Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Where to begin? Well, for starters, nice site you have here. I have been perusing for a few days now, taking in some of the information. I`ve also been lurking the forums and just generally checking everything out. Looks like a nice community you`ve got going on here, and I look forward to bantering with you all.

I`ll share a little bit about me. I`ve got 2 true addictions in life; graphic design and dogs. Strange combination? Maybe. I enjoy it nonetheless. My first foray into the graphic arts was when I was 14 and geocities still had free webpages with nothing but a little banner at the bottom!

The many nights I stayed up, playing with html code and Paint Shop Pro started me down the path of web design and development. I now work for a small web development company, doing all of the graphic design work (and some photography) for their websites. We have been open for a little over 4 years now, and still going (and growing) strong. I really like the way our company is structured, with each person having their own area of expertise, instead of one person having to know it all, like many web developers do. Instead, we have a graphic artist (me), a programmer, an seo/internet marketing specialist, and a usability expert. Since we work well together, it just makes everything easier and the finished product stronger.

My second true love is dogs. Right now I have 3 of them. However, one of them is just a foster dog and will be finding her forever home eventually. I am a volunteer instructor for a local obedience club and I also do therapy work at a local nursing home with my TDI registered dog. The dogs and I also enjoy participating in Flyball, Rally-O, Agility, and Obedience.

Well, that`s probably more than you wanted to know, eh?
Thanks for reading :-)


-------------------------

Kathy-

In my opinion, while Paint Shop Pro may not be considered the "industry standard" for graphic design, it certainly can help you lay down a nice foundation of knowledge for learning other graphics programs in the future. I designed for a very long time in Paint ShopPro before I decided to move to Photoshop. PSP has also come a long way since its first days. It has a lot more of the same powerful features that Photoshop has. In short, I really like the program and still use it for some things.

And yes - you can have a lot of fun with photographs in PSP, too. I`ve been delving into photography for a couple of years now and have found the photo-editing tools in PSP to be perfectly suitable for most things.  I`m sure there are lots of different opinions about this topic between graphic designers. But I worked in PSP for many years before switching to Photoshop and for my basic purposes, found them equally usable.

Shooting photos has become an interest of mine since I purchased my first digital camera, about 4 years ago. I`m a person who doesn`t like to waste stuff, which also means I was never a fan of taking experimental shots on 35mm cameras, because I felt like I was wasting film. Now, I can shoot all sorts of experimental ideas without feeling bad about it!

Anyway, thanks much for the welcome, and I`ll try to be of help on any topics that I have knowledge in, so feel free to ask. :-)


-------------------------

Christina -

Just wanted to welcome another design industry professional to the SuN community.  Hope you are having a great Fourth of July holiday.

- J.




-------------------------

Jeff Fisher | Jeff Fisher LogoMotives | Tweet! Tweet!

and being that startupnation is as much about living true to your passion as it is about business, i just wanted to welcome another lover of dogs (as one who has two, and my brother three).

hope our community brings a lot of value to you in your endeavors and that you find good company here!

best,

rich

-------------------------

Rich Sloan , Co-Founder, Chief Startupologist, StartupNation

Hey Jeff!  Good to see another GDF`er over here :-)


-------------------------

Good to see another dog lover around here! My dogs are great for stress-busting on those hard days, so I consider them part of my business plan ;-) Thanks much for the welcome.


-------------------------

Christina, I am also a Graphic Designer who just joined a couple of days ago.
I am hoping to gain some business knowledge from the Pro`s here. I`m sure I
will see you around!

Have a great Holiday!

Welcome everyone!

The Swaynester

ThinkTank and Swaynester - good to meet you and thanks for the welcome. :-)

-------------------------

Christina,

I am a dog lover too!  I have a mini schnauzer named Gonzo and a North American Shepherd (Mini Aussie) name Huey.

You can Look at some of there pictures by clicking here --> http://gallery.jakenecessary.com/main.php?g2_itemId=1904

Hope to talk with you soon.

-------------------------

Thanks,

Jake Necessary
Check my Profile for Messengers