#design-tool

WordPress Magic – TEN THINGS TRENDING Sep 13 2014

ComcastifyJS 1. theonion/comcastifyjs “With all this internet going around, sometimes you just want to experience the thrill of a long page load. Give your users the chance to enjoy a little slice of the future by slow loading your website’s images with ComcastifyJS!” Awsome Node.js 2. sindresorhus/awesome-nodejs “A curated list of delightful Node.js packages and resources. Inspired by the…

For my tool, I have chosen the Wacom tablet and pen. For drawing and illustration, I have used traditional media for years. I have also used Illustrator for design for a long time. However, for the first time this year, I have used a Wacom tablet and pen as illustration tools with Illustrator. I have discovered a joy in this method and have been happy with the results.

The Wacom tablet and pen is obviously a digital tool. Its marks are made and initially viewed on the computer screen. With Illustrator, its brush can be set to different widths and pressure settings. It can create a huge variety of marks on the screen, but of course, cannot draw directly onto paper. The immediacy of instrument to paper is lost. The Wacom pen traces on the tablet invisibly and the eyes must look to the screen to see the result. There is a slight disconnect between the mark making and the results.

However, the smoothness of the marks and the ability to create vector drawings that may be altered in unlimited ways and then enlarged are huge benefits to this tool.

The tool I decided to more closely analyze is the social media, photo-sharing outlet Tumblr. Since Tumblr is pictorial based, most people on the site are ready, willing and able to comment and post on images whether it is the meme of the moment or an awesome poster design.  

I would say that Tumblr’s effect and influence on what it produces depends a lot on the decisions of the designer who is using the tool.  As for inspiration, Tumblr can be a great tool, which can influence the outcome of a piece. In Tool (Or, Post Production for the Graphic Designer), Blauvelt explainsthat we have the power to find or own inspiration and share the adventure with whoever is interested. Looking at past designs of other friends, or even others designs on Tumblr can greatly encourage or influence a piece. The Tumblr universe is filled with creative types that want to share, so why not take part in that?

In Andrew Blauvelt’s writing he says that this generation of designers are different because we are less worried about transforming the conventional practice to accommodate our work, it is more about “produce now, ask questions later” With Tumblr, when I post something I need an opinion on or just want to show it off, not only can I hashtag my work to market it to the right audience, but most of my followers are people that will give me honest opinions: my friends, family, fellow students.  Not enough likes or reblogs might make a designer a bit nervous. Tumblr’s influence also comes from the fact that everything editable, content is not owned but shared. Blauvelt simply puts it today “it is a culture of re-: remix, reprogram, reschedule, reboot, repost, recycle.” We must now understand that designers are users, and vice versa.

From my long - and most likely incomplete - list of tools, I pick the brush. For thousands of years, this has been the ideal object to render anything. There is a brush for everything. The length and width of the bristles affect the outcome. But the type of hair used is even more important. Badger hair is good for blending oils. Hog hair is best for evenly spreading paint. Mongoose hair is resilient and perfect for long term projects. 

There are almost infinite ways to handle it, all depending on how one holds it and how much medium is applied. Focusing on my own painting techniques, I either do thousands of small dabs with tiny brushes and water-downed paint. Or I'll go to the opposite end of the spectrum and "slash" on large globs of paint with large brushes. I aim for realism in my paintings and both methods accomplish the job. 

No matter at what level of skill it is wielded at, the brush always produces something original. Programs are becoming increasingly advanced when it comes to recreating brushstrokes. But at the end of the day, there's always an algorithm creating those strokes.

#Priscilla #tool-list

I use various tools  on a day to day basis.....since I have such a broad spectrum of my skill and abilities when it comes to design. I love creating using my Laptop & Wacom Drawing Tablet.  When that first came about in my life I took it in like an adoptive child.  I made sure those items were with me at all times.  I would post up at a restaurant every morning and go get inspired .   I would treat myself just so I can be out and about making it known this is who I am.  I would throw on my headphones, which to me is another VITAL tool in any project I do whether its drawing a logo for a client...drawing a tattoo for a client, WHATEVER....you name it music is what inflluences me as an artist.   These arent just tools for me ....their my weapons in the survival of the fittest in this concrete jungle we live in.  Some tools you just cant use when you are loyal and patient with how you want the world to take you in as, as a respected entreprenuer able to design your next best shoe.  My, charcoal, sketchpad, pencils.....ALLLLL my drawing pencils are daggers....these babies show my true talent when it comes to drawing.  My preciseness unique ideas in every piece show that I am passionate and true to what I do and what I do second best.  No its not what your thinking... although...No... its being being a mom sillies.  I am a mother of a beautiful 3 year old boy and he also uses all my tools. As a slight influence, I let him be the artist he is and let me tell you this boy is an amazing sculptor.  I would have to say that these are all my basic tools of course if you want to add digital software when creating then we can even go into using software such as Final Cut Pro, Maya AutoDesk, Adobe Photoshop, Toon Boon Animation Studio, Adobe After Effects, Processing, and your whole Microsoft Office applications. 

#priscilla #design-tool

Of these tools the ones I need the most and are always with me are my headphones,  pencils and charcoal, and a sketchpad.  The fact that I have these tools with me all the time in fluences me and alows me to always reach out to my inner artist and create.  Being on a train for an hour everyday gives me that much time to create.  I am launching a shoe collection the end of the summer simply from a train ride home I started sketching away my next shoe.  I had drawn over 12 designs all to the sound of my music and an hour long wait. They can never limit my outcomes if anything they open up possibilites.

#priscilla #tool-image