Tools of the Trade

[djly]

Another wonderful podcast episode! As a newbie, it was so helpful to hear which materials you consider necessary. The traditional materials used were especially helpful as I've been also trying to dabble in watercolor. The story of Lee's mom and coming home with a slew of watercolors could have definitely been me, so thanks for the advice.

[Whitney Simms]

@NessIllustration the scanner they mentioned was an epson. I have an epson t something which is a printer and scanner. I got it for $400. And it was at Costco. Who doesn’t love Costco! The epson p600 is $800. And that is only a printer. And i think the printer lee uses for fine art prints. Jake may use that too. Hope that made sense.

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@NessIllustration Hi! If you’re experiencing back/neck problems when using a cintiq, an ergotron arm will certainly help. That way you can tilt the tablet just like a desktop. It is not an essential though but it will improve the whole experience.

[NessIllustration]

@nyrrylcadiz I did not know that! Thanks for the tip, although it seems an extravagant expense when the Intuos works perfectly for me. Intuos is my jam hahaha

[jaepereira]

@Whitney-Simms how does the ink flow compare to the Pentel? That’s one that I use but it’s too wet sometimes, although I am getting better with my control.

[Erin.Cortese]

I have to say I’m in love with my iPad. I have only been using it for about 6 months, and now I can’t imagine being without it. I work in Procreate, which is awesome, but I find like Will Terry said, it has it downsides for finishing illustrations (I get frustrated by the colour discrepancies). For larger more refined illustrations, I bought Astropad for my iPad so that I can work in Photoshop. I feel very lucky to have a big beautiful iMac to work on. I set my iPad up in front of my Mac and use them together.

Great podcast!

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@NessIllustration hehe yeah, it is an added expense. Wacom offers their Flex Arm at a whopping 375 USD! That’s more than a cintiq alternative. There are the Ergotron arms that costs abot 100 USD. Still expensive though.

[Lucelfo]

Fantastic podcast episode, as always! so interesting when it come to WHAT great artist uses! Can I ask if you can suggest a printer of your taste? THANKS!

[Teju Abiola]

I love learning about the tools artists choose to use! I agree a lot with Lee and Will about the quality of materials and how that can affect results. Once I started using better materials, such as cotton/heavier watercolor paper, it became easier to get the results that I wanted. I'm a bit of a supply enthusiast, especially when it comes to watercolor.

As far as limiting your palette, my main watercolor palette has 28 colors, and sometimes I feel like it's too few! I never use them all at once, but the pigments have such a range of different properties, and as Lee said, they can also mix totally differently. There are just some colors you can't mix. I love Permanent Brown (PBr25) and have never been able to mix it or replicate how it mixes with other colors. I had to add a magenta and turquoise because I couldn't mix the hue or vibrancy I wanted. Viewing other people's palettes has been really interesting to me as well. It's interesting to see what they view as essential when compared to the standard/basic palette that is recommended to students.

[Jess Erskine]

Love your all's podcast. I think I've listened to every single one of Will Terry's YouTube videos while drawing, and that's how I found Jake & SVS. So thankful for you guys, it's so nice to have some folks out there who do this for a living and are happy to share what they go through - makes the illustration life a lot less lonely!

[daviesdesignated]

Hi @Jake-Parker I think someone (Lee or Will) isn't wearing headphones, and so as they listen to you talk with their computer speakers, your voice echoes back through their mic. Iv'e noticed this on the last few podcasts, hope the feedback (no pun intended) helps!

[burvantill]

I just ordered the incredible art board. I used to stretch my paper when I was in colllege then I started using watercolor board and that was great. But I’m using paper blocks now and getting tired of them buckling when I load the water on. @Lee-White sounded so confident about this board that he sold me. That whole thing about hating to wait, I am so in agreement with that.

[Lee White]

@burvantill you won't regret it! I'm still using the original art boards I ordered. They are 6 years old now!

[Lee White]

@daviesdesignated thanks for the feedback. That has been such a tricky issue. It's not that we aren't wearing headphones, it's that jake and will are in the same room recording with different mics. So when 1 person is talking, the other mic picks up the sound. We think we have solved it, but it was making us crazy!!!

[Heather Bouteneff]

Is Wacom really pronounced wack em? I've been saying Way com for years, I had no idea

[uzma]

I second @Heather-Bouteneff 's question. I've always said Way-Com

[burvantill]

@Heather-Bouteneff MeToo!!

[Chip Valecek]

I just call them too damn expensive

[burvantill]

@Chip-Valecek right!

[Heather Bouteneff]

@Chip-Valecek the cintiq's absolutely are. I got a refurbished intuos a while back and I am fine enough with that. It's like a scifi movie where the character realizes all those years of piano lessons there parents made them take
were for this very reason!