Happy Coincidence

Yesterday I went to the library to look for books on picture book illustration. Along with a whole armload of those I happened to find a book called ipad for Artists by Dani Jones. A little off topic but too interesting to pass up. And I have hardly been able to put it down. Here are some things I’ve learned.

The author was born the same year I graduated from high school, which means she’s good with technology, and I feel old. However, this book explains things so I can easily understand them. She also happens to be a children’s book illustrator and author.

I’ll be doing some travelling in the next two months and taking my ipad with me. I may never produce any masterpieces of illustration on my ipad, but this could be a fun way to be creative on the go. Some people do make gorgeous art on their ipads, and others use them as digital sketchbooks.

 I really like Jones' method of brainstorming and creating characters she can develop later on her computer. And there are instructions for saving color schemes, adding textures from photos, and lots of other cool