Virtual Graphic Artist Webzine for the Graphic Arts Industry

This issue of Virtual Graphic Artist Webzine offers some exciting new articles. In Character Cell we take a close look at how type is placed on our screen in Quark and other programs. Quark actually manipulates character cells, a container for a character of type, and leaves the actual placement of the character to the operating system (Win or Mac). But there are some problems when you think you are working with characters when you are actually working with character cells. Read about how you can take charge of your characters and overcome any problems imposed by the character cell.

It's been awhile since we presented a web article. In this issue we present an article entitled Your First Web Page designed to help you put together the required hardware, software and internet connection. Then the discussion turns to how you can go about creating web pages with the most important advice being to start small and simple and let your pages grow as your skills improve with more experimentations.

This month we add a new article to our Digital Photography Resource. In Depth of Field we explore this phenomena of lenses where the focus is actually a range (called the depth of field). After a technical discussion, we compare some sample photographs that show how you can control the depth of field to keep your main subject in focus while blurring the annoying background. In the wildflower photo above, a Blue Flag Iris, focus is maintained on the flower while the dead tree and water in the background are intentionally out of focus.

We hope you enjoy these articles and return for our next exciting issue of the Virtual Graphic Artist Webzine. Please feel free to e-mail any comments or article suggestions you may have.

When we watch the screen as we type we see the characters appear almost as soon as we type them. This is nice, but an explanation of what exactly is happening will make you aware of a very serious problem that affects the way your type fits into your type box. Quark, and other programs, do not place the type on your screen, it places a character cell at the cursor location. In the character cell, the system (Mac OS or Win) will place the character according to the requirements set forth by the designers of the typeface taking into account any modifications you request through Quark. Finally, Quark does not show you the character cell but instead shows you the character generated by the operating system.

So you want to do your own web page but you don't know how to go about it? This article discusses some basic concepts of web page production to give you an idea of how to go about setting yourself to do web pages. When you plan to do your first page, keep the project very, very simple! There is no better advice for many times beginners want to produce Disney-type sites on their first try. Proceed one small step at a time and plan that your second (third or later) sites will incorporate more features. Plan for growth in your developing styles.

Presented here is a collection of articles about Digital Photography designed to help you understand the nature of digital photography. In this issue, a new article is added. Depth of Field, the amount of distance (actually a range) that you subject is still in focus and is expressed as a range from a certain minimum point close to the camera to a certain maximum point as distant from the camera. Everything in this range will be in focus and everything beyond or closer will be out of focus. In this article we explore the problems that are created with our poor range of focus, the result of a narrow depth of field. We will learn more about what it is, why we have it and what it means to our photography. Finally, we will explore some ideas of how to use it to our advantage to create interesting photographs.

Articles from our archives

Keyboard Shortcuts	Keyboard shortcuts. Even the word shortcuts says it all. Use them for they are the key to being a poweruser, symbols of your control over the computer and programs. The fastest and most efficient ways of interacting with our computers. We readily accept them for their promise of increased productivity allowing us to get our work done quicker. But let us explore this versatile productivity system and take a look behinds the scenes and get a better understanding of what they are and where they came from, why we have them.
Outline Type	In Illustrator you select the type tool and set some type. The result is, well, ordinary type. In this article we look at some things we can do with the standard basic character of type. The objective is to explore the concepts of painting our fills and strokes to achieve interesting typographic effects. The possibilities are almost endless with this very complex program. The techniques should work with Freehand as well since we are dealing with the basic concepts of type, stroke, fill and layers.
Program Upgrades	Upgrade. The developers of your favorite application program announce an upgrade and, of course, a new and higher version number. Suddenly all of us jump in line to buy the latest and greatest of desktop publishing tools available. Within a period of time we've all paid and have gotten our new versions, learned and worked them into our daily routines when suddenly... Read this paragraph again and again and then see the article exploring this fascinating phenomena!
Defining Graphic Arts	Making a career decision? Considering graphic arts? This article is intended to help you understand the nature of today's computerized graphic arts industry. It is an extremely large field but more than that, it is dispersed widely throughout all of our industries as well. Therefore, graphic artists do a wide variety of work, so much so that it is often difficult to prepare for all the tasks in use in the world today. Therefore, this attempt is to help you understand this complexity so that you may deal with it in a more logical way.