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AUGUST 2007

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Newton Florentino. I was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil and developed an interest in art from a very early age. I guess you could say that I have been an artist since the time in which I could firmly grip a pencil in my hand to begin scribbling on any piece of paper in which I could find. Over the years I have continued to sustain the same ideals however instead of using the pencil, I know use a digitalized tablet for commercial art and a canvas for fine arts.

During my twenties, I started working as a commercial illustrator for several advertising agencies. At that time, tempera (Gouache) and pastels were the basic media for doing such illustrations.

I can truthfully say, that I was never satisfied with the ordinary. I always have and continue to improve my work by purchasing books on the master painters, to learn more about both the new and old techniques.

I moved to New York in 1979 and I currently reside in Bayside, Queens, one of the boroughs of New York City. When I first arrived, I started looking for a job in commercial illustration and showed my portfolio to many advertising agencies. I had tempera (Gouache) illustrations in my portfolio. While the art directors loved my portfolio, they told me that here in New York, illustration for advertising was done through the use of felt-tipped Magic Markers.

In my thirties, I discovered that the only way to stay in the business was to learn how to illustrate with these new tools (the felt tipped pens). I had to learn how to blend one color into another while determining the best kind of paper to use so the markers wouldn't bleed. I had to be sure that my illustrations would be crisp and not overworked.

I spent the next couple of months revising my portfolio using the new media. I mastered the medium and after one year I was giving classes on how to illustrate with magic markers!

I used to do the whole comp (advertising layouts were referred to as comps, an abbriviation for comprehensives) by hand from the illustration to the lettering. But after 1988 with the introduction of computers, the art directors just had me do the illustrations, the layouts were composed on the computer.

I than learned to use Freehand, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. For many years, these programs worked OK, however, I was never satisfied with these programs ability to create  specific effects. Therefore, I constantly found myself having to jump from one program to another in an attempt to gain the desired effect.

Then in 2000, while surfing through the Internet I found XARA X. I don't think I have to tell you how happy this discovery made m!. Now I find myself using this program from the initial sketch to the final illustration. It gives me all the tools I need in order to complete a successful job, although I still use magic markers sometimes for my initial sketch before completing the job on the computer.

—Newton Florentino
Featured Artist February 2003

Xara makes several graphics products and all of them are fun and easy to use. And Xara makes this site possible so it would be nice if you just went to these pages and had a look see. Thanks.

You are probably aware of Xara Xtreme but have you downloaded Xara Xtreme Pro? All the tutorials in this Workbook are done in Xtreme Pro, so if you don't have it, get it now.

Here are some other products made by Xara and links to the Xara.com Website.

• Xara Xtreme Pro Xara's flagship product. Now with full PDF import and export support and Flash animation capabilities which you can see demonstrated in the upper left corner of this page. Xara is the world's faster vector drawing program and as the artwork in the Featured Artist Gallery attests, one heck of a program. Click here to download your FREE trial version or to upgrade to Xara Xtreme Pro today!
   
• Xara Graphics Studio Xara's three most popular products in one irresistible bundle. Xara Graphic Studio contains Xara Xtreme, Xara-3D 6 and Webstyle 4. This bundle will save you a bundle!
   
• Xara Menu Maker Create professional graphical NavBars and DHTML menus in an instant with Xara Menu Maker - no technical or design skills required. (And Xara does all of the heavy lifting!)
   
• Xara Webstyle 4 Everyone can make quality web graphics with Xara Webstyle, whatever your skill level. From banner ads to complete web pages, simply customize the templates.
   
• Xara Screenmaker 3D A 3D screensaver maker that's fast, fun and easy to use. Create animated 3D text or tumbling picture cube screensavers. (This application will make you a hero in your office or home. And it is embarrassingly inexpensive!)
   
• Xara 3D-6 Xara 3D is the Number 1 tool for creating stunning, professional-quality 3D web graphics. See why for yourself. You can use a 3D program and drive yourself nuts trying to figure out all that X Y and Z axis nonsense, or you can make your life easy (and fun) with Xara 3D. It's up to you.
   
• Xara 3D Heading Maker Add this great interactive tool to your web site and let your visitors make 3D graphics online.
   
• Xara Online Web pages stand out with Xara Online's state-of-the-art web page add -ons. Choose graphics, text and photo effects, or advanced applications, all fully-customizable and on your site in minutes.
   
• BuyFonts.Com All designers need fonts - get yours for as little as $2 US. Question: Is life a contest to see how few fonts you can use? With low prices and high quality fonts that you get at BuyFonts.com, do you need to ask?

©2007 Gary W. Priester
All art is copyright of the artist and may not be used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the author.