wafflesatnoon.com

I’ve had the privilege of working from home for the past 7 years. My twins, who are nearly 10, have virtually grown up seeing me at my computer with CorelDraw on the screen.

And the older they get, the more technically capable they get every day.

Lately they have both taken more of an interest in my work and in CorelDraw. So I’ve started to let them experiment with the program. My daughter created a colorful image of her name, warped slightly with an envelope. My son created a sports-looking image with a manually-drawn baseball on it.

(more…)

It seems that most graphic artists can be categorized in two ways. (Yes, I’m already generalizing, and yes there are always exceptions - let’s get that out of the way upfront). There are the schooled artists and the non-schooled.

I don’t know if I’ve ever met a schooled graphic artist who wasn’t deeply embedded in the Adobe school. Many schooled artists don’t even consider other software.

Is it too soon for an aside already? Yes? Well bear with me.

I always thought it ironic that so many graphic artists used a Mac and Adobe products. They complain about how the Mac is superior to Windows yet it’s far behind in sales and popularity. And how those unenlightened Windows users would be convinced of the Mac’s superiority if only they’d give it a serious chance. Then they sit down and use Adobe products and ignore similar complaints from the CorelDraw community. If only they’d give it a serious chance.

Anyway.

When I was hired at my current job 12 years ago, I was using PageMaker for page layout, Illustrator for vector, and Photoshop for bitmap editing. As most of you know, this was (and in many cases still is) the de facto setup for DTP: Edit images in Photoshop, create the vector images in Illustrator, and place them all along with text in Quark or InDesign. Three applications… all expensive.

That’s how I did it… 12 years ago.

Until I was shown CorelDraw.

The ability to combine a page layout application with a vector illustration program had obvious and immediate appeal. The fact that CorelDraw alone was far cheaper than Illustrator or Quark made it even more appealing. Once I took a look at PhotoPaint’s integration with CorelDraw, and found that it was a viable alternative to Photoshop, I knew my reliance on Adobe products had ended. Once I realized I could create and output multi-page documents within my vector illustration program, I knew I had found a better way. Yet here I am 12 years later, still enlightening people who had no idea.

I worked prepress many years ago, before becoming a professional graphic artist. I recall seeing then (just as I’m sure it is still being done now) Quark or PageMaker documents sent over that really looked like an Illustrator file plopped into a .qxd document and sent over.

I still see this sometimes, and it seems rather silly now. Too many times people hang onto the things they are familiar with, even to the exclusion of better, faster, cheaper, and easier methods.

Fortunately with the rise of the PDF format, graphic artists are now allowed more freedom to choose which application they feel best suited to their abilities. I’ve heard some old-school Illustrator apologists who still claim to be able to tell when something has a “Draw” look to it. But besides these misguided fringe thinkers, many newer generation pre-press workers don’t even care anymore. If the file is in a format they can work with and lacking any major issues, they don’t care if it was created in CorelDraw, Illustrator, Freehand, or Windows Paint.

So in the 1990’s, when CorelDraw was being beat up by the schooled establishment, those of us who discovered that this fantastic product more than met our needs continued to use it. Reports of Corel’s death were greatly exaggerated.

Which leads back to my initial aside above.

Apple was pronounced dead continuously during the 90’s and early 2000’s, but its loyal base of users refused to let it die. I am not an Apple user, but I salute and respect those people who stood by a product they believed in.

Sometimes a product doesn’t become the most popular, but its fan base keeps it alive. Apple remained on life support for several years and is actually gaining popularity now. It was kept alive by zealous users and openings in niche markets, such as the graphic arts industries.

Ironically, mainstream graphics industries are what CorelDraw had to avoid in order to make its own comeback. The product found its way into other niches, such as signage, slot glass, clothing design, and overseas markets.

Macs and CorelDraw have clawed their way back onto the radar and can no longer be ignored.

Perhaps most ironic is that these two products have never found much love for each other. Apple embraces almighty Adobe, while Corel only has eyes for ubiquitous Microsoft.

Alas, it’s perhaps best this way. Chances are that if it were the other way around, and Corel/Apple and Adobe/Microsoft had taken sides, I’d still be using Illustrator, you wouldn’t own an iPod, and Corel would reside only memory of a few loyal fans.

