Teknidermy Magazine - Interview with Gamma Y007

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Teknidermy Magazine - Issue 3 , Vol. 1	March/April, 2001
Meet the New Kids - Part I Interview with Gamma Y007 by Kenray Gamma Y007 is a frequent flyer on GIMP airways, and her willingness wo aid the newbeez has made her quite a fine reputation in certain circles. We are happy to welcome her to Teknidermy. We hope you will enjoy and benefit from her contributions.... Teknidermy: so, please give us the personal run down, who and where you are? Gamma Y007: I'm an average high school student, unless you count my nickname, and I live in this littttle town near Washington, D.C. Gamma Y007: /interview-phobia, sorry/ Tek: how long have you been working at interface design? Gamma Y007: About a year and a half, I was first introduced to skinning way before that, but I was a newbie-newbie, luckily I book-marked Skinz so when I was more into arts I went back... Tek: how did you "discover" the arcane wonders of GUI modification? Gamma Y007: One of my friends whom I most admire told me about Skinz, so I had to check the site out... First ICQ Plus, then WinAmp... Downhill ever since... :) Tek: wow....those are chunky programs to begin with...was ICQ the first program you skinned...or the first you started collecting skins for? Gamma Y007: First I started collecting skins for... Then I made a "nice photo-skin"...... I've never really sat down and skinned WinAmp, but it's the program I use skins for most often... Tek: and the friend who tuned you onto skinning...a high school student as well? in your age group? Gamma Y007: Nope, an ICQ friend, one of my first, actually... Tek: aha Tek: what was the first program you Really Skinned? Gamma Y007: BeatNik, it's so easy I couldn't help but skin it.. :) Tek: yeah, that seems to be a good starter for a lot of folks (and there are a lot of skins for it)... what's your fave of late? Gamma Y007:Illumination, some day I _will_ get an entire Illumination skin posted.... It's also nice because I don't have to stick to a "shape".... Or fit more then 3 buttons in... Tek: so... have you grown up around the computer..is using the mouse and all that just second nature to you all your life? Gamma Y007: Most emphatically, yes!! I can mouse faster then I can think.... Tek: and that carries over into your use of art programs? (do you find it intuitive?) Gamma Y007: Sometimes... I'm not truly patient enough for art... But it's better then trying to use a pencil... Tek: did you start with the GIMP? Gamma Y007: Nope, MSPaint, in Windows 3.1... But the first serious stuff I did was in The GIMP.... :; No, wait... I had a trial version of PSP.... How I hated that program.... Tek: really? Why? Gamma Y007: (Or, rather, how it hated me... Crashed every 2 1/2 seconds...) Tek: oh ... what kind of system are you using now? Gamma Y007: A poor, pitiful Windows 98 laptop... It's got the absolute minimum of everything you can have and still install Windows. Tek: and you run gimp on that? Gamma Y007: Yup... :) My computer and I like it... It's a bit slow to load, but stable as rock... Tek: if you wanted it, could you get access to better machinery and software at your school (like in an art class or something like that)? Gamma Y007: Well, I have pretty free access during lunch to the CompSci machines, they're nice, WindowsNT and all that, but I don't have enough free blocks to take art or anything, so no "better" software... Tek: bummer...are there classes you can plan ot take during your HS career in, say, Graphic Art...Web or DT Publishing? Gamma Y007: Not really, I'm trying to get as many hardcore computer classes as I can in so I can get a good job, and most of those are 2 credits. Hopefully I'll be able to take something over the summer, though... Tek: what kind of classes do you think will wind up giving you the in on a "good job" ? Gamma Y007: CompSci, Network Administration, stuff like that... I can get all the certification that people are trying to get, just by taking classes in high school... Tek: wow...so they have all this available to you...that is great to know.. Do you see yourself in the SysAdmin chair sooner or later? Gamma Y007: Yeah, my dad went back to school and took basically the same classes I'll be taking... Tek: hehehe...how does he feel about that? Gamma Y007: