Thursday, May 19, 2016

Graphic recording for Flux Trends

I had the privilege to do a graphic recording for FluxTrends on Tuesday 17 May. Spearheaded by Dion Chang, Flux specializes in trends as business strategy. You can read all about their approach here. Every quarter, Flux hosts and Open Session presentation covering their latest trend research and it was to one of these sessions that I was invited to do my thing.

The fascinating presentation covered the how new technologies and skills are busy changing the corporate workplace. The long career is dead, artificial intelligence and mechanization is stealing jobs, hybrid skills are becoming increasingly important and flexibility has become an essential survival skill. 

Super interesting but slightly disturbing to think that a robot might one draw at these sessions instead of me. Until then, I'll keep hustling my old school skill, hoping to hear loads more of these interesting talks.







Thursday, May 5, 2016

The Yiynova MSP 19u Digitizer tablet

Up to the end of last year, my process was pretty traditional - a cycle of penciling, scanning and inking up to the final stage of digital colouring with my Wacom Intuos tablet. Despite having an Intuous, I could never get use to drawing digitally - the process just did not feel natural.

I assumed that a direct on screen digital drawing tool would bridge the gap. However, the pricy Wacom Cintiq was just too expensive to be an option. Enter The Yiynova MSP 19u Digitizer tablet. I read about this tablet on the now discontinued Drawn blog. For a fraction of the price of a Cintiq, the Taiwanese company Yiynova produced drawing tablets that apparently compared well with the Cintiq.

So when a friend of mine went to the States last year, I took the plunge and ordered one. And since the beginning of the year, I am the proud owner of  a  Yiynova MSP 19u digitizer tablet. It was the best  move I could make - I absolutely love this piece of technology. My process is now fully digital and feels fully natural. It took me while to get used to but now I honestly cannot imagine going back to working the way I used to. So here it is:
I mounted the tablet on a monitor arm which improved the ergonomics of my work space drastically. The tablet and pen is accompanied by a funky looking ninja glove that reduces friction between your hand and the screen (and keeps the screen clean). I also switched my primary drawing program from Photoshop to Manga studio 5 but that is a story for another day. Watch this space fro a fuller review of the tablet and Manga studio 5.