I have a dirty little secret to share with you all today — one that I’ve been withholding for some time now.  I can’t live with the guilt anymore, and I’m finally ready to come clean with it:  I’m Photoshop illiterate.  I’m not proud to admit it, but I’m still floundering away at The University of Microsoft Paint.  

If you’re not familiar already, MS Paint is a watered-down photo editing program that comes standard with every PC.  The only thing it’s useful for is drawing a perfect circle, square, or trapezoid, then filling it with any of the three primary colors.  It’s one step above an Etch-o-Sketch.  

Since I’m in a giving mood today, I thought I’d give all you graphic artist snobs an opportunity to point and laugh at some of my crudely-edited pictures from the past.  Up until now, none of them have seen the light of day.  The tour you’re about to take should give you an idea of what I’m working with here.

In short, my graphic design skills are about four feet shy of a slam dunk.

Behold…

…Exhibit A.

I’m a wizard at blacking out teeth.  Lucky for me, Suze Orman is already missing one.  The caption saved this one.  The sketchy-looking thought bubble did not.  Grade D+

…Exhibit B

The caption saved this one too.  Grade:  D

…Exhibit C

What began as a Chariots of Fire-inspired tribute to Michael Phelps, ended in a craptastic horn sympony of wet farts being lit on fire.  I blew this on so many levels.  First off, I butchered the name.  Phleps?  C’mon man.  Secondly, the Olympic Rings look like they just got off some Woodstock hippie bus after eating a handful of brown LSD.  Needless to say, this one didn’t bring home the gold — or any medal for that matter — just a raging case of genital herpes.  Grade:  F

…Exhibit D

This one’s actually believable — all things considered.  In case you’re wondering, that’s Pat Robertson‘s head about to get slamma jamma’d by MJ.  Grade:  C-

…Exhibit E

Where was I going with this one…This was actually an old piece from my graphic design portfolio.  People who interviewed me described it as being preposterous, laughable, and harmful to pregnant women.  One guy even called a couple weeks after the interview to tell me he’d gone sterile after looking at it.  Liar.  Needless to say, my computer drawing career never panned out.  Now that I look at it again, I can see where they’re coming from.  You did’t have to be a dick about it.  Sheesh.  Grade:  F

…Exhibit F

Wait for it…

…Exhibit G

…and boom goes the dynamite.  This one gets high marks for originality of content.  Unfortunately, I’m not sure The Enquirer is gonna fork over any loot for this Photoshop hack-job.  A Kindergartner could do a better job of cutting and pasting.  Look at Bush — he looks terrified.  I’ll bet this won’t be the first time G-Dub’s had a low mark stamped next to his name.  Grade:  D+

…Exhibit H

The shading is spot on in this one, but I kinda goofed on Sara Jessica Parker’s hair.  Oh, and I totally forgot that she doesn’t eat carbs anymore.  Sorry chicky, this ain’t gonna help straighten out the long face —->  Grade:  D-

…Exhibit G:  *G-Money*

Here’s an exception.  Not much wrong with this one.  Except for the fried egg in Becca’s hair.  It was supposed to be a daisy.  Whatever.  If you print this out, don’t try using it at Walmart.  They just busted someone recently who was trying to score change for a million dollar bill.  True story.  It’s obvious that Walmart invests heavily in counterfeit and fraud prevention.  But who would wanna get rid of something with that pretty face on it?  Grade:  A+

…Exhibit H

Gary Busey is so grouchy around the paparazzi.  I think he has a sugar problem.  Or a coke habit.  Probably both.  By the way, fake blood is hard to do on MS Paint.  It looks like cartoon barbecue sauce.  Someone give this man a rabies shot.  Stat.  Grade:  D - 

…Exhibit I

More pickin’ on Bush.  Wait.  That came out wrong.  Nevermind.  If you’ve never seen the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off then you’re probably scratching your wig right now.  Congratulations!  You’re the only person on the planet that hasn’t seen it.  The bong in the photo looks sort of believable, I guess.  And it’s patriotic too!  Who am I kidding.  It all sucks.  Grade:  D+

…Exhibit J

I can’t imagine his monthly dry cleaning bill.  Actually, who cares about that.  I’m sending a Christmas card to the owner of the shop.  What a saint for handling all those poopy pants.  Grade: C

…Exhibit K 

I even screwed up my tribute to David Dixon.  Wait, is that his name or his nemesis?  Either way, you make it look easy, my friend.  Grade:  F

End of Tour.  

I hope nobody went sterile. 

*****

If you guys didn’t think this totally sucked, let me know.  I have a lot more Fotoshop Fails in the dumpster out back.  I could do a weekly bit called something corny like, “Fotoshop Fridays?”  Meh.  I’ll work on a title…

Oh, and check out the Post of the Week by Alien Red Queen.  Nicely written, Ms Lady.

-Happy Blogging \m/  

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