Sunday Stock: Vecteezy

Today I'm going to keep it short and sweet. The Vecteezy site offers a number of pieces of vector artwork that you can download and use in your projects. Most of the samples I explored are provided as Adobe Illustrator files and you'll find a few CorelDRAW files. You should be able to get most of the AI files to work in current versions of CorelDRAW, but your mileage may vary.

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Sunday Stock: iStockphoto Image of the Week

You may already be familiar with the folks at iStockphoto. They supplied 1000 high-resolution images for inclusion with CorelDRAW X4. And when you registered, they gave you credits towards the purchase of more images.

I know users are hesitant to create accounts sometimes because they don't want to get extra e-mail. I can't remember when I created my iStockphoto account, but it was probably at least two years ago. I do get 2-3 e-mails a week. Some are purely promotional, most have something of value. For example, one of them tells me about the free image of the week. That's right, once a week you can download a high quality image for free! Some of the images will be something you can use, others will be interesting though not useful in your line of work. I just make sure to download all of them and store them in a folder just in case. Once a month they also offer a free vector illustration for download.

Yes, you'll need to create a free account to download the freebies. I think it is a very fair trade-off to get the free images and illustrations.

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More Revived Tutorials

Yesterday I told you about some of our older tutorials that had been revived recently. Today I'll give you a list of three more that have recently been revived.

One of the most common tasks that CorelDRAW users face is converted lousy bitmap logos into vector artwork. The Converting a Bitmap Logo to Vector in CorelDRAW tutorial shows some of the basic techniques on a relatively simple logo.

If you need to draw in isometric views, Constructing Isometric Grid Paper will show you how to set up a grid system for doing it. For the occasional project, this tutorial will definitely get you going in the right direction. If isometric drawing is something you need regularly, check out the EZ Metrics add-on for CorelDRAW that creates isometric views with a single click.

Do you need to print color charts for color matching? Calibrating Your Printed Colors with a Color Chart tells you why it is important to do this and it provides pre-designed palettes you can download plus instructions for creating your own charts automatically.

I'll be away for a few days hosting the CorelDRAW Unleashed User Conference and then I'll return with more revived tutorials and even more goodies! You can expect some blog updates from the conference when I can find a free minute.

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Great Artwork for use in CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator and more

I'm always looking around for new sources of material for use in CorelDRAW and other graphics software. That recently led me to discover Go Media's Arsenal Professional Design Weaponry.

You'll find some of the coolest vector artwork you've ever seen. Many of the pieces were created by the Go Media design team for major rock bands, fashion companies and Fortune 500 companies. There are also packages of bitmap textures for backgrounds, fonts and motion graphics.

Of course there are also some cool freebies to download. There is no doubt you'll find something that you can use in your projects. You'll probably find many things you want!

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Corel Receives Proposal from Majority Shareholder

So who really owns Corel these days? It can get confusing. I'll try to recap the ownership history as best I can remember and then I'll bring you up to speed with what happened today. Keep in mind that I don't work for Corel and I have no inside knowledge of what happened.

Back in the 1990s, Corel was taken public by then CEO and founder, Michael Cowpland. During the time the company was public, the stock price certainly had its ups and downs. There was a day in the late 90s (I can't remember the exact timeframe) when the stock flew up to $44/share because of Corel's involvement with Linux. The party didn't last long and the stock dropped to under $1/share. In 2003, Vector Capital bought the company and took it private.

The idea was that Corel was damaged goods and that Vector would fix what was wrong and then take the company public again. In the spring of 2006, Vector did take the company public again at $16. Since Corel's stock was made public, the price has never reached the release price. Just a few weeks ago it was selling for just under $7/share. It has since creeped up over $10/share.

Which brings us to today's news. Vector Capital still owned 69% of Corel. Now they are making an offer to buy the rest of the company for $11/share. What does this mean for users of Corel's software? Hopefully nothing, but I honestly don't have any idea.

I do know that management has been more focused on some of the new products Corel has acquired recently and less interested in the products upon which the company was built, Corel Ventura and CorelDRAW. I don't have any hope that Vector owning the company will give these important products more attention as they given't give them any more attention when they previously owned the whole company.

Today's announcement just leaves me scratching my head and asking "what's next?" What do you think of this announcement?

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