I sit on a tree stump in the middle of a primeval forest, the soft breeze blowing through the green leaves, patterns of sunlight and shadow shifting at my feet. I glance at my circle of fellow students gazing raptly at our instructor as she explains critical concepts in detail. For most of us, these are lessons we will use for the rest of our lives. Suddenly I feel my teacher’s eyes on me… she has asked me a question while I was engulfed in a momentary daydream. Startled, I burble, “Yes, I understand how to apply the layer mask, Katya!” I look quickly into her face, her glasses pushed down her white snout, her whiskers trembling with authority. No, I’m not hearing voices or taking LSD. I’m taking a 10-week, twice-a-week Photoshop class from a cat in Second Life.
You might expect a virtual Photoshop class taught by a cat avatar for $4 a session (it was between this and a real life class for $120 per session) might not be of Seven Sisters quality. Au contrair, my skeptical friend. The instructor is professional, polished, knowledgeable and very, very experienced. She is, no doubt, one of the best instructors at TUI, Second Life’s Technical User Interfacing college. The students are oblivious to the species of this venerable feline as they question her about apha channels and tga files.
I know enough Photoshop to fake it now and then; it’s hard not to pick up a bit when you are in my RL business. But I’ve always wanted to really learn this program - and I have the stack of unread Photoshop books to prove it. Truth be told, I need deadlines and class assignments to make me focus on this rather than exclusively on my dozens of work deadlines. I invite you to check in here now and then to see how the class is progressing. Who knows, I may even invite you to the class fashion show at the end of the course!
