I really like 2020, it looks so good and promising just from the nice even numbers! When I look back on 2019, I must say for me it felt like a year with far too much focus on “tech” (=computers) and too little on creativity, art and craft. So much of my energy was used on choosing and learning new computers and new programs.
I don´t do things in a rush so for me it takes weeks and maybe months of googling before I finally take a decision on something so important as buying a new computer. My old one was very old, I really needed a change. Bu to what? I even started questioning my long affection for Mac, but eventually I went with a new iMac and now I am pleased I did. But it feels a bit boring that it still look almost like the old one, I mean it is about ten years between them!
Since I do not like the small keyboard that comes with it I quickly bought another from Satechi that fitted perfect, looks good and feels nice to use. It doesn´t take up to much space on my table, but still has all functions I need and am used to.
I also had to buy a new ergonomic mouse right away, MX Master from Logitech, since the small white one is really bad in my opinion! The Logitech mouse is nice, but maybe a little too big for my hand?
Since I use creative programs like Photoshop and Affinity I also always need a digital pen. I have used Wacom for many years and have tested different sizes, but I prefer “Small”. I use small movements when I do drawings and retusch, so bigger is not necessary for me, it would only take up more space on my desk.
Of course I also needed a new printer and scanner. That took a lot of thinking and reading forums and reviews. I am surprised so little seemed to have happened to scanners since last time I bought one many years ago. Most of them do not seem to be better than the old one I already had. But then I guess most people do not scan watercolor or grey tonal drawings… A separate scanner would probably be best, but on my budget and room space I finally picked a combined print and scan device from Canon, Pixma G6050. My old Pixma was always in need of new toners, it made it very expensive in the end. This has a totally new approach with large refillable ink tanks that are suppost to be much more economical, and so far I am most pleased with it.
After all these changes in my home office I also did almost the same procedure at my day work as marketing assistant, but there I work on a PC.
But it does not end there, oh no. One major reason to change computer was I needed new ways to handle all thousands of pictures waiting in “Photos” to be sorted and handled. My problem is I never liked Photos, I feel it takes the control from me and I do not like that the actual image files are “hidden” from me. So when changing computer I also exported everything year by year and started looking for new ways and new programs to handle the mess… Well, that will take a while… But now almost all is filed in neat folders by year and month that I can SEE and change myself. So far I use Graphic Converter and Bridge to overview them, but this is something to still evolve this year…
But wait, there where more big “tech” changes in 2019. WordPress changed the foundation of how to work with pages and posts to “Gutenberg”. So I had to re-build this site and most important the site I am responsible for at my day job where there are lots of member pages with shop, download and much more. Ok, it was not hard to do it when the first irritation cooled off, but it took time and energy!
Ah, then I also changed web hotel for this site. A process that I read would be easy… It was not, due to something with the database and the language plugin (and me I guess). I wanted a clean install, but in the end I had to copy over everything, including irritating old dust in the database from old deleted plugins and themes. It will not go away still after how many times I tried plugins for cleaning the database… bah!
In the end all this and much much more resulted in me doing only one drawing for a whole year. A bit sad to think about, but not so strange since I these days do not work as an illustrator any more. My only drawing was for a christmas card and I think it turned out all right.
I wish you all a happy new, more creative year!
:-)
