When I was in graduate school I purchased my first round of pixel pushing software. I had everything a modern freelance artist needed, including Adobe Photoshop 7, Adobe Illustrator 9, Macromedia DreamWeaver and Macromedia Flash. I had dreams of entering the professional artist world and creating fabulous pieces of hip, relevant, educational and enlightening artwork. Instead I found myself making web pages, logos and quick and dirty diagrams. At least it was work. My biggest problem was workflow. I was always having to pull things from Photoshop to Dreamweaver, sometimes to ImageReady, which was cumbersome. And, when editing or updating a site I had to drag images back into Photoshop to edit them then send them back to Dreamweaver usually fracturing whatever delicate table I had constructed. It was frustrating, but it was what I found worked best for me since the sites I created were very image intensive (and because I am an artist not a programmer and get queasy when I stare at code for too long.)
Then I moved to Hawaii and became a starving artist. Actually I moved because I adore my husband and I enjoyed seeing him whenever the Navy let him have time off. So, I traded my pixels for pen and ink for a while. It was better suited to the islands anyway. Then we moved back to the mainland. I took time off from all artistic pursuits to focus on creating a small human being (the best thing I’ve ever made.)
Finally, I realized that I missed those pixels, and it was time to dive back in. I dug deep and purchased Adobe Creative Suite 3. Oh wow. By now my old software versions were ancient, and the updates where substantial for me. The best thing was that during my sabbatical Adobe had bought Macromedia. Now I can go all the way through my creative process all in the comfy confines of my beloved Adobe software. I can even back up and go forward in the process to edit or update with ease. Here is an example of how I currently work through a web project:
- I mock up the look of the website in Photoshop. Putting rollovers on separate layers and leaving space for text. I send a copy of this to the client for approval.
- I open my Photoshop document in Fireworks. (When I first got fireworks I had no idea what to do with it. It seemed like the clueless bastard child of Photoshop and DreamWeaver. I have since apologized to the program for any kind of negative comments I may have made.) In Fireworks I slice it up, add rollovers and links. Then I export this file to .html. Sooooo easy.
- Next I open this .html file in DreamWeaver. I add text or other content and upload to the server.
I usually go through this process again to create a secondary page template. Then add content to each secondary page in DreamWeaver. If I have to change an image I can edit in Fireworks through DreamWeaver or simply re-export my fireworks document. Even going back to the original Photoshop document is a snap if I need to. And, if I need to create other projects for the same client I already have their artwork in a variety of versatile formats to facilitate projects in other media.
So, a big thanks to Adobe for making my job more fun, less frustrating and for allowing me to work faster so I can make enough money to pay for your software.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Rebecca,
Just wanted to pop in, say hi, and encourage you to keep writing … I am enjoying your blog! I surfed over from the Jane Wayne site (cool, by the way). I, too, work in design and am married to a military member. We just left your neck of the woods about 18 mos ago (I recognize La Mesa housing!) and have moved on to LA. I bought CS2 when we moved there in ’05 … before Adobe bought Macromedia, so I got stuck with GoLive and had to buy Dreamweaver separately. I’m now pondering an upgrade, and considering learning Flash, too.
I learned to code in HTML/CSS before I got the “cool tools,” so I tend to think in the opposite direction you do … starting with code and function instead of design. It will be interesting to trade ideas — I’ll stay tuned in if you keep writing!
Hi Jen, It’s great to hear from another Creative Military Wife! I’m glad you like the blog so far. Congrats and Thanks for being my very first comment, and thanks for the encouragement. Hopefully I’ll have new articles up regularly.
I am also thinking of learning Flash. I need to find a good tutorial or a reference book. I haven’t used Flash in almost ten years, and I am sure it is completely different these days. Best of Luck!