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What do you do? How do you do it?
MagicToaster
JapanRegistered User regular
JapanRegistered User regular
I want to know what kind of project you do and what your work flow is like. Tell me about your physical space or your software layout. What's a typical project like for you and how do you use the tools you have to finish it?
Who are you?
What do you do?
What tools do you use?
What's a typical project like?
Pro Tip:
_______________________
Who are you?
Hector, a wanna be linguist that can kinda draw.
What do you do?
I'm a graphic designer living in Japan, doing mostly English language ads. I've been working print so long that I cannot mix colors in my mind in RGB to save my life.
What tools do you use?
Hardware wise, I'm using a tricked out iMac and an old Wacom Intuous. I cannot work without my tablet, I literally never use a mouse.
Software wise, I spend most of my time in Illustrator, there's a lot of InDesign there too. I feel like I know those two programs better than my car radio. Photoshop I use only for color corrections, photo montages and the occasional edit.
I've crafted my Illustrator workspace down to the pure essentials, the most important things I constantly need access to are colors, the type pallet and the pen tool. Layers are somewhat useless to me, but I can't bring myself to totally erase them from my pallets.
The appearance tool is a life-changer. You can turn off effects like drop shadows or you can add multiple strokes to text without having to expand them and outlining the font.
What's a typical project like?
It usually involves meetings where they break down what the event is. Later, an account executive sends me a list of items to complete which might include logo creation, flyers, posters, billboards, web graphics and such.
This particular project is a marathon through a muddy obstacle course for the military community and the local Japanese residents. I designed the logo, and all of the print advertisement, I also came up with the copy (industry slang for text), though usually our writer does this.
This particular example is part of a campaign where we're using several models (men, women, children, also Japanese participants), every version will have a teaser and the actual advert. The ads will all have a similar composition because they are a photo montage, which gives me the flexibility of doing vertical or horizontal formats. I still haven't worked on the Japanese version of the ads, I'm not very familiar with Japanese fonts, so it will be slightly terrifying.
Pro Tip:
When dealing with print, especially commercial vendors, keep a clean workspace, erase unnecessary items and unused layers. Overprinting is more common than you think, a graphic that was under an image can suddenly overprint over a guys face.
Collecting all the fonts and images is something everyone should do at the end of a graphic design project. It will save you a headache two years down the road when you've formatted your computer and a client asks for a revision, but you don't remember the name of the font you outlined.
+6
Posts
Michael, a nerd writer who writes nerd things and makes fractal art. I pretend I don't live in a rural hellhole in constant fear of gaybashers so I have the will to do the things I have to do to get out here.
What do you do?
word doodles and art things
What tools do you use?
Apophysis 7X, GIMP, whatever text editor is open when I get an idea. I also have an Intuos3 for when I feel like drawing or painting.
What's a typical project like?
For writing, I'll start off with an opening scene that's fantastic, forget about it for a week, and turn it into a short story. Fractal art starts off with boring stuff that comes out of a random batch. I move triangles around and play with gradients until it looks like something. Then I come up with a one-line story so you don't have to guess.
My art comes out looking like Jackson Pollock and Lisa Frank had an apocalyptic art battle. My writing is an amalgam of '90s space operas, Asimov short stories, and personal experiences.
Pro Tip:
Talent hasn't helped me at all. Experience and knowledge have a bigger impact on my output than my innate ability with creative stuff.
What tools do you use?
Heres my desk, To the right my desktop, to the left my traditional area. I try to stay flexible with my software, so while I use Photoshop mostly, I have a whole list of things I am kinda familiar with. Pictured also: I have too many pairs of headphones.
Here's a list of my software, with the addons:
Photoshop:
-kyletwebster's brushes
-Lazy Nezumi
Manga Studio 5:
-Frenden Brushes
Carapace
Alchemy
Krita (haven't really used this one much, to be honest)
I've also tried SAI but I find manga studio to be comparable with better tools.
What's a typical project like?
I'm not sure I have a Typical project, but I try to stay busy in my sketchbook and then take things to finish on occasion. If I get a commission its a pretty quick sketch, reference, re-sketch base color, render. I think My thread shows my work at multiple stages.
Pro Tip:
Pushing out negativity is just as much work as actually working on your art. Dont be down on yourself for anything, having a day job, having old crappy art, or taking classes. Keep learning and don't measure your success based on others.
Sophie, a digital dreamer
What do you do?
Game art & design degree but doing shitty testing right now
What tools do you use?
Appium , Robotium
What's a typical project like?
No idea all I have to do is testing
Pro Tip:
It sucks starting at the grassroot level but I guess with experience comes knowledge ...
Who knows, man
What do you do?
At the moment I'm fixated on acrylic portraits - I do try to break it up a little but I'm finding everything else a slog. I used to do a lot of digital work.
What tools do you use?
so here's my current workspace (the reason I made this post is cause I took a photo and was like wait don't we have a place for this??)
mostly pallet knives and a vast array of brushes in various states of decay.
Otherwise I use sketchbook pro and Photoshop almost exclusively, though I've been meaning to move across to Manga Studio.
What's a typical project like?
Finding a subject is the hardest bit. Largely stuck with photos (not optimal) and my family at the moment, I may have to start getting creative.
After that it's quick pencils and laying down a rough colour range, then I build up in layers. If I'm working from live (which I've only done like, one and a half times), I still take photos at the start so I can refer back without making people sit still for three weeks.
Pro Tip:
... clean your brushes?
What do you do? I co-founded a company called RareSloth and we make mobile games. We're working on our second title right now, Furdemption. I do all of the art and animation for it, I'm not an artist although I do have a masters in design.
What tools do you use? illustrator, pen tool all day for this particular project
What's a typical project like? This one right now has very strict rules working on a grid.
Pro Tip: Find your constraints but don't be afraid to break them if you need to
Yukon Warrior for iPhone
@RareSloth