Richard Allen Hoffman (Rich)

I was brought up in northern California roaming through woods, the sea and streams as a child. Next, I went into the Navy and served on submarines. After leaving the Navy, I went back to college as an art major. I tried transferring to a four-year college, however, I wasn't able to get in as an art student. I changed my major to mechanical engineering and was accepted. I graduated with a BSME. While working as an engineer, I continued to develop my artistic talents. I decided to draw live creatures in their natural habitat. This has been an interesting endeavor and I coupled this with photography which you can see in my work.

Marcia Broekarts (MarciaB)

I was born in The Hague, the Netherlands, after that I lived in Amsterdam and Groningen where I studied interior design and architecture. I worked for a long time in several art and design galleries where I organized exhibitions and yearly group exhibitions for the academy of fine arts graduates (design). Later I was part of a team that organized the twice-yearly Atelier Route Groningen. For 6 years, my husband and I had a market stall where we sold wooden furniture and small stuff made by Jan Peter www.jplangkamp.nl and old country furniture from France.

Then we bought a house in France and we moved there. At first I didn't know how else to occupy my time, aside from restoring the house and starting a vegetable garden (we are big fans of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, a great British gardener and cook. www.rivercottage.net)

After a year or so I had a big idea! I bought a computer (a PC) and a digital camera. I set about learning how to use these tools and I am continuing to learn. I currently work for a British writer who owns a Macintosh, which he lets me work on, and I like that very much! At home on my PC, I design websites, posters, logo's, flyers and other publicity materials. And I create publicity for an art centre here in France, where again, I organize exhibitions. www.2a2b.fr

First I worked with Illustrator, but since I discovered Xara I create all my graphics with Xara, because it gives me a lot of inspiration!

Peter McWhinnie (Albacore)

The drawings shown are not my best as all have faults but they represent to me stepping stones in my drawing development. Although I am a retired principal teacher of Technical Education I have managed to con my way into a part-time illustrator for a Scottish newspaper. This may sound grand but in theory most of my work is in mindless advertisements that you see in the back pages of every newspaper which have to be created using Illustrator as the main design tool. I like many of the tools and output that Illy gives you but I do not enjoy all the "finger hopping" that you have to do to draw and edit a line. So all my work at home is done using Xara Xtreme Pro where the Shape Editor is so easy to use.

Dr. Akhtar Amin Ahmad

Nationality: Indian
Profession: Doctor of Pediatrics working in the Kingdom of Bahrain for the last 25 years.
Hobby : Graphic Art. It all started when I used the Demo of XARA X1, Later I purchased all the XARA software.

Creating my images helps me to relax after long days working at the Clinic. I am just in love with XARA. I have a lot to learn about Xara, but I learn something new almost every day.