Fun with DrawPlus

For a long time, the idea of ever owning Adobe design software was a pipe dream. I satisfied myself and my clients with programs I downloaded from freeserifsoftware.com. If you're an aspiring designer or even a professional who doesn't yet have the funds for $800 software, don't despair. Don't let anybody tell you you can't make quality art with software that won't make you skip a mortgage payment (or three). And with the option to get full fuctionality from these free programs for just $10, you'll probably never even need the pricey ones as long as you have basic knowledge of commonly-accepted file formats. And the best part is that even though these programs were cheap, I could do a lot of the same stuff that I would be able to do with Adobe products.

Then I came across a distance learning program that offered a graphic design certificate. Part of my materials for these courses included the best programs in Adobe CS4 - InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. Knowing that it couldn't hurt to add them to my library as well, I decided to refresh my design skills, enrolled in the course and now possess the "industry-standard" software that supposedly no designer should be without.

But sometimes I get nostalgic for the old programs, and today I decided to have a little fun with Serif Draw Plus - which is very much like Adobe Illustrator. Using basic shapes, drawing tools and type functions, I applied their Glass Effect filter when designing this ad for a wine-tasting at a fictional winery. Here's the end result.