When I first conceived of pencil envy
TM
, I had no website or email - I had no
computer.
pencil envy
TM
was going to be in my printed newsletter for Eric Bailey Computer
Drafting and at the time that was as far ahead as I was looking. Only one strip was
ever produced for the newsletter, in June of 1999. I was very busy working contract
CAD at the time - not to mention house renovations and getting married that year!
I started in computer drafting at an interesting time, when companies were just
starting to convert to computer drafting. The transition was not a smooth one... to say
the least.
The frustration from being told to use the computer when a piece of paper and a pencil
would have done a better job certainly
made an impression on me.
Years later after I became self-employed
in 1998, the comic strip I was to create
for my newsletter would reflect that!
It would be done in pencil.
T
he
original
concept
was
to
follow
the
adventures
of
a
mild
mannered
computer
draftsman
as
he
worked
his
first
real
"nine
to
five"
job
and
did
battle
with
the
bureaucracies
of
a
large
company.
My
description
of
the
comic
strip
that
appeared
in
my
first
newsletter
dated
April
1,
1999
is
as
follows:
"It's
similar
to
Dilbert
®
but
cheekier
and
not
from
the
engineer's
viewpoint
--
but
rather
from
the
CAD-Operator's
and
the
computer's
viewpoint."
The
following
June
the
first
pencil
envy
TM
covered
some of those basic concepts.
O
ne
difference
not
mentioned
at
the
time
was
that
the
engineers
I
worked
with
wouldn't
consider
mere
software
engineers to be real engineers...
I
n
the
sixteen
years
since
(2015)
the
concept
has
expanded
way
beyond
what
I
had
first
envisioned.
While
the
strip
will
still
be
based
on
the
same
mild-mannered
computer
draftsman
(me)
it
will
also
cover
many
other
topics.
These
will
be
sprinkled
at
random
through
the
course
of
the
strip
and
will
be
random
jokes,
editorials
etc.
It
will
also
be
more
than
an
occasionally
issued
strip.
I
have
dozens
and
dozens
of
strips
ready to be put on "paper" as it were.
A
s
well
as
many
more
strips
than
originally
planned,
marketing
such
as
T-
shirts
and
Coffee
Mugs
etc.
will
be
produced for sale.
Marketing
material
is
NOT
available at this time !
A
s
stated
above,
the
strip
will
follow
the
same
basic
concept
just
expanded
upon
and
revised
to
support
the
change
to
being
created
in
the
computer.
The
original
strip
was
surprisingly
complicated
to
produce
because
photocopying
a
pencil
drawn
image
more
than
once
loses
the
qualities
that
make
it
"pencil"
drawn.
In
order
to
solve
this
problem
the
pencil
drawn
strip
had
to
be
pasted-up
in
the
proper
place
in
the
laser
printed
page
of
the
newsletter
and
then
that
was
photocopied
(once)
onto
the
preprinted coloured paper "blank" purchased for that purpose.
W
hile
scanners
are
better
now
and
scanning
in
a
pencil
drawn
image
is
an
option,
as
soon
as
I
tried
Autodesk
®
SketchBook
Pro
®
with
a
tablet
I
was
sold.
Using
this
software
will
retain
the
pencil
drawn
look
even
though
it
is
created
in
the
computer.
S
o
this
is
how
I
will
produce
most,
if
not
all,
of
the
pencil
envy
TM
strips
in
the
future.
Other
software
programs
will
be
used
as
well
to
add
colour
and
texture
etc.
C
olour
strips
will
on
occasion
be
created
as
well.
They
will
look
like
a
pencil
drawing
with
watercolour
added
behind
the lines.