Hopefully... :) It's what I want to do, something I can handle, both in my education and temperament....don't know, I don't talk to him much... Tek: do you know of any other skinners in your school? Gamma Y007: I know... three... people who are into stuff like that, but none of them are as obsessive about it as I am... Tek: hehehe...do you get a sense of camaraderie with them...I mean, just knowing someone else knows what kind of pain goes into making a button? Gamma Y007: laughs Sometimes... But they're more into The Wide World of 3-D.... and wonder how I can ever see that much in some skin..... I like trueSpace for rounded buttons, when I want them shaded perfectly.... Tek: your answer begs the question...Why do you invest your time in creating skins? what's your motivation? Gamma Y007: I really have no clue, I just start something and can't stand to stop, but then I think of a new idea and start working on that... I think I'll eventually cycle out of it, but it may take 4 or 5 years... Then again I may still be doing this when I'm 80... Tek: we do have soem skinners who have crossed the big 50, and I can't ever see myself not wanting to re-create an interface that i use all the time... Gamma Y007: "Yes, child, when I was a little girl we had to work with a monitor that only showed 2 dimensions!" Tek: hehehehehehe Tek: so are you on of the Gimp Angels? Do you spend some time helping other people get along with it? Gamma Y007: I try to, in the hopes that if I help someone will find it not-so-scary... “ It's really very easy... Gee, _you_ should try it... ;) Tek: How do those people find you / you find them? Gamma Y007: Mostly the Gimp eGroups list or on the Skinz message board... Tek: and what are some of the most common issues you find needing attention? Gamma Y007: Mmm, people have a hard time pasting from the clipboard (it's "File > Acquire > From Clipboard"...)....Other then that it's mostly a question about technique, i.e. "How do I make good rust?" Tek: hehee ...; so, do you visit those MB's every day? Gamma Y007: Guilty as charged... L I like talking to people, that's why I like Skinz, I know people there, and all of them are friendly... (plus Doreen helps make it look like I'm not posting too much.... ;) ) Tek: like an extended family, huh? Gamma Y007: Yep, exactly... family... :) Tek: so...isn't your website "Vampiress"? Are you a "Goth"? Gamma Y007: I'm pale and I wear black and I'm into "dark" fiction, but that's as deep as it gets any more... I've had that sub-domain for eons, back when I still RP'ed.... (oh, and there's the small matter of the halloween costume...) Tek: listen to any Bauhaus? Gamma Y007: Nope, not knowingly... I'm a radio-person, so I know a lot of songs without knowing the artist.... Tek: aha...Bauhaus was the first real "Goth" group..."Bela Lugosi's Dead" and all that... I still love it...Sisters Of Mercy and all that stuff...dark beats Gamma Y007: We don't have "goth" radio around here... :( Or far eastern stuff... Tek: so...you are working on "Illumination" right now? Gamma Y007: One of many, many Illumination themes I've started... Someday I'll get all the parts sorted out and upload them to The Dump and it'll double in size... :) Tek: please, tell me about "Illumination" Gamma Y007:Illumination is to WindowBlinds as The GIMP is to PhotoShop... i.e. it's really great but no one appreciates it because it's not main stream... Tek: aha...as is eFX, right? ... Gamma Y007:Nah, eFX isn't anywhere near as powerful... Teknidermy: have you ever tried running WindowBlinds? Gamma Y007: Nope.. :) I can't afford to buy it, and I don't believe in tempting myself... L kidding Tek: so you never even downloaded the trial version? Gamma Y007: Nope... I might if I ever put together a really nice theme, though, so I can port it... Tek: hehehe...i'm sure Brad would be happy to hear that.. Tek: so, you have a desktop as well as the laptop? Gamma Y007: It's my grandparents... but they don't know how to use it.... The laptop is 100% mine... Tek: aha...so you are able to skin on a "big" machine if you need to, right? I just can't imagine pixel-pushing on a laptop! Gamma Y007: Umm... big? It's a slight improvement... If you can avoid it, don't ever get near a 14" and a fraction monitor... squints and puts her nose on the monitor :P Tek: yowch...I started with a 14...can't even imagine it any