is one of those shareware utility applications that seem pretty handy while you are demoing, but until you use another Mac without Default Folder installed (or the demo runs out), you don’t realize exactly how perfect the software actually is.

I constantly run across these “714 Absolutely Essential Mac Applications” blog posts that always leave this one out. And I think the only reason is that the author is unaware of it’s existence. There’s no other explanation. Half of the time the apps I see on those lists are so-so anyways.

So what is this so-called “Default Folder” anyways? In short, it’s a way for you to access — from the Open/Save dialog windows — not only commonly used folders, but also recently used folders and open Finder windows, all with (mostly) user-defined keyboard shortcuts.

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Podcast review: The Illustrative Designer

Published on September 6, 2007 in Illustration, art, cartooning and reviews. 0 Comments Tags: art, artist, cartoon, cartooning, cartoonist, creativity, design, drawing, free, graphic design, graphics, Illustration, illustrator, podcast, review, web links.

Illustrator extraordinaire Von Glitschka has a very cool podcast out that I just started listening to, The Illustrative Designer podcast. Each podcast is basically an interview by “the Vonster” (as he calls himself) with a chosen professional illustrator, cartoonist or designer. The most recent illustrator interview was with (the unimaginably prolific) cartoon illustrator & designer Bob Staake.

The “illustrative designer” moniker comes from Von’s idea that when asked to describe his work, he says he’s not a graphic designer that can draw, but rather an illustrator who can design. Hence, “illustrative designer”.

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Adobe Creative Suite 3: First Thoughts

Published on August 15, 2007 in reviews, software and thoughts. 0 Comments Tags: Adobe, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Apple, art, Creative Suite, CS3, drawing, illustrator, InDesign, Mac, Mac OS X, opinions, OS X, Photoshop, review, software, tool, Wacom.

Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 arrived this morning, and was immediately installed on both my trusty G4 and the MacBook. Here are my very initial thoughts on the first run of the main software applications: Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign.

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Archive That Artwork! Backup Tips & Software Advice for Mac OS X

Published on July 31, 2007 in Apple/OS X, productivity, reviews and tools. 0 Comments Tags: Adobe, art, artist, backup, Mac, Mac OS X, OS X, productivity, shareware, software, synchronization, tip, tool.

Backup. It’s something most computer users – let alone artistic types – never think about, at least not until after it’s too late. Trust me, once it happens to you, it will never be forgotten. Perhaps I can convince you to never have to go through that by recommending you start your backup system now.

All that precious time spent creating, tweaking, and perfecting your masterpiece is well worth a few measly bucks and a bit of effort (which will be automated once it’s all set up) to ensure you don’t lose those hours of hard work.

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