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31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Restoring modesty to the artist's tool enriches everyone, May 24, 2002
This review is from: The Arts and Crafts Computer: Using Your Computer as an Artist's Tool (Paperback)
The potential of the computer in craft has been seriously damaged by the excitement computers have generated. A parallel can be found when the Russian novelist Tolstoy was given a dictaphone to help speed up his writing. After a few weeks he threw it out the window. His neighbor asked if it didn't work. Tolstoy's reply was "It worked fine, but I got so excited using it I couldn't write." For almost two decades a generation of designers have succumbed to the excitement and hype of the computer without significantly adding any real content or substance to their work under the digitized banner. It is time for that to change, and Janet Ashford is a winning harbinger of that change. It doesn't help matters that most design software seems to be written by the left-brain dominant spouses of craft practitioners...well intentioned souls with no sense of the real kinesthetics of working color, form, texture. Janet Ashford has navigated through the difficult middle course between technology and entrancement. She draws! She creates custom palettes in her application software! She doesn't hit you over the head or talk down to the reader. Perhaps her experience of designing for and with her daughter has given her the wonderful tone of teaching someone she likes, who is lacking in knowledge but not in ability. That is a prized gift in any teacher, and Ashford has it mastered. She has maintained her enthusiasm, her innocent pleasure in sharing the joys of color and pattern, line, light and form. She is conscientious in gathering really useful resources together into a book that can pay off in serious fun the first weekend you get to use it, without resorting to false expectations. Buy the book. Use the example. You, and your craft, will be enriched without hype or over-simplification. Serious artists and craftspeople do not expect the tool to do the real work of creation for them. This book is written for the serious artists and craftspeople at any stage of their careers...from about 9 years old on up.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Book I Wanted to Write, January 4, 2002
This review is from: The Arts and Crafts Computer: Using Your Computer as an Artist's Tool (Paperback)
Being an arts and crafts designer from way back, I have always wanted to own this book. I couldn't find it on the shelves a couple of years ago and proposed to write such a book when I found myself inventing paper crafts for PrintMaster, a card design program produced by the Learning Company. But Janet Ashford beat me to it. And she has the know-how it would have taken me years to acquire. This is a magnificent tome, one that inspires as well as informs the crafts addict. Her expanations are sophisticated but clear to anyone who has passed beyond the basics. Lots of the projects are very artful and have the look of "handmade" without being too cutsy or too advertisingly slick. I recommend this book to anyone who loves crafts and has access to a computer with the big three type programs: layout, photo adjusting, and drawing. If you are new to computers, an accompanying book or class will set you up for this one.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ashford's very own Arts and Crafts Movement!, November 7, 2001
This review is from: The Arts and Crafts Computer: Using Your Computer as an Artist's Tool (Paperback)
I teach and write about digital art and computing, and have to read a lot for my work. Janet Ashford's books always stand out because of the quality of the writing, the beauty of the illustrations, and the crispness of the editing. This author has a wonderful gift - that of making complex ideas simple, and reducing so-called expert tasks to the few steps guaranteed to yield great results for everyone, regardless of skill level. If you are already using your computer to make art and craft items, you will find real inspiration on every page and soon come to rely on the technical aide memoires within, including the comprehensive lists of art materials and their stockists. If you have never used your computer in this way, or have only dabbled, you'll wonder what's been keeping you. Ashford's selection of crafts is broad, appropriate, and impressive. She'll show you how to make some exceptionally cool things - stationery, candle holders, boxes, gift bags, and enchanting games, among many others. You'll love making them, people will admire them, and others will love to receive them as gifts. How ironic that the computer, that icon of mass-production, should present such an easy way to achieve individualism in all areas of learning and living. Janet Ashford is fascinating on this subject, too. Her blissful, intelligent chapter on using your computer as a kind of propaganda machine was my personal favourite! If you buy this book you'll learn how to fill your house with beautiful, unusual objects and decorations. You'll be able to publish your own, uniquely designed, documents - from letters to leaflets. And if you want to, you'll never have to give another mass-produced card or gift ever again. This is a masterclass in fun and creativity from someone well respected in various artistic fields. The professional tips and tricks alone are well worth the price of the book. Janet Ashford is sharing a lifetime's experience here. I so admire her commitment to empowering the amateur or enthusiast, as well as motivating the tired professional :) Note: this is a superb companion to her previous, excellent book with John Odham, "Start with a Scan".
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