How Steve Jobs and his Apple Empire Influenced me

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Apple Computer's Influence on a Budding College Artist

When Steve Jobs passed away, even though I had known he was ill and I had never met him, I still felt as though I were losing a family member. Apple II series and Macintosh computers have been part of my life for somewhere around 30 years. I initially learned to program on an Apple computer (using Apple Basic). My first system was a Macintosh and, though I mostly use a PC now, I still consider myself a Mac partisan. I have also spent many a happy hour listening to music on my iPod shuffle. Thank you, Steve Jobs, for plugging me in and inspiring me to express myself in my artwork.

After hopping from college to college, major to major, and vocation to vocation, I found some direction thanks to Apple and Macintosh.

Enter Apple

I had tried math, then I tried languages. I tried fashion and jewelry design and television/radio. But none of them actually took. (Ok, so I'm still working on the jewelry designs, but you'll see more of that later, and I'm also re-inspired to work on my fashion designs and I added graphic design, but I digress). So after working my way through a bachelor's degree in TV/Radio and taking a year of MBA classes (another thing that didn't take), I decided to try computer graphics.

My brother was a programmer at the time and worked at home on occasion on an Apple II system (II+ initially). So, when he had one of the Apple computers at home, my brother taught me some commands, and, voila, I was on my way. I created an animated rainbow which went into other routines. I wanted to take some computer art classes, so I took my disk (the old 5 1/4" floppy disks that were really floppy) and showed this piece to the professor of the class I wanted to take and he loved it so much, he asked me to sign up for his class (If I recall, what he actually said was, "you have to sign up for my class."). During the course of, well, the course, the instructor loved everything I created and even asked me if he could use my final project in the next semester's syllabus. (It was a real kick to see the next semester's students working on MYproject.)

The first time I sat down at a Macintosh computer was at the home of a friend. I sat down and could immediately draw something. When my sister bought a Mac, I often had an opportunity to sit down and learn the computer. And then, I got a job working on a Mac. So when I went looking for my own computer I only looked at Mac computers. And, when I actually bought my own Mac (with a laser printer) I was thrilled. (I recall, somewhere around that time, when I was looking at systems, a friend of mine was also looking to get a computer. After looking at systems, she went PC and asked me, about my then new Mac, "Does it have windows?" I answered her: "Mac doesn't need 'Windows' -- 'Windows' is a PC simulation of the Mac system." I don't think she got it.)

Though I currently work on a PC, I'm still a Mac partisan. I miss my Mac (which, after 15 or 16 year went belly up last year, though I have most of my artwork on an external drive).

Thank you, Steve Jobs, for the computers of my life (not to mention my purple iPod shuffle)

How Did Steve Jobs change YOUR Life?

Computers, iPods, iPads, What is Your favorite Apple product?

Tell us in the comment section....

Compugraph Designs Jewelry Designs

I have been creating and designing jewelry for a long time. Most of my designs were originally created on Mac using Power Point. Click on the picture of the necklace to see more of Compugraph Designs' jewelry.

Compugraph Designs Arts Now Site

Arts Now is another "Print on Demand" site. They have a nice collection of clocks and watches, including the one pictured here (with my popular math symbols design on it). Click on the picture to see the entire site.

The Princess Who Wanted to be Beautiful

One of my first short stories, "The Princess Who Wanted to be Beautiful" started out as a bedtime story for the children of a close friend. I had been worrying about the "Disney Syndrome" whereby all the heroes are beautiful and all the ugly people are villains. This is a story about a princess who has heard that all princesses are beautiful and doesn't think she is beautiful. She decides to go to a wizard and ask him to make her beautiful but along the way she makes some friends and learns a lesson about herself.