more..must be repressing ...so, do you create interface there on the laptop? Gamma Y007: I started with a TV monitor...I d/l and open The GIMP (and generally create something) where ever I go... I've got stuff on mom's computer (and I don't think she realizes it, either).... Plus it's a good excuse to not fill more then 800x600 pixels.. ;) Tek: so, you are taking inspiration from your surroundings (as in taking the laptop somewhere, then creating art there...like an old fashioned sketchpad artist?) Gamma Y007: Ever start a wall... and think you're done... but then realize that there's scroll bars across the bottom of your window and you really have a big white space left? Mmm, sometimes, not really, not that much to see around here... Although I was thinking of doing a black plastic interface, the same color as my lappy... does that count? Tek: sure.. Tek: so, where do you find inspiration? Gamma Y007: It just comes to me... Sometimes I'll try to do a "nature inspired" piece, but they don't work out very well...Or I'll read something, that always helps... Tek: what kind of stuff do you like to read? (any fave authors you wanna shout out? ) Gamma Y007: Ohh, Spider Robinson! :) And other science fiction... Tek: wow...another sci fi fan...cool...any others? Gamma Y007: Just the usual, Niven, Heinlein, so on and so forth... Tek: Please answer Fnad's Five: 1. What skin do you wish you'd created? Something that could get past Shog if skins were moderated. 2. What would you like to have on your laptop if you were stranded on a deserted island, eg: skins, music, programs, peripherals, games, etc.? GIMP, Bejeweled, Minesweeper, a CD player. 3. Have there been any skins that have made you laugh? Cry? Orgasm? Laugh: Anything of mine created after 3AM. Cry: Ditto. Orgasm: Nope, no one makes skins of cute guys? pout 4. Boxers or briefs? Mmmm, hard question.. boxers, I guess..... 5. List some sites you visit daily; weekly; hourly. Skinz, webmail, DigitallyImported, Lycos news. Teknidermy is happy to welcome Gamma to the staff. Please feel free to e-mail your GIMP (or otherwise) related questions to her. we appreciate Gamma taking the time for this interview...
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Teknidermy Magazine - Issue 3 , Vol. 1	March/April, 2001
Meet the New Kids - Part I Interview with Gamma Y007 by Kenray Gamma Y007 is a frequent flyer on GIMP airways, and her willingness wo aid the newbeez has made her quite a fine reputation in certain circles. We are happy to welcome her to Teknidermy. We hope you will enjoy and benefit from her contributions.... Teknidermy: so, please give us the personal run down, who and where you are? Gamma Y007: I'm an average high school student, unless you count my nickname, and I live in this littttle town near Washington, D.C. Gamma Y007: /interview-phobia, sorry/ Tek: how long have you been working at interface design? Gamma Y007: About a year and a half, I was first introduced to skinning way before that, but I was a newbie-newbie, luckily I book-marked Skinz so when I was more into arts I went back... Tek: how did you "discover" the arcane wonders of GUI modification? Gamma Y007: One of my friends whom I most admire told me about Skinz, so I had to check the site out... First ICQ Plus, then WinAmp... Downhill ever since... :) Tek: wow....those are chunky programs to begin with...was ICQ the first program you skinned...or the first you started collecting skins for? Gamma Y007: First I started collecting skins for... Then I made a "nice photo-skin"...... I've never really sat down and skinned WinAmp, but it's the program I use skins for most often... Tek: and the friend who tuned you onto skinning...a high school student as well? in your age group? Gamma Y007: Nope, an ICQ friend, one of my first, actually... Tek: aha Tek: what was the first program you Really Skinned? Gamma Y007: BeatNik, it's so easy I couldn't help but skin it.. :) Tek: yeah, that seems to be a good starter for a lot of folks (and there are a lot of skins for it)... what's your fave of late? Gamma Y007:Illumination, some day I _will_ get an entire Illumination skin posted.... It's also nice because I don't have to stick to a "shape".... Or fit more then 3 buttons in... Tek: so... have you grown up around the computer..is using the mouse and all that just second nature to you all your