Illustration Tech, Apps, & Books

Howdy All,

In this post I've gathered a list of tech, apps, books, and miscellany that I use frequently in my studio and I think would be helpful to other illustrators. 

1. The Epson Perfection V600 Scanner & Photoshop Photomerge

I recently upgraded to the Epson Perfection V600 to scan my illustrations. After researching brands, Epson was repeatedly recommend for their high quality standards. Epson has a range of scanners in the V series, but I found the V600 to be the right balance of price (around $200) and functionality. The edges of the 8.5"x11" scanner bed are flat and only slightly raised from the glass, making it possible to scan sections of large pieces of paper without shadows or blurriness. After the V600, Epson only appears to offer three options. There are the V700 & V750-M, but they cost $700+ and have the same size scanner bed as the V600. Beyond that, there's the Expression 11000XL Graphic Arts Scanner, a large format scanner with a scanner bed measuring 12"x17". It looks like a great solution for digitizing illustrations, but at $2,500 it's much more of an investment. 

I love painting big, but for the longest time I found scanning my illustrations to be a challenge. Then I was introduced to Photoshop's Photomerge function. It allows you to scan an illustration in sections and then automatically stitches them together, just like magic! Marsha Riti wrote a great blog post for illustrators on using Photomerge.

2. Mobile Apps

(Example of using my iPad as a second monitor using AirDisplay)

Adobe Nav: Turns your iPad into a remote for Photoshop, with customizable button layouts.
AirDisplay: Allows you to use your iPad as a second monitor for your computer.  It connects via wifi, which has the pro of being cordless but the con of slow response speeds. Highly portable and great for spreadsheets and reference. You can also draw on the iPad with a stylus, which is handy for making small corrections to drawings.
Art Rage: Painting app with a variety of customizable tools.
Dropbox: Great for making your portfolio or reference material portable, as well as sharing and delivering files.
Paper: Elegant mobile sketchbook.
Photoshop Express: Useful for basic image editing.
ProCreate: My favorite app for painting on the iPad.

3. Free Music & Podcasts 

(Image credit: Songza.com)

Coffitivity: Ambient coffee shop sounds.
Grooveshark: Free online music library, curated by users.
Jazz & Rain: Ambient rain sounds and jazz music.
Pandora: Online radio, channels are based on specific musicians and songs.
Slacker Radio: Online radio, similar to Pandora with different playlists.
Songza: A library of curated playlists based on activities, moods, and genres.
Spotify: Free online music library, like an all-you-can-eat iTunes.
NPR Podcasts: My favorites are Radiolab and This American Life.

4. Illustration Books

Framed Ink, by Marcos Mateu-Mestre. A guide to composition for visual storytelling, a quick read with many illustrated diagrams. I found the methods useful for arranging the flow of my illustrations and laying out dummy books.

( Image credit: http://www.goodreads.com)

Imaginative Realism, by James Gurney. This book offers great practical advice on a how to illustrate scenes that don't exist in reality, topics range from taking reference photos to building maquettes.

( Image credit: http://jamesgurney.com)

5. Customized Workspace

When talking with other illustrators, the topic of back and wrist pain has been coming up more and more lately, so I thought I'd share how I deal with long hours in the studio. After spending many years sitting at a desk and cultivating bad posture, I've altered my studio to allow for less sitting and more movement:

Standup desk: I simply put a sturdy end table on top of my desk, this allows me to stand or sit.
Easel: I bought a solid model that has a quick release trigger allowing me to quickly slide it up and down, perfect for alternating between standing and sitting.
Fitness Ball: Constantly requires you to use muscles to stay balanced, puts less pressure on the spine, and is fun to sit on. My friend has a version that comes with a sand bag inside to prevent the ball from roaming freely around the room.
Kitchen Timer: After getting similar advice from both my eye doc and chiropractor, I now take a 20 second break every 20 mins to look 20 feet away and stretch. This can sometime disrupt my flow, but after a long work day my body is definitely thankful I took those breaks.

Thanks for reading, I hope this post was helpful. Happy illustrating!

Inspiration by Brooke Boynton Hughes

I love the title of Linda's post, "Imagination is just memory in disguise".  So, I thought I'd follow Linda's lead and talk about the books that I loved as a kid and that continue to inspire my work as an adult.  I mentioned these books a couple weeks ago in this blog post, but I thought I'd go into a little more explantion here.

1.  Come Follow Me, by Gyo Fujikawa.

A lot of my favorite childhood book memories involve reading with my mom or grandma, but this book is one that I loved to look at when I was alone in my room.  I have a really clear memory of how magical Gyo Fujikawa's illustrations felt to me.  The world created in Come Follow Me is one that I longed to inhabit.  The fairies and gnomes and trolls seemed so real and familiar.  The magic that this book contained for me is something that I hope to recreate, even just a little bit, in my own work. 



