CMYK, illustrations, and decisions

So once again, time has completely gotten away from me- how DOES that happen?! The last few weeks of madness trying to tie up loose ends with Iris (the Spanish proofer) has come to a close, she left to visit friends for a week before returning to Mexico. She's a bit unsure if she wants to do that since there will be few Christians in her area for support and encouragement if she stays there. That said, I'm a mere 3 courses away from finishing the Spanish CtP work! However, the Basic Bible Truths in English has been *something of a mess for a while and I've been pulled off of the Spanish for a while to work on English. Actually, I even got to work in 4 COLORS for a few days! This is a big deal- don't get me wrong, I've become quite fond of my 2 color work these 4 months (yes, 4 months, 4 1/2 now actually) and I've even developed an intimate understanding of just how much cool stuff can be done with a mere black and process cyan . . . BUT to be able to choose which ever color my little heart desires has been quite enjoyable :) Marianne is working on the new catalog of all the SLM materials, and it's in the works for many of them to get a cover make-over, so time was of the essence for the new cover to show up in the catalog even if it isn't on the books yet.

*something of a mess- Evidently about 2 years ago a designer was contracted to give the BBT series an overhaul, but from what I've read about his experience working on the lessons, he didn't quite understand that SLM is a missions organization and NOT a Christian publishing company- there is a big difference. And so unfortunately most of the work, while very modern, would never look nice coming off of our 2 color web press. That's where the fun and challenge in design here come in for me: to design something that has a fresh, more modern feel, while recognizing the capabilities of our less-than-modern press and tailoring the design accordingly. Additionally, while we have the covers for each of the 8 lessons in the series, we only have the finished body for 2 of them. So this is the new adventure I have embarked on . . . to honor the design decisions that WILL look good on our press and to fix the stuff that won't- and to have it all still look like it was done at the same time. The REALLY exciting part will come when I get to lessons 3-8: because we don't have his interior work for those, I get to re-draw ALL of the illustrations for them! The illustrator in me can scarcely contain herself!

In other news, I'm slated to speak to the middle school and high school students in Sunday School at a church in Eatonton on Sunday. Their entire missions conference this year is centered around SLM and Judy Strausbaugh, our human resources director, wants me to show some of my work from college and here at SLM and explain how I got my degree at a secular school, but with a heart to use it for Christ somehow and how God brought me here. I'm excited, hopefully I won't wander down any rabbit trails in the process and I'll speak slowly enough for them to understand. I think it's important for people everywhere, but especially kids getting ready to figure out what God wants them to do with their lives, to realize that missions work is not just going to Africa, it's also designers that work on the materials they teach with and builders who help out missions organizations with offices and headquarters and orphanages around the world. It's the IT guys that make sure our computers keep functioning so the women in the order room can send courses to the right people. It's also our pressmen, who do the actual work of getting God's Word down on paper where more people will get to read it than they could ever verbally tell in a lifetime. Those kind of missionaries aren't talked about much, but we network with our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who ARE traditional missionaries and we try to provide them with tools that will make their difficult task easier.

Well, that's about it from the deep south ;) I hope you are all doing well and I am excited to hear about the revival services!