CONFESSIONS OF A FORMER HALF TONE JUNKIE.. Staff reporter Reno Premador An excerpt from a recent interview at a Halftone rehab clinic somewhere in California...

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I sit facing John (not his real name) in the darkened room, he wears a heavy disguise.   "Hello John, I am Reno." I begin with a quick introduction, he seems nervous and a little embarrassed at his situation. With only days before his release into normal society we begin talking about the long road that has lead him here.   Reno : So tell me John, how did you first get involved in Halftones? John: Well, I guess it started when I was 12 and my Dad gave me a job down at the store, we sold lawn mowers. Next door was this t-shirt printing place. At lunch I would hang out with the guys that worked there. They knew I was into art, and eventually they showed me the art room. Once the manager found out I could draw he gave me some art to work on and pretty soon I was their "artguy'" . Reno: so this is where you first came across halftones? John: well most of the stuff was line art, but then someone came in with some Letratone, and man that was it.. geesh. Pretty soon I was Half toning everything and even doing zipatone. Reno: so when did the problems start ? John: well by the mid eighties I had been doing halftones for almost a decade and I was having the moires real bad. It was scaring customers away. I knew I had to stop, but the urge was strong. Eventually I was dropping type and doing elipticals. Reno: well, when did you hit the wall? John: well my wife was threatening to leave me . Then one night she caught me doing CMYK and that was it , she left. All I could see was all those colors, but in the morning it didn't look so great. I had a bad case of dot gain, man how low can you go?   Reno: What finally turned you around?   John: well this friend of mine gave me a flyer on this new substitute that used square dots and didn't give you the same side effects as half tones, and he got me on this program. Things have been going just great ever since - I wish I had heard of square dots before. to be continued....