Online RFQ's

[evaldart]

I'm gearing up to submit my first online RFQ. Of course I'm procrastinating and facing it with maximum trepidation. According to the call its supposed to take an hour and a half (the average time, they claim, for a normal human) Well that means I'll be sitting in front of this window-to-nowhere for four hours. I will have to register an account with the hosting entity, answer a list of questions and write a brief description of my approach to the project - then theres the images...I will have to do massive photoshop battle to size and format the images and caption them as well. Anyone with experience at this have any advice or shortcuts...or even some soothing words? I'd rather be writing on slides with a Pilot Fineliner (the good ol days).

[Aaron Schroeder]

The slide days are gone. Several years ago I got a super deluxe all steel slide cabinet with numerous slide holding racks that pull out in front of an illuminated backdrop. It features several slide holding drawers.....the works. I've moved it a dozen times ( it's so heavy ).........all the while thinking I'm so cool because I scored a thousand plus dollar institutional slide cabinet. It's tragic.

I just recently did my first online individual excellence award application. It sucked. The learning curve took many hours......I spent days getting my ducks in a row. It was only possible by using the 30 day free trial of photoshop. Next time around I'll have to pay........unless of course someone turns me on to a free equivalent. Hint....hint.

All things considered.......I'm not complaining. Digital feels much easier than old school slides. I actually find myself touching up images in a way that was not possible with slides. Taking good slides was really hard.

I'll miss slides..........but not really.

[Ries]

I dont miss slides.
I am sitting in front of a shelf that has book after book of pages of slides- probably 1000 different images, 20 dupes to a page- and boy, am I happy I dont have to maintain, label, order, and sort all those any more.

Digital is where its at, man!

Photoshop is a necessary evil- but once you get used to it, you can reformat images in a minute or two each- it shouldnt take hours.
I have a file folder on my Mac with my 30 or so most used images, in several different sizes, and so I can actually apply to one of those comps in an hour or so.

I have a standard letter of interest, with about a dozen variations, saved as well, and I pick the most relevant one, then customize it .

Digital resume, updated once in a while.

As long as its not a request for an actual design, I can whip one out in a very short time.

You should look at CAFE, as well- its the future, where all your images are uploaded once to the website, and then, when you want to enter something, you just select the images already there. You can literally finish an application in 15 minutes or so.

http://www.callforentry.org/

[evaldart]

This CAFE is exactly the site they're sending me to to get going. You're right of course, Ries, that it will all be easier in the long run after I overcome the initial incapacities and posess a cyber package that can be easily customized for quick and easy use.
But I'll miss the rejection letters too. That letter is a tactile thing, lofted from afar like a grenade, shrapneling you with lacerating dicouragement and maiming disappointment amid the thundering chant of your unseeing addressor "WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU..." ; gives you battle-scars you can show your friends. An e-mailed glove accross the cheek seems nauseatingly cowardly - I might be ashamed to do business like this.

[StevenW]

Well, unless you plan on becoming a professional graphic artist you don't need photoshop. Adobe is nice, but truly diabolical and they now own the only serious competition, Macromedia.. Corel has its place and may yet gain ground too I suppose..

You can use Gimp, it's the free, open source alternative to PS and it's pretty powerful. I got a copy of fireworks before adobe bought them and it's nice, but aging software.. X3 by Corel is also about half as expensive and does just about everything PS does and some of it better.

As far as encouragement goes, do you really think you need it? Something tells me that in the back of your mind you know exactly what you're doing and where you're going and from what I can see, it's nice.
Rejection is the norm and success the rarity, if it were any different we'd be cheated from our struggle and without that life might be somewhat flavorless.

[Ries]

I get rejection emails nowadays- its oh so modern.

But many places still send out old fashioned paper rejection letters, even for digital submissions.

Sometimes I wish I had kept em all- the stack would reach the ceiling by now.

Me, I am sticking with photoshop.
Its universal, powerful, and I have no doubts it will still be made or supported next year.

And frankly, a few hundred bucks for software seems awfully cheap to me- aside from photoshop, I mostly just use a word processing program, dreamworks to update my website, and i-tunes.

The real money is in metalworking tools. If you think photoshop is expensive, you have obviously not bought a tig welder lately, much less been pricing CNC milling machines as I have.
I spend more on Argon every 2 months than a copy of Photoshop costs....

[evaldart]

Well, I failed miserably at this. Coudn't figure out how to get the images to 1920 x 1920, a square format. Tried for hours then accepted defeat. My brothers a wiz so I'm just gonna sit down with him on my next visit. The wall of Shame will have to wait a bit longer for the next reject letter.

[tonofelephant]

Evaldart,

Know the feeling. Really hate formatting to the 1920 x 1920. I do the pictures in Adobe Photoshop. Sometimes when I put a 1920 x 1920 border around the picture and upload it, CAFE tells me I have sized it incorrectly. Obvioulsly I had not made the correct burnt offering to the correct god.

Carl
www.wsggallery.com

[Aaron Schroeder]

I can't imagine what your problem was........I blazed through the tutorial.......it only took me a week, 9 days, 26 hours, 108 minutes and 74 seconds to figure it out. Of course I'm a wizard when it comes to all thing computer........so it was easy for me.

It's kind of like learning to ride a bike, once you have it.........it's a breeze.

[ironman]

Hi, I can't seem to get my photos to resize to 1920x1920 either.
I think the photos have to be taken at a high resolution and then resized down to that square format, I just can't seem to get it to work.
Have a great day,
Jeff

[evaldart]

Could be Jeff...I better check my camera too. The whole damn problem might be there. Anyhow, I wont be bothering myself about this until expert advise is sitting right next to me.

[ironman]

Hi Evaldart, PLEASE, pretty please let me know how you make out with that.
Have a great day,
Jeff