Carl Huebner: As a new graduate, I had the option to either operate the boom on a film set or go outside my "chosen" field and be in a creative job immediately. I've always been into comics, which is essentially visual storytelling, and that's more important to me than being committed to one specific medium.

CH: I created the illustrations for a line of inexpensive children's activity kits. The kits were mostly cardboard, and came with a pair of scissors to cut out paper dolls and action figures. It was pretty low tech -- I didn't event have my own computer. I did the drawings by hand, then rented computer time from a copy shop to scan the drawings and color them with PhotoShop, then used QuarkExpress for the layout. When I look at them now they seem so terrible! Soon after that first job, I worked on two shows for Saban Entertainment, which is responsible for the Power Rangers and other Saturday morning programs.

CH: By practicing, and by necessity. I haven't paid a cent for training since graduating from college. If you don't know an application but do know its ultimate purpose, it's not too difficult to get up to speed. Sometimes I read manuals and occasionally I follow tutorials. I think that the aesthetic knowledge -- like color families, design and layout -- is more important than the computer skills. Design skills are what smart employers are really looking for now, because a good designer can always learn the applications.

CH: In a nutshell, we do animation, illustration and new media. More specifically, new media includes Web design and graphics for video and broadcast and for presentations. For example, we just did all the graphics, transitions and animated graphs for a presentation for fashion designer Anna Sui. One of the larger projects we're designing is a Web page for a business-to-business database, which will allow users to book services directly from the site.

CH: We do the front-end graphics as much as possible but subcontract back-end work like message boards, search-engine programming and HTML construction. Ironically, we hire mostly freelancers.

CH: Well, I do miss commuting from my bed to my desk, but other than that, it wasn't especially difficult. For the first year or two it still felt like freelancing, especially when I was hired to work at other people's locations. But having our own office has lent us a lot of credibility with clients. If someone's got loads of money to build a Web site, they don't want to give it to some guy working out of his bedroom.

CH: I like that it's so project oriented. I would hate to process the same stuff day after day with no sense of a change in what I've done. Graphic design contains an aesthetic element, and adding technology brings the satisfaction of creating something that actually functions.

CH: When I graduated, people were making $50 an hour doing PhotoShop -- now it's almost obsolete. The good news is, companies are emphasizing the importance of Web sites and technology oriented presentations. These days when I haggle for contracts, they don't come in low and I don't come in high. We just talk about what it takes to get it done.

CH: Definitely. I advise anyone in this line of work to learn all the legal stuff. People assume that because you're a creator you don't understand it and will take advantage of that inexperience. The Graphic Artists Guild has a Web site (www.gag.org) and handbooks called "Business and Legal Forms" for both artists and designers. You can also get group rates for health benefits through them.

CH: How truly awful my diet has become! My staples used to be burritos, pizza and Chinese take out, and I never thought things could get worse than that, but they have. My time has gotten so valuable lately that it's hard to justify taking time out to find real food.