Being a Jack of all trades...

Hi :), the other day I was reading about the English phrase "Jack of all trades, master of none" (and really was a new phrase to me, in Spanish I've never heard something similar before) and I felt some how identified with this description, although a little bit later I found in Wikipedia something like this:

"The 'jack of all trades' part of the phrase was in common use during the 1600s and was generally used as a term of praise, rather than disparagement, as it is often used today. 'Jack,' in those days was a generic term for 'man.' Later the 'master of none' was added and the expression ceased to be very flattering. Today it is used to describe a person whose knowledge, while covering a number of areas, is superficial in all of them"

And now I don't feel that much of being a "Jack of all trades ...", and instead pursue being a focused person, but I can't...

And I can't because I got too deep in this sea of Web technologies and stuff, I can't because is what people pays me money to do and some people considers that is what I'm proficient at.

Somehow the last paragraph become true... I remember when I was 16 and attended to some art classes (I've learned a little bit of many techniques: pencil, pastel, watercolor, acrylics and oil paintings), I used to have a lot of fun in those classes, then 5 years later I stopped doing most of my art stuff and instead I started to do some tutorials in Macromedia Fireworks and then I applied some of this teachings in my own stuff. Then I started to learn programming things deeply in the university and then I got more comfortable doing programming stuff than things related to art. My brain switched sides of the force and it's not what I intended in the first place.

If I analyze this, it seems like I've lost a lot of my artistic side in the past 9 years and with a very pronounced exponential graphic curve in the latest years.

And nowadays something change, I've found Inkscape (thanks to Rore) and Gimp, and I saw what people can create with this cool graphic programs, and now I feel really enthusiast again! I like both programs but Gimp is somehow special to me, it's a program that for me is one of the closest experiences to my traditional art background, and I really like it because of that.

Finally I know that my designs and drawings (computer graphics and traditional ones) are not the best looking ones, but like Anne Frank said:

"And if I haven't any talent for writing books or newspaper articles, well, then I can always write for myself...I want to go on living after my death! And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift, this possibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me"

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Coche (72% Web developer, 16% computer graphics artist, 6% Watercolor painter and 6% Animator)

* I'll try to grab some percentage of the Web Developer thing and distribute it in the other 3, it definitely haves too much

** Like some of my previous posts I liked to add my tutorial after my "quick" introduction but this time I've written too much. The day after tomorrow, I'll post my Inkscape's Antenna tutorial, stay tuned!!