"You're using WHAT?!!

When I had first gone over to the digital world of drawing, I was not too familiar with what programs were available to me. Of course I had heard of the obvious Photoshop and actually had used Corel Draw before, however I was not about to pay a ton of money for a program which I wouldn't use. At the time, I had learned through my older brother that you can draw in Microsoft Powerpoint... yes, Powerpoint. Now to the common person Powerpoint was only to be used for cheesy business or school presentations, however to me it was a drawing program with no limits.

I figured out early on that with my drawing skills and know-how of the program tools, I could replicate the same look and style that someone with a high end program could make. This is some of the early icon work I was able to conjure up using nothing but Powerpoint:

I'm not kidding, these were made in Powerpoint 2007. Many people kept trying to push me away from the program claiming that professionals use ONLY photoshop, and I just knew that wasn't the case. I think that the program does not make the artist, you use what you have and work with it. Sure once you are at a certain level and you are able to upgrade you should, but just because "everyone" uses a program, doesn't mean it is the best for you

Nowadays you can't be an illustrator without working in certain file formats, and this is probably the only reason that I progressed forward. I now submit my work to sites which sell my graphics, and of course the quality of the image is the number one selling point besides the overall image. Vector is a format thrown around way more now than when I started, and as the times change, so do the programs. Unfortunately, Powerpoint is not able to save in such formats, but I still love showing people how I used it. For kids or people who really just want to test the waters of the graphic world, it is a fantastic program in its friendliness and tools.