gus torres: illustration - animation - design

Twenty years ago today the first Macintosh was introduced with one of the most unforgettable ads ever run. Much has been written about this ad and the Macintosh’s impact on the personal computer industry but I don’t wish to go down that road today. I’d like to take this space to reflect on my personal experience and history using my favorite development machine.

When the Mac made its debut In 1984 I had no interest in computers. I was in college on track for my degree studying as an illustrator. and as such I was a “purist”. Watercolor, pen and ink, oils, and acrylics were my medium of choice.

In 1987 my college department advisor tried to recruit a few of us illustrators to beta test a new and upcoming piece of software from a local software company. I politely said no, quietly still believing that no computer could replace the handcrafting required by our field. The company was Adobe, the software, Illustrator 88 which later along with PageMaker would revolutionize desktop publishing. More irony, is that my first paid freelance job was for Apple. I created a few editorial illustrations for their international newsletter but since they were pen and ink (I had no use for the cold precision of design by a machine), somebody else had to scan them for publishing.

During the last semester of my senior year in college, it took one person to finally knock some sense into my thick elitist skull. I had been taking an editorial illustration class taught by Jim Hummel, an award-winning and incredibly talented editorial illustrator for the San Jose Mercury News whom I highly respected. In one of our classes he stated his excitement about some computer illustration classes he had been taking for work. Jim believed computers were going to revolutionize our industry as illustrators. I hadn’t considered anything of the sort. Here was a very talented “old school” illustrator embracing this tool which I believed all along had no place for artists. He spoke frankly to me the importance of change and remaining flexible in our industry as illustrators. How if we didn’t keep challenging ourselves by trying new things that we would be doomed to failure no matter how creative or talented we were.

Right after graduation from college I took my first computer class, a desktop publishing class at DeAnza College. In a room filled with original 512k Macintoshes and two dot matrix printers I learned how to use a mouse and a graphic user interface with a desktop metaphor. A trash can that bulged when full, folders that zoomed in and out, alerts in plain English, whimsical icons and a screen that smiled at me when it started up. And that’s when I fell in love with the Macintosh. Once I realized how liberating it was to work on this virtual canvas, there was no looking back.

15 years later, I still make my professional career working on a Macintosh as a user interface designer, illustrator, animator, and web site developer. I have had the opportunity to work on other platforms but nothing gives me greater joy than the Macintosh experience.

Happy 20th anniversary Macintosh.

One of the more memorable winter storms of the new year for us here in the Portland area has finally eased up leaving us with around 3/4 to 1 inch of ice on everything on top of a foot of snow. Besides catching up on a lot of client work, here are the top ten things I did while we waited out the storm for four days:

10. Performed a thorough and clean install of Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther).

9. Read 12 months worth of “Wired” magazine back issues. Now I’m 12 months behind everyone else of my lust of technology.

8. Watched our dogs sliding around the backyard in a valiant attempt at using their kennels.

7. Learned the subtle, yet important differences between the Toa and the Toa Nuva.

6. Found out I’m still lousy at Monopoly. The same holds true for Uno, Twister, chess, checkers, dominos, and Chutes & Ladders.

5. Discovered talk radio on the AM band. Now I’ve really become my father.

4. Watched through our window as our happy little snowman turned into the horrific iceman.

3. Found out what recipes can be made with 2 cans of creamed corn, garbanzo beans, a pint of buttermilk, and some stale Saltines.

2. Made friends with the Pepto Bismol after trying recipes made with 2 cans of creamed corn, garbanzo beans, a pint of buttermilk, and some stale Saltines.

1. But most importantly, embraced the joy in experiencing all of the above.