It's funny how things come together without any rhyme or reason, especially in good and interesting ways.

Just last week, I was thinking of something new that I wanted to undertake. Not so much a hobby or project, but an exercise routine of sorts for my creativity and imagination. With my line of work, surprisingly enough, I don't seem to get a lot of time to do much drawing or illustration, and I'm starting to think it might be affecting my design work overall. I find myself managing workflows and manipulating tools more than actually doing what I'd consider really creative stuff, and I figured it was time to find new ways to do that, even in the simplest ways.

For many in the illustration industry, it's probably no surprise than many artist these days are working in a completely digital environment. By that, I mean that all sketching, illustrating and finishing is done on a computer. I've been doing that for about the last six years or so, but only recently had a steady run at it. Having done some small illustrations for the magazine just about every month, I've been able to get a somewhat organized process going, and it's worked okay for the most part. The only part that gives me trouble is the concept phase. I still have to work with a pencil and paper to get things going. Yesterday, while I was sketching out some ideas, I had a thought.

Yes, it's true, you can get by just fine without ever coming into contact with a computer in today's world.I've got a relative that has been illustrating, painting, designing for years, but now she's out of work. I'd imagine the big hitch is that she doesn't work with computers. I've done enough illustrating over the years to know that working with computers is hardly necessary, and can actually become a hindrance if you let it. But is it essential that artists use them?

These days, absolutely. Even if not a single stroke is laid down using a computer, there's so much more to conducting everyday business that requires it. That's where my relative is stuck out. During a discussion the other day, it took me a little while to realize that we're working in two different worlds. She's a bit older than me, so my initial reasoning behind the lack of computer skills was the age/generation factor. Then again, my dad uses a computer all the time. I've worked with all sorts of people of all ages, from their 20s to their 50s, who are very proficient, so that couldn't be it.

Just received our new Quicksilver G4 today at work and with it came OS X.

After installing it on my G4 and playing around with it for a while, I've decided that it is ALL RIGHT.

Hell, better than alright... this system rocks m'socks! And yeah, that's right. I've got half a gig of RAM and TWO G4 processors!

With the new Microsoft Lifestyle Upgrade, aka Windows XP, aka Windows for Dummies, Windows users are about to get a whole new user base... a gang of idiots.

Not that all Windows users are necessarily dumb, but the Overall Windows Competency Average is about to sink to a new low. After hearing Jim Allchin speak, the group vice president of Microsoft's platform division, you'd think he was addressing room full of 4 year olds. Or 104 year olds.

Of course, it's obligatory that someone from MSNBC would have to defend this whole mess.