Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The Learning Curve

If something is very hard at first, the learning curve is said to be steep. I thought that digital scrapping would have a steep learning curve. I flattened the curve and made it easier by going slowly. I also had a lot of general computer skills. I didn't need to learn how to create a file structure to store my files, or even how to click and drag a mouse. I had a base to start with. The skills from one area support skills for another.

When I look back on my first digital layouts, I have no desire to do them over and correct my beginner mistakes. There's nothing wrong with making beginner mistakes when you are a beginner. If I could not look back and see progress, then I'd start to worry.

Here's one of my early layouts. I was making an almost exact copy of a paper layout from a Club Scrap plan. I was also using all Club Scrap digital paper. I was thrilled that I could cut shapes and create drop shadows. Putting in text was not easy, but I could do it. The text isn't centered, but that was beyond me at the time. I remember having difficulty centering things and having to figure out how to use a grid to line things up.



This is one of the layouts I recently completed. I'm not thrilled with the feathered edges in all areas, but I know the contrast from photo to background paper is such that I can't get it perfectly the way I'd like. Aligning the text was easy. So were drop shadows. The papers and embellies are from Teri Hanson's American Soldier kit. I desaturated one paper and decreased the opacity when I placed it over a fill layer to create a background in the green that I wanted. Teri only provided that pattern in blue. I used a section of another paper and made it a bit less opaque for the eagle. I don't think of this layout as a fancy one, though.

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