2.  The Clown of God, by Tomie DePaola

This is a book that my grandma and I read together over and over again.  The story is lovely and touching and the illustrations are beautifully designed.  This book taught me about composition, page design, and pacing.  The ending of this book always makes me cry.  In a good way. 







3. The Maggie B. and The Little Moon Theater, by Irene Haas

I really love the work of Irene Haas.  There's something about anthropomorphic animals living side by side with humans that I find wildly appealing.  Just like Come Follow Me, the worlds of both The Maggie B. and The Little Moon Theater, felt so alive to me!  JoJo, Jip, and Nicolette were my friends and I longed to join their traveling troupe.  Maggie's boat was cozy and comfortable and was a place that I loved to visit.  And my mom always did the voices and sang the songs in The Little Moon Theater, which was so great!  I'm certain that The Little Moon Theater has everything to do with why I love drawing animals wearing hats and sweaters. 







4. Where's Wallace, by Hilary Knight

Hilary Knight's characters are lively and expressive and full of movement.  The relationship between Wallace and Mr. Frumbee is one of fondness and comfort and also a bit of mischief and deception, which was such a great combination as a kid.  I love searching for Wallace in the detailed, double page spreads, while the black and white pages provide a visual break and help build anticipation.




5.  The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher, by Molly Bang

This is such a strange and wonderful wordless story.  Color is used in an unusual and interesting way and the ending is so very satisfying.  The characters are endearing, even the naughty Strawberry Snatcher.  The Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher played a huge part in establishing my love of wordless picture books.  I've been working on a dummy for my own wordless story called Brave Molly, which is named after Molly Bang. 



There were so many books that I loved as a kid (Where the Wild Things Are, The Patchwork Cat, Rain Makes Applesauce...) but these six were my very favorites.  There were movies and t.v. shows, too, (The Goonies, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock) that I watched over and over and that inspire my work as an illustrator. 

When I'm feeling creatively stuck, revisiting these books and movies helps get me unstuck.  There is much inspiration to be found in the pages of childhood favorites.  What were your favorites?  Which childhood books continue to inspire you? 

Imagination is just memory in disguise. by Linda Dorn

Inspiration is the theme given to me for this weeks article. About a month ago I underwent the transition from teaching to full time artist. Sounds easy, going from talking about creating art to making it, yet there I was facing down a blank canvas with a question mark over my head.

I had a lot of ideas, but they all seemed contrived, generic. So I left the house and drew. I found a deer in a petting zoo nearby and visited her everyday until I was seeing and drawing something fresh and full of life. This is how I get my kickstart.

Zoo sketches, and the final illustration:

Drawing in public places like this is also a great opportunity to eavesdrop. Yes, eavesdrop.  Now I know what your thinking. I was also rather horrified when my very brilliant writing teacher made it a regular assignment. Write down word for word what you hear, then create a story from it. Best writing advice I've had so far. 

"Imagination is just memory in disguise", hearing this phrase was almost worth the entire cost of the masters degree. We will draw what we know, what we see, so you better fill your head with rich material. Once I accepted this, I was able to select which memories I chose to fuel my creativity, and weed out the cliches. 

I see so many young artists looking at the popular trends for inspiration. But some of the most innovative artists pull their inspiration from the past. Tim Burton (fellow alumni) was highly inspired by one particular film he saw in film school, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a 1920 German silent horror film. Pendleton Ward's (also fellow alumni) tv series Adventure Time, pulls some bits from the old rubber hose cartoons of the 1940s.

Hitchcock and Terry Gilliam use what we call "creative invention" by juxtaposing two things that do not belong together, something new emerges, and that evokes a story. Hitchcock said "if you take a woman dressed in an elegant cocktail dress, and put her in a uptown party there is no story. Take the same woman in an elegant dress, put her in the stoke hold of a cargo ship, then you raise questions, and you have a story." My mentor, a film production designer showed me a grand secret, if you combine images you can invent something new. It does not work if you just think it through because your mind will organize it in a conventional way. But if you lay out a variety of images in front of you, you can begin to see how you can combine them and create something extraordinary. This is Gilliam's technique, he combines old and new, mixes up architectural styles, genres, it is always exciting and fresh.

So if your looking for inspiration, don't jump on the computer to see what is hot and what is not, as tempting as it is. Consider what you love in this world, bring together all the things that have appealed you and see what could be combined. Go outside, look around, draw. If you look hard enough, you'll see it is rather exciting out there and you'll find something to share.

Linda Dorn is an illustrator and animator living in Southern California. To see more of her work go to www.lindadorn.com