A Final Farewell to Allied Inspiration - Sunday, June 4th, 2006 In the beginning, I thought this would have never happened. I love graphic design and photo manipulating, so one could only assume that maintaining a studio, with a platform dedicated largely to images, would be ideal for an aspiring graphic artist. Sadly, that is no longer the case (though I can say with certainty that it was at one point in the three or four years Allied Inspiration was open) and thus I feel the best thing for me to do is to close the studio for good. For myself personally, I feel as though doing orders at the rate they must be done at this studio is proving to be a liability rather than an asset to refining my skill. I intend to go to college/university for Graphic Design, and I’ve found myself getting lazier when it comes to taking orders and making graphics. I need to go at my own pace and really take time to get back into the swing of things – I’ve been out of it for nearly a year, and I have no one to blame but myself. If it was just my inability to keep up with the site, I’d have had no problem just maintaining the skeleton of the site (updating things here and there) and leaving the orders to my more-than-capable staff, but they’ve been busy as well and it hasn’t just been in this last chaotic month. A lot of us have been together since the beginning, or close to it, and we just don’t have the time we used to and ultimately that isn’t fair to the customers. Yes, everyone can understand a busy schedule, but the waiting times have gotten out of hand and its not due to a lack of effort on the staff’s part, its merely a lack of time. I can only speak for myself, and you can bet you haven’t seen the last of me in the photo manipulation/personalizing world! I can see myself joining another studio in the future, but I need to start working on things for my own portfolio. So, in short, this is the end of Allied Inspiration as a shell for skilled workers, but it is not the end of the workers themselves by any means. I look forward to keeping in touch with the staff and maybe even some of the great customers we’ve had over the years. You can find me at my own roleplaying game, Wanderlust, or feel free to e-mail me or catch me on MSN whether you have questions, concerns, or just want to talk. Thanks for all the wonderful years! - Ivv