Introduction

At the time of this writing, I’m an Arts and Technology major at The University of Texas at Dallas, and I’ve started this blog as an assignment for ATEC 3320, Intro to Writing for the World Wide Web.  In the past I’ve also studied fashion design and graphic design at Wade College in Dallas, and I have a certificate in Game Design and Programming from Weatherford College, where I also worked as an assistant to the school’s web designer and as a junior programmer/information systems assistant.

So why did I choose to write a blog about open source software for artists and designers?

When I was growing up, my father worked in software development, and often, he brought his work home. What this means is that there have been computers in my home from the time of my earliest memories. Our home even had an Internet connection in the days before it became commonplace to have one.

 My older sister became a web developer when she was still in high school (at the time of this writing, she is currently the lead web developer for a major retailer). However, while I’ve always been comfortable around computers, being more artistically inclined, I never became a true “tech geek” until college. It was only through my interest in film editing, sound design, graphic design, web design, and game design that I really started to “geek out” over computers.

In my design work I have used commercial software packages such as Adobe Creative Suite, Final Cut and Soundtrack Pro, as well as open source packages such as GIMP and Blender. I have also experimented with various operating systems, including Windows, Mac, and Linux.  I would like to use this blog as an opportunity to further explore the possibilities of working in a completely open source design environment.