CorelDRAW Master - Richard Reilly

Richard Reilly


Name: Richard Reilly
Occupation: Freelance Graphic Designer
Employer: Self-employed
Location: Jacksonville, Florida USA
Website: www.fluiddsn.com
Blog: www.fluiddsn.com
Hobbies: All forms of art. Backyard gardening.


Biography

How long have you been in this profession?
15 years.

Why did you choose this profession?
I have taken art classes all my life and throughout grade school, high school and some college. I knew I wanted to work in some sort of art or design setting, yet with no real formal education my options were limited.

How did you get started?
I started working for a local Imprinted Apparel Company as a screen printer. After learning the basics of the business and production, I started teaching myself the pre-press end of the business and learned to do art and color separations using CorelDRAW and a stat camera. Once I had the knowledge, I decided to start my own business catering to screen printers in my area, which quickly turned into clients worldwide.

What are your most important accomplishments?
First and foremost, my most important accomplishment was becoming a father. I would have to say besides my family, growing my business from a small manual one-person shop into a fully automated screen printing and embroidery company is definitely at the top of the list for major accomplishments.

Describe a special moment in your career.
Working with Photographer Elliot Landy on a project for an exhibit, "The Music of the 60s", at the Provincial Museum of Alberta was a very special moment for me in my career. This job helped to take my shop and skills to the next level and separate me from my competitors.

Another very special moment was participating as an Industry Expert at the CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Being a self-taught CorelDRAW user and having two conference classes full of patrons, as well as having my class voted for a repeat session at the end of the conference, was a huge highlight in my career.

History with CorelDRAW

How long have you used CorelDRAW?
I have been working with the CorelDRAW graphics suite since the early 90s.

How did you come across CorelDRAW?
An old fraternity friend of mine had CorelDRAW installed on his family computer and he approached me to design some t-shirts knowing I was a good illustrator. Showing me in CorelDRAW how we could scan in my sketches and easily change colors and orientation, which took seconds compared to redrawing by hand. I was so amazed at what CorelDRAW could do back then that I became hooked. You couldn’t pull me away from the program, I wanted to keep working and learning.

Do you have any interesting/funny/noteworthy stories?
In the late 90s I was approached by one of my customers to work on a design for one of their clients. It turned out that I had designed a ship's crest for the Egyptian Navy. They had come to Mayport Naval base to pick up a ship they had purchased from the United States and came to us for their designing needs. I still watch CNN in hopes of seeing my art on the sides of the ship.

What are your top three favorite CorelDRAW features?
My top three features are the Interactive Transparency Tool, Custom Media Tools and most of all, the ability to customize CorelDRAW to fit my personal designing needs.

What are the CorelDRAW features that allow you to distinguish your designs/art?
I really do not have any certain style of art that separates me from other artists where certain features would make my art distinguishable. All the tools in CorelDRAW enable me to achieve the look I am after on any design. If I had to pick just one tool, The Interactive Lens tool would most likely be the one. This tool enables me to reach the photorealism I have been after in my more recent renderings.

How do you feel about CorelDRAW?
CorelDRAW is the best graphics application on the market. I would recommend CorelDRAW to everyone looking at getting into digital graphics on both a hobby or professional level due to the power of the software and ease of use. Stay Correlian, my friends!