Acorn user blown away...

[Merlinski]

A good few years back now an acorn user using Drawworks (which is an ancestor of our beloved Xara you know) did this lovely vector drawing of a killer whale, and it is very good too.

http://www.digitalturntables.co.uk/whale/1.jpg

I was working for CTA Direct at the time, an Acorn and PC company, and the publisher of Quercus Acorn/Design magazine showed me this graphic and was putting it on the front of a magazine. Stupidly, I commented on a few things I could think of that would make it better if done in Xara - unfortunately this guy was incredibly stubborn when thinking of anything other than his Acorn (you find this mentality alot) and snubbed any possibility of anything being better than this drawing done on the Acorn.

During his stay of about 20 minutes or so, and whilst chatting - I trimmed out the wale (very very quickly) and did this...which basically turned the man green on the spot, I thought he was going to throw. lol

http://www.digitalturntables.co.uk/whale/2.jpg

Anyway, I'm showing you this because of another thread about spotlights I saw a minute ago reminded me of it (good work guys) and so I dug it out as my drawing came from my minds eye of light and shaddow and how it works. And that's what I love most, I love thinking to myself "now how would that work in real life, how would it look?" and then attempting to recreate with the tools in Xara.

These bubbles were a prime example...I thought, why does film footage of bubbles from a diver or an animal look so lifelike and real (yes I know, because it IS real silly), it was because of the density of lots of bubbles, thousands in different sizes and with deapth of field making them look even more dense in the middle...so that's what I did with Xara...lots of different sizes, with deapth and randomness (as much as I could achieve in 20 minutes! lol - I actually copy and pasted a group I made over and over).

http://www.digitalturntables.co.uk/whale/3.jpg

Anyway this crummy little 20 Minute makeover that made a jaw drop sums up everything I love about Xara, even though I have designed many many more and better drawings over the years with Xara, this drawing highlights to me the simlpicity of the tools, but the amazing effect you can get from them if used correctly. How with 2D you can make 3D, and how swiftly and easily you can flow within Xara. And achieve effects that even flashy plugins could not do sometimes.

Xara-on dudes!

PS. I might add, that I have no idea who the original artist of that whale is, and I don't for one minute think his views were anything like the guy's who showed me this image. I think it's marvelous in it's own right and am not taking anything away from it as it is, well done out there - whoever you are!

[Soquili]

Great testimonial about the power of Xara applications

Don't you love the look those type of people get when you show them how Xara applications can perform

[Nostaw]

IMO its always the artist first, then the software. Xara is just fast and easy to use that even less talented people get great results out of it.

But because of Xara's easy usage, it has alot of potential to push you even further and train your eye/art/design/typographic skills.

Merlinski, your bubble example is a great example - I wouldn't dare to create various size bubble brushes in Illustrator as I know it would be dead slow and it would kill my enthusiasm straight away to think in those detailled levels, which is necessary to make it look real. With Xara - no problem, you think it, you do it.

Fantastic work you did, Merlinski.

[Merlinski]

I do hope the "god-rays" through the water and the subtle tones of deapth, colour and shadow are showing there for you on your monitors.

Xara is an awesome tool and no mistake - it's the only program I know of that allows me to work quickly and effectively and even when trimming out subjects from bitmaps - in what is effectively transparent JPEGS with antialiased edges! We are blessed, even PSP and Photoshop users have marvelled at how quickly and easily some things are achieved, albeit thinking differently sometimes to acheive them.

[amoore]

I luuuve what you did with the whale. And yes, the god-rays and depth display well -- at least on my CRT. On my LCD, there's less depth, brighter color and greater contrast. Still looks good, but more like a nice picture and less like I'm seeing through water.

Glad to have you here. Now that you've spoken up, I hope you'll be a frequent contributor.

Allison

[davelash]

I bow to your talent and eloquence. If I could get half that agile with Xara, I'd be in bliss.

Many thanks,

Dave

[handrawn]

I luuuve what you did with the whale. And yes, the god-rays and depth display well -- at least on my CRT. On my LCD, there's less depth, brighter color and greater contrast. Still looks good, but more like a nice picture and less like I'm seeing through water.

Glad to have you here. Now that you've spoken up, I hope you'll be a frequent contributor.

Allison

Much better on crt
just goes to show

[amoore]

Much better on crt
just goes to show

Yeah, people have no idea what they're missing with LCDs. Or they don't care...

[handrawn]

slightly off topic maybe but I have dual monitors - one of each.
the LCD is much much easier on the eyes, but the crt is necessary for things like this

[amoore]

slightly off topic maybe but I have dual monitors - one of each.
the LCD is much much easier on the eyes, but the crt is necessary for things like this

I'm also using dual monitors, although the LCD is rarely on unless I'm checking colors. At home, I have a similar arrangement, except there my email has wound up on the LCD. Otherwise, the LCD is where I park the XaraXone on the rare occasions when I have time to do a tutorial.

As for easier on the eyes, I'm much more comfortable with CRTs. LCDs are too bright and too harsh. Working on an LCD for any length of time makes my eyes ache.