Vital Imagery Blog

Sometimes you need to remind yourself that it's time to slow down.  Especially if you're my husband.

Made of strong German stock and raised by a fun-loving father and a tough, hard-working mother, my guy is a champion at burning the candles at both ends. Toiling at whatever labour is there through the day, he's easily convinced to enjoy a night out, then work the next day on just a few hours sleep.

Dragging him out after working all day might seem harsh, but trust me, it's often the only way to get him to stop a job.

The problem with this of course, is that it's not exactly a restful pattern So, if there's one thing I can do from time to time to really get him to slow down,  to take him away from work and busy nightlife,  it's to take him some place without responsibilities or too much entertainment.

Our kids know the importance of this too, and for Christmas gave us a getaway package. Nestled away in a lovely country inn, time together amidst peace and qu…

Each year around this time I share an image collection for no other reason than I love it and it's time to start thinking about the holiday for which they can be used.  Since it's only just a little over three weeks until Valentine's Day and it's Throwback Thursday, today seemed as good a time as any.

The stores have their shelves stocked with assorted greetings for children to give to friends and family,  and for adults to share with their sweethearts.  For something original, however, you can find some terrific collections of Valentines online.

With a subscription to an online graphics service, you could not only download as many adorable Valentines as you need, or images to create your own, but you would also be able to access them for other projects as long as your subscription lasts.

When I think about the romantic holiday, I recall the excitement in my early school days — the build-up to Feb. 14 when we would deliver our little missives of love and friendship to …

The accessibility of online graphics has made it easy to create unique personal projects, as well as business materials. Even for the novice, the diversity of images ensures you can find what you need without worrying about altering it.

Yet, sometimes it's just fun to play. Whether adding, subtracting or changing a colour, there's a format that allows you to download an image, then redesign it or resize it to suit your wants and personal style — vectors.

First, let's consider that you've found the perfect illustration, but it's a little small for your purposes. The versatile vector, unlike bitmap images, which are comprised of pixels, is based on mathematical equations such as points, lines and curves.  So, while a JPG or PNG might distort somewhat when you make it larger, the vector formats will maintain an image's crispness and quality.

Another attribute of vectors is that they can always, unless they've been created with a coloured background that is pa…

So the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Though in this case, 'em would actually be an it I suppose.

Winter hasn't been my friend for a long time. Having spent this past weekend with a toddler and a preschooler  I was actually surprised to discover, however,  it's not always their friend either. After bundling up for some outdoor fun on Sunday,  it wasn't long before the biting wind and blowing snow had chased away any pleasure that might be found in building forts or snowmen.

Usually, winter is a natural miracle for these little ones.  Only magic, after all,  could cover the landscape so quickly, transforming it from the norm to something pristine, pure and so very fluffy.

There are many adults, too, who enjoy the chilly months, seeing the blanket of white not as an inconvenience that must be shovelled, but rather as the perfect set up for fun. The first fleck of snow gets their pulse racing.  Traversing fields on snowmobiles, gliding over ice…

There's nothing like hearing the word 'free' to get people excited. However, when it's being used to describe graphics on the internet,  it would be wiser to take a deep breath and look elsewhere.

While the idea of getting something for nothing is undeniably appealing, it shouldn't hold true in the world of online graphics.

'Royalty-free' is a very different story.  This  important descriptive is attached to the service provided by the Vital Imagery Ltd. family of online graphic sites. These include  Clipart.com , AnimationFactory , iCLIPART.com ,  iPHOTOS.com and Clipart.com School Edition

What 'royalty-free' means first is that when a person makes the decision to purchase a subscription or image they have access to millions of some of the world's best clipart, photos, fonts and animations without any hidden costs.

Another benefit of using sites such as those mentioned above is quality, ensuring a clean, crisp, professional addition to a proj…