life? Gamma Y007: Most emphatically, yes!! I can mouse faster then I can think.... Tek: and that carries over into your use of art programs? (do you find it intuitive?) Gamma Y007: Sometimes... I'm not truly patient enough for art... But it's better then trying to use a pencil... Tek: did you start with the GIMP? Gamma Y007: Nope, MSPaint, in Windows 3.1... But the first serious stuff I did was in The GIMP.... :; No, wait... I had a trial version of PSP.... How I hated that program.... Tek: really? Why? Gamma Y007: (Or, rather, how it hated me... Crashed every 2 1/2 seconds...) Tek: oh ... what kind of system are you using now? Gamma Y007: A poor, pitiful Windows 98 laptop... It's got the absolute minimum of everything you can have and still install Windows. Tek: and you run gimp on that? Gamma Y007: Yup... :) My computer and I like it... It's a bit slow to load, but stable as rock... Tek: if you wanted it, could you get access to better machinery and software at your school (like in an art class or something like that)? Gamma Y007: Well, I have pretty free access during lunch to the CompSci machines, they're nice, WindowsNT and all that, but I don't have enough free blocks to take art or anything, so no "better" software... Tek: bummer...are there classes you can plan ot take during your HS career in, say, Graphic Art...Web or DT Publishing? Gamma Y007: Not really, I'm trying to get as many hardcore computer classes as I can in so I can get a good job, and most of those are 2 credits. Hopefully I'll be able to take something over the summer, though... Tek: what kind of classes do you think will wind up giving you the in on a "good job" ? Gamma Y007: CompSci, Network Administration, stuff like that... I can get all the certification that people are trying to get, just by taking classes in high school... Tek: wow...so they have all this available to you...that is great to know.. Do you see yourself in the SysAdmin chair sooner or later? Gamma Y007: Yeah, my dad went back to school and took basically the same classes I'll be taking... Tek: hehehe...how does he feel about that? Gamma Y007: Hopefully... :) It's what I want to do, something I can handle, both in my education and temperament....don't know, I don't talk to him much... Tek: do you know of any other skinners in your school? Gamma Y007: I know... three... people who are into stuff like that, but none of them are as obsessive about it as I am... Tek: hehehe...do you get a sense of camaraderie with them...I mean, just knowing someone else knows what kind of pain goes into making a button? Gamma Y007: laughs Sometimes... But they're more into The Wide World of 3-D.... and wonder how I can ever see that much in some skin..... I like trueSpace for rounded buttons, when I want them shaded perfectly.... Tek: your answer begs the question...Why do you invest your time in creating skins? what's your motivation? Gamma Y007: I really have no clue, I just start something and can't stand to stop, but then I think of a new idea and start working on that... I think I'll eventually cycle out of it, but it may take 4 or 5 years... Then again I may still be doing this when I'm 80... Tek: we do have soem skinners who have crossed the big 50, and I can't ever see myself not wanting to re-create an interface that i use all the time... Gamma Y007: "Yes, child, when I was a little girl we had to work with a monitor that only showed 2 dimensions!" Tek: hehehehehehe Tek: so are you on of the Gimp Angels? Do you spend some time helping other people get along with it? Gamma Y007: I try to, in the hopes that if I help someone will find it not-so-scary... “ It's really very easy... Gee, _you_ should try it... ;) Tek: How do those people find you / you find them? Gamma Y007: Mostly the Gimp eGroups list or on the Skinz message board... Tek: and what are some of the most common issues you find needing attention? Gamma Y007: Mmm, people have a hard time pasting from the clipboard (it's "File > Acquire > From Clipboard"...)