This was originally posted on my other blog on CorelDraw.com.

From 1992 until 1996, I used Adobe Illustrator exclusively. I used at my job, so this was not low-end hobby use. It was full-time, high end output. Daily. In late 1996, my boss took it upon himself to hire a graphic artist who I would train, but I wasn’t consulted on who was hired. The new guy showed up to work on his first day with a copy of CorelDraw 6 under his arm and a goofy grin on his face. I told him I had used version 5 and really felt it was far behind Illustrator 6 that was currently on the market. To be fair, I let him install it and show me what it could do.

A month later, we had Draw on all of our computers and I never used Illustrator full-time again. I had to admit that this goofy new guy had shown me a product that got the job done easier, better, and cheaper - in my opinion. And my opinion is all that mattered at this company.

Fast forward to May 2008.

I’m having dinner with an acquaintance I had just met through a mutual friend. This guy is also a professional graphic artist. The conversation started out focused on his training. He went to school to study graphic arts, so I already knew he was an Illustrator guy. He also mentioned he used a Mac. It was a great conversation.

And then he asked me about my graphic arts career.

I told him that I learned by doing, in my parents’ print shop while working my way through college (studying a far different career path). Then I told him I had used Illustrator early on, but decided to switch to CorelDraw, which I still used. His response?

“I didn’t know they still made that.”

I’ve heard similar reactions.

A few years ago I was doing some ads to go in the USA Today. Because they said PDF’s generated by Illustrator were the preferred format (at that time), I decided to design the ads directly in Illustrator (version 10). They were using an earlier version. I sent over a PDF, created in Illustrator. My rep called and said there was a translation error going backwards in version and to PDF at the same time. Apparently a drop shadow or similar effect didn’t turn out right. We went back and forth, and she gave me the exact settings to use, all to no avail. Finally, I decided to re-create the artwork in CorelDraw and publish it as a PDF using the PDF settings she gave me for Illustrator. I purposely didn’t tell her what I had done, only to try the new file. “Whatever you did worked that time!” she emailed.

In about 2001, I was calling around for print quotes. One pre-press person I spoke with heard “CorelDraw” and over-reacted like a 10-year-old when Sesame Street is on TV: “Oh no. You don’t use THAT do you?” She acted like my artwork would have cooties.

I responded firmly but politely, “Yes. I don’t bash your software so please don’t bash mine. I’ve been using it for years and have never had an issue with it.” I decided to use someone else.

So back to where my original story started… After a few years of using Draw with my colleague, I had been promoted and was running the advertising department. We were expanding, so I had to hire a couple new employees. This time I said Draw was a required experience. There was no shortage of applicants, many of whom were highly talented. I wondered if all those dogmatic Illustrator users realized just how many Draw users were out there.

I have no beef with Illustrator or its users.

I do have a problem with ignorant arrogance. If I meet someone who uses Freehand or another illustration program, instead of unknowingly bashing it, I ask them what they like about it and why they chose not to use the “industry standard.” It can be an enlightening conversation, and I’ve seen some brilliant artists that don’t use Draw or Illustrator. I’ve seen great effects in some of these lesser known apps that neither Draw nor Illustrator have.

There are many schooled graphic artists who subscribe to all of the dogma their Illustrator evangelists preached to them. I actually feel sorry for these people. Their ignorance borders on bigotry toward users of alternate applications. Draw users have seen and heard it all before - the snide comments, the rolling eyes, and the uneducated dismissals. This from people who have probably never even used the application.

There’s a reason CorelDraw exists today in its 14th version. It’s a great app, every bit as good as Illustrator (if not better), significantly less expensive (with far more extras included in the box), and arguably far easier to learn and use.

I’ve used Draw at my full time job for the past 12 years. I’ve done several 200+ page magazines, huge signs, small signs, nearly 200 pocket-sized pamphlets, web site graphics, postcards, newspaper advertisements, high end graphics, low end graphics, logos, T-shirts, you name it. CorelDraw has aptly handled every task I’ve thrown at it.

The computer world is filled with zealous users of products that don’t have the most sales. And they’ll all tell you that “most popular” doesn’t always mean “better.”

Just ask advocates of Macintosh, Zune, Firefox, WordPerfect, and Linux.

And CorelDraw.