Re: Xtreme Disappointment
[QUOTE=BONES]You mean a professional print artist, right? I get paid to fly all over the world as a "professional graphic artist" and I have virtually no use at all for anything print related.
That's a good question Bones, not sure if I can answer it. I'm a professional graphic artist working in a t-shirt design industry. Printing is mandatory if the work is to make it to a t-shirt. Every color in a design has to be printed as a plate so it can be burned onto a silk screen.
The ability to prepare vector/bitmap art for separations is considered more an art form than a science, especially when using Photoshop for Channel Seps. I've done well using X1 for 90% of my Sep work. As long as it's vector, it can be Sep'd & printed from Xara. CMYK helps but is only one of the techniques that can be used. Since most of the customer art - local work, is limited color. CMYK works best for these jobs - which is 75% of the my overall responsibilities here.
I know of several people in this industry that continue to earn a big bucks working on the side as a Separation house. Separating art for companies that are overwhelmed with complicated designs, which take too much time or skill to prepare properly by many "in house" artist. I suppose this type of artist would be considered a print artist.
Commercial Contract Print work is more about "Who has the design chops" to get a design accepted, which has more to do with ones timing than overall skill. Contract work is the undercurrent that drives the t-shirt industry. Believe me when I tell you, there's much competition in this area & it's tuff. The best work I've ever done goes to companies like this. Most the time I get no feedback whatsoever. I've sent hundreds of designs but less than a hand full have ever made it to print. Some of these un-chosen designs I consider as amongst my best work ever. Disappointing yes, but rewarding at the same time. Better to have tried & missed then not to have tried at all eh.....
Companies that require "nation wide t-shirt distribution & printing" tend to have free art work supplied to them by "in house" T-shirt artist (like me) in the hopes that the company we represent will win the print contract for that design. This is the work that can make or break large & small t-shirt shops the world over. Land some of these contracts & you've got job security. Win a high profile contract & you'd be set for life. At least until the job is over...
I guess to answer your question. I'm a little of both. Graphic Artist & Print artist, You be the judge? In the end it depends on which hat I'm wearing at any particular time (or job)?
Fragments of the textiled mind...
Last edited by wW; 15 March 2006 at 10:51 PM.
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Re: Xtreme Disappointment
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... my opinion and wish to you is that the good enought software must give freedom and as much power can be given to as much more profesionals. Future is on profesionals, cross out the functions used and developed from 50 years (like CMYK) automaticaly cross out Xara from look of proffesionals. My opinion is that the future of Xara is there in proffesionals, playing over entusiasts with bevels and etc is just one prolong agony of dead
Originally Posted by Albacore
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