....Other then that it's mostly a question about technique, i.e. "How do I make good rust?" Tek: hehee ...; so, do you visit those MB's every day? Gamma Y007: Guilty as charged... L I like talking to people, that's why I like Skinz, I know people there, and all of them are friendly... (plus Doreen helps make it look like I'm not posting too much.... ;) ) Tek: like an extended family, huh? Gamma Y007: Yep, exactly... family... :) Tek: so...isn't your website "Vampiress"? Are you a "Goth"? Gamma Y007: I'm pale and I wear black and I'm into "dark" fiction, but that's as deep as it gets any more... I've had that sub-domain for eons, back when I still RP'ed.... (oh, and there's the small matter of the halloween costume...) Tek: listen to any Bauhaus? Gamma Y007: Nope, not knowingly... I'm a radio-person, so I know a lot of songs without knowing the artist.... Tek: aha...Bauhaus was the first real "Goth" group..."Bela Lugosi's Dead" and all that... I still love it...Sisters Of Mercy and all that stuff...dark beats Gamma Y007: We don't have "goth" radio around here... :( Or far eastern stuff... Tek: so...you are working on "Illumination" right now? Gamma Y007: One of many, many Illumination themes I've started... Someday I'll get all the parts sorted out and upload them to The Dump and it'll double in size... :) Tek: please, tell me about "Illumination" Gamma Y007:Illumination is to WindowBlinds as The GIMP is to PhotoShop... i.e. it's really great but no one appreciates it because it's not main stream... Tek: aha...as is eFX, right? ... Gamma Y007:Nah, eFX isn't anywhere near as powerful... Teknidermy: have you ever tried running WindowBlinds? Gamma Y007: Nope.. :) I can't afford to buy it, and I don't believe in tempting myself... L kidding Tek: so you never even downloaded the trial version? Gamma Y007: Nope... I might if I ever put together a really nice theme, though, so I can port it... Tek: hehehe...i'm sure Brad would be happy to hear that.. Tek: so, you have a desktop as well as the laptop? Gamma Y007: It's my grandparents... but they don't know how to use it.... The laptop is 100% mine... Tek: aha...so you are able to skin on a "big" machine if you need to, right? I just can't imagine pixel-pushing on a laptop! Gamma Y007: Umm... big? It's a slight improvement... If you can avoid it, don't ever get near a 14" and a fraction monitor... squints and puts her nose on the monitor :P Tek: yowch...I started with a 14...can't even imagine it any more..must be repressing ...so, do you create interface there on the laptop? Gamma Y007: I started with a TV monitor...I d/l and open The GIMP (and generally create something) where ever I go... I've got stuff on mom's computer (and I don't think she realizes it, either).... Plus it's a good excuse to not fill more then 800x600 pixels.. ;) Tek: so, you are taking inspiration from your surroundings (as in taking the laptop somewhere, then creating art there...like an old fashioned sketchpad artist?) Gamma Y007: Ever start a wall... and think you're done... but then realize that there's scroll bars across the bottom of your window and you really have a big white space left? Mmm, sometimes, not really, not that much to see around here... Although I was thinking of doing a black plastic interface, the same color as my lappy... does that count? Tek: sure.. Tek: so, where do you find inspiration? Gamma Y007: It just comes to me... Sometimes I'll try to do a "nature inspired" piece, but they don't work out very well...Or I'll read something, that always helps... Tek: what kind of stuff do you like to read? (any fave authors you wanna shout out? ) Gamma Y007: Ohh, Spider Robinson! :) And other science fiction... Tek: wow...another sci fi fan...cool...any others? Gamma Y007: Just the usual, Niven, Heinlein, so on and so forth... Tek: Please answer Fnad's Five: 1. What skin do you wish you'd created? Something that could get past Shog if skins were moderated. 2. What would you like to have on your laptop if you were stranded on a deserted island, eg: skins, music, programs, peripherals, games, etc.? GIMP, Bejeweled, Minesweeper, a CD player. 3. Have there been any skins that have made you laugh? Cry? Orgasm? Laugh: Anything of mine created after 3AM. Cry: Ditto. Orgasm: Nope, no one makes skins of cute guys? pout 4. Boxers or briefs? Mmmm, hard question.. boxers, I guess..... 5. List some sites you visit daily; weekly; hourly. Skinz, webmail, DigitallyImported, Lycos news. Teknidermy is happy to welcome Gamma to the staff. Please feel free to e-mail your GIMP (or otherwise) related questions to her. we appreciate Gamma taking the time for this interview...
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