For those who asked.....I am GEEKY

And for those who didn't know I am, but might have wondered..... I am a computer Geek! And my fave program is Painter. The upgrades keep coming and I keep acquiring them.

The newest, Painter X is worth the price of the upgrade. Hard to say how many updates will be needed. With any new program as deep as Painter, there is always a bit of wiggle room for improvement. This first update to Painter X.... Painter X.1 fixes some of the problems people had with the initial offering.

My history with Painter goes back to Painter 4.0 when I was a graphic arts, Family Computing host on AOL. Several of us hosted chat groups and tutorial groups on AOL for those new to Painter. Those were my "formative"GEEKY days, I guess .... about 12 years ago.
This image is from a lesson on creating 3D text and it is still in some dark corner of AOL although it cannot be accessed by anyone anymore. I still use Painter for my illustration work, and the advances in technology, computers and the program itself make the time taken to learn it, well worthwhile.
The advances in the program and the learning all along the way makes the occasional struggle or late night learning session
profitable in the end result. Layers, transparencies, the ability to move objects and smoosh, squeeze, and manipulate a painting are only a few of the tools Painter offers. With the newer programs, the ability to paint with ease and mimic traditional brush strokes is amazing. (You can view this image a bit larger if you click on it)

And I do still paint traditionally as well. Somehow the work I do in the computer actually enhances my traditional work. There is something about being able to explore so many things in a computer, without having to completely rePAINT, that gives me an advantage when it comes to making those final decisions with traditional media.