Interview

This week I am pleased to present an interview with Mike Thomas.  Mike is a portrait artist and an e-commerce Web site designer. He is a tutorial author for the pspPower newsletter. Mike has taught art in the North Carolina school system and maintains a private studio. He is also a Paint Shop Pro teaching assistant at SmartPlanet and elementK. Mike has an art gallery and graphics site at http://www.udraw2.com and a very very useful message board!

Mike, I understand congratulations are in order :)  Having your tutorials bundled with the PSP 7.4 Anniversary Edition is really quite an accomplishment!  Before I ask you how that happened, can you tell me how you became interested in PSP?

I was roaming the cyber halls of ZDU when I came across the Paint Shop Pro class. I enrolled in the class. The instructor, staff and students were fantastic. I just kept taking the class over and over. I guess since I wouldn't leave the classroom, the instructors put me to work as a Teaching Assistant. The more I got involved with Paint Shop Pro, the deeper my addiction became.

I had a near nirvana experience in my first Paint Shop Pro class. The instructor took us on a virtual tour of websites devoted to Paint Shop Pro.

The entire time we were talking back and forth while we surfed the net. I didn't know you could do such things. It wasn't so much the totally cool sites, it was more the way we were surfing the net. I was just in complete awe that such a thing could be done. Once the tour was over, I sat for some time, just staring into the screen, and it was like a veil was lifted from my eyes and I saw a future full of great wonderments where an artist will be able to infuse their art with life.

What led you to start writing tutorials?

I did a Bezier flower as part of a class assignment. The instructor liked it so much that she suggested I write a tutorial on how to do it. That tutorial was a hit, but more important, I found that I enjoyed writing it. So I wrote another tutorial, and things sort of snowballed from there. At this point I have written over a hundred tutorials.

After viewing your site, it is obvious that you are very talented in many artistic mediums, how does computer graphics satisfy your need to create?

I've always enjoyed teaching people how to draw and paint. My tutorials on creating graphics allows me to reach a much wider audience.

For me the greatest thrill is when someone comes to me claiming that they have no artistic talent and can't even draw a straight line. After the first lesson, they look at their drawing, then look at me, back at there drawing and then back at me. In that moment there is a creative connection. It is like magic. It is that type of connection which gives me the most satisfaction. My tutorials are another way of making that connection.

Art begins, evolves and becomes a continuing expression of emotion. Digital art will be able to interact with the viewer, where the flow of shape and form will be respondent to the viewer. So the artist will be able to have a continuing evolving connection to the viewer.

The creative process is the same in the digital medium as it is in the traditional mediums. The difference is in the tools, not the process. I hope my tutorials help people to understand the digital tools.

Do you find yourself starting in one medium and moving the project to another? And do you tend to lean toward one more than another?

When doing traditional works, I often use a variety of mediums to achieve the desired results. One of my lessons involves using watercolors, crayons and oil paint to draw a shell. The ability to blend various mediums is important in the creative process.

The beauty of Paint Shop Pro is that a variety of tools are available to accomplish most any effect. There is also an added medium in the digital creative process, and that is the code used to display the work. Being able to write scripts that dynamically generate a web layout is totally cool stuff.

Do you use a graphics tablet at all? If so, any advice for those considering purchasing one?....(Side note here Mike has an upcoming article in pspPower on this subject)

I use an Aiptek HyperPen 6000 tablet. I would advise anyone purchasing a tablet to buy the biggest one they can afford. A tablet is a great way to make intricate selections. Also Paint Shop Pro allows you to vary the width and opacity when using certain tools.

Now for the question I know everyone is waiting for :)...How did it come about that Jasc decided to use your tutorials in the Anniversary Edition?

Muska & Lipman the publishers of the pspPower newsletter, for which I am a columnist, asked me to write a group of tutorials to be published as a CD.  Jasc Software expressed an interest in licensing 10 of the tutorials. My publisher and I decided that was a good thing. So we changed the focus from the tutorial CD to the tutorials Jasc wanted to license.

I want to thank Lori Davis and Pat Kalbaugh for giving me the opportunity to be a Teaching Assistant at ZDU. I wouldn't be where I am without their support. While I wrote the tutorials, Andy and Liz Shafran, Allen Wyatt and all the staff at Muska & Lipman deserve equal credit.

What projects do you have in the works now?

I'm thinking about putting together a "How to Draw Caricatures" CD.

Some of the former staff from the Paint Shop Pro classes at ZDU are playing with the idea of a new classroom format where students pay a reasonable fee to take instructor led classes.

Thank you Mike for taking the time to talk to me, I really appreciate it and again congratulations on having your tutorials included in PSP 7.04 Anniversary Edition!!

It was my pleasure, and look forward to contributing to your newsletter...Mike

I Love PSP

Cool Stuff

Browsing the PSP sites this week has been fun, but best is hearing from folks about what they have found.  I would like to thank Doneta for sending me the link to a cool set of filters by Sandy Blair.  Check them out here. 

Tip of the Week - Save your Workspace (PSP7)

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Questions, comments or if you would like to submit an article or special tutorial please contact me,   Next week Patti of MoonDesigns will be profiled and unveil a new tutorial here :)  You can check out last's week issue here or in the files at Behind the Tutorials.

Connie

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