In the beginning...

During December 2006 I consolidated my older files into an external hard drive from my massive collection of backup CD's. As I looked to see what I wanted to transfer, I came across some of my very earliest work, which I thought some of this website's visitors might be interested in seeing.

I first started with computer graphics in 1997. The original program I worked with was Microsoft Paint, which was on a computer at my work. The idea of drawing on the computer fascinated me, because that was something I had never seen before. I started experimenting with circles and shapes, but later I learned how to use the cursor to draw freehand. When I learned how to copy and paste objects between Paint documents and within the same document, the idea came to my mind to do pictures of multiple birds. I made three pictures, two of which I still have and are displayed to the left. Originally I had a third picture of birds flying over a flat prairie, but I do not believe I still have a copy of that particular item.

From Microsoft Paint I moved to modifying clipart. I learned how to use Corel Draw and Corel PhotoPaint because I was interested in seeing how clipart images could be changed into something that more suited my tastes. I am posting four of my better alterations on this page.

The four clipart images posted here did not start out as my work. They are stock vector images that were included in several commercial clipart collections in the late 1990's. I read the copyright rules from the collection manual before posting GIF exports of the changed figures, and my understanding is that the images are intended to be modified and posted in websites and other publications as long as they are not being sold.