Thursday, May 31, 2007

Yay! I'm doing it!!

I'm upgrading my studio to include a fully-equipped digital art workstation!
I do use my computer for everything (as you might guess - don't we all?) so I do have a regular set-up as is, but I'm talking full-force digital-art equipped! Right now I have my smallish Wacom tablet and the old standby, Adobe Creative Suite. But right now, my steps are, in general: I scan my work in, and I photoshop for clarity/fixing/color correctness. Aside from that, I use illustrator to do vector art. But, regarding illustration (and aside from those vectors), almost everything illo I currently do in computer-land is a minor amendment to analog-created artwork.

So, I'm splurging!!! A Cintiq tablet and Painter X. I still will be a 'hybrid' illustrator, but I am extremely excited about the possibilities of working with these two new tools!! The Cintiq should revolutionize my workflow and creative output!! I took Carlyn Beccia's lecture on digital art at NE SCBWI Conference a couple of weeks ago, and it pushed me over the edge. Without taking anything away from my beloved analog work, I think that having the ability to amend my work with digital painting will only enhance things on every level - - and I'm really excited about that. The Cintiq tablets are back-ordered, so I will have to be patient...it's tough!

In related news, I just purchased a new (refurbished) scanner - an Epson Expression 1640 XL. So excited, can't wait to get it. I've been lamenting the slow death of my (not even a year old!!) scanner. I feel that, because all of my work right now is analog and so extremely dependent on good scans, having a dying scanner is just totally unacceptable. It's been depressing! I hadn't taken the plunge on a new one because I was trying to figure out exactly what I needed. (The last thing I wanted to do was end up with the wrong scanner for my needs.) There is quite a jump in scanner prices and I had to do some research to make sure I got the right thing. I'm totally confident in this scanner. I have it on good word from a couple different sources that this is the one to beat, and that the price was good. I purchased from SupplySale.com who not only had the best refurb price, but also called me to verify that I ordered it. Hugs to them for taking those measures to protect their clients!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is seriously awesome. Good for you!

I would love to upgrade my computer. I'm using a 12" powerbook G4 - which I love, but it's so SMALL XD

Thanks for the link to supplysale.com - I'll check them out when I'm ready to update my scanner :) A large scanner like that would be pretty handy.

roz said...

HAVE FUN!
Sounds very exciting.
I did the same thing and upgraded a ton of stuff last year. I was apprehensive (cost) to do it but I'm so glad I did now.

One thing I'd really love to explore is doing the felt digitally. I don't want to replace the traditional way but it would be fun to have a digital version too.