WEB DESIGN AND JOE
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Web HostingWeb hosting isn't really a fun topic, but in a way it makes this experience possible, so let me quickly tell you why Lunar Pages is a winner.I've been using web hosting services since 1994, and of all the goods and services highlighted on these pages, or more accurately, all the goods and services I use in my life, Lunar Pages is the only service that has actually offered more products and service while the average monthly rate has decreased! Can't say the same about my cable company, or cell phone service rate, or any other product that I use. And when you take advantage of Lunar Pages' special offers, the bottom line is unbeatable. With the current special rate of only $4.95 per month, I pay more for one month of basic cable TV service than I do for a whole year of web hosting. Although, unlike my cable TV, I rarely have to worry about the service going out, like my cable TV has a tendency to do, repeatedly! |
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 Get your feet wet with Painter Essentials 4, the scaled-down version of full-blown professional grade Corel Painter X. |
Of course, soon after Painter it was Adobe Photoshop and
a slew of other graphic software programs, but it was Painter that ignited
the spark. For someone like me with little formal education or training
in painting or art in general, that's no small feat. But at the time, and in many ways, still today, no other graphic software program worked like Painter, especially when used with a graphics tablet instead of a mouse. That combination is like Nintendo Wii way before its time.  Click to zoom in on my first mosaic created with Corel Painter. |
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DIGITAL PEN AND TABLET |
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![Wacom Bamboo 4"x5"](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000V9T2JA?ie=UTF8&tag=jpaw-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000V9T2JA"><img border="0" src="31+C0iBZMFL._SL110_.jpg"></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=jpaw-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000V9T2JA" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> "Small Wacom Bamboo at Amazon for only about $60")  |
Creating digital art with, a mouse just does not compare to the
control you have with a digital pen and tablet, and that's where
inspiration can be found. Drawing a simple line with a mouse was, and is
still, something one has to learn. But drawing a simple line with a pen or pencil, a piece of chalk or a crayon, is something we all learn at a very early age, and you are instantly comfortable and at home with one of Wacom's digital pen and tablets. And when it comes to creating digital art, you're that much more ahead of the game because you already know how to use the tools. Whether you have artistic skills or not, a Wacom digital pen and tablet inspires you to be creative and makes it easy to hone those skills learned years ago. |
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Flash |
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 Future Splash Animator grew up to now become Adobe Flash. |
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graphics alone do not make the web a unique medium. Enter motion graphics
and Future Splash Animator. Not only did this software allow you to easily draw with vectors like Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand, but it was designed from the ground up for use with a digital pen, and allowed you to add movement to your drawings, and broadcast them over the internet. Making the long story short, from Future Splash Animator, the full-blown web authoring tool Flash was born, and in just a few short years made the web the multimedia medium we enjoy today. |
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DREAMWEAVER |
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With graphics and animation in hand, to put everything together, Dreamweaver
has been my clear winner. Since my initial exposure to the web was
from the coding side of things, it's been a natural fit for me. Before Dreamweaver, I had been using Allaire's Homesite to code HTML. When Dreamweaver debuted, it shipped with a copy of Homesite as part of the package. Eventually Macromedia bought out Allaire, and many of the great features of Homesite were adopted by Dreamweaver. Though there had been other WYSIWYG web design packages available, none married web page layout with HTML coding better than Dreamweaver. Over the years Dreamweaver has improved through its versions and is now considered to be the industry standard. |
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ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE |
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Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium |
As things go in business, now you can get everything you need for professional
web design bundled in the Adobe Creative Suite Web Premium edition. It includes Dreamweaver CS4, Flash CS4 Professional, Photoshop CS4 Extended, Illustrator CS4, and Fireworks CS4. You also get Adobe Bridge CS4 to manage your assets, and Adobe Soundbooth CS4 to add professional-quality audio. That's 7 professional grade software programs for under 1500 bucks. If you can afford the initial outlay, the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium bundle earns Joe Picks a Winner status in both quality and value. |
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DIGITAL PAINTING VIDEO TUTORIALGreat help here with Chad Baldwin's digital painting videos. Three instructional videos clearly demonstrating Chad's cartoon layering technique with Painter. However, the same principles can be applied in Photoshop as well. While there are some good books out there on digital painting, it's really helpful to actually see a digital artist creating, step-by-step.DIGITAL PAINTING BOOKS   My
favorite books have always been the Wow! series by Peachpit Press.
All are beautifully printed and the short tutorials are clear and easy
to implement for beginner and pro alike.
 Most importantly, though, they are packed with inspiration. When you see the beautiful examples of what can be done, you can't help but give it a try for yourself. You'll be surpised to find your hidden talents! |
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ABOUT THIS SITE | |
| Everything on the Joe Picks a Winner site was created using the software listed above. Perhaps not in the most traditional ways, but nevertheless, the combined use of Painter, Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver and a Wacom digital pen and tablet were used to fashion the website in front of you. | ||
Let's face it, computers and the web weren't much
fun until systems and browsers gained more graphic capabilites. In
fact, admittedly, from the beginning my initial attraction to the personal
computer was soley for PC computer games and their increasingly detailed
graphics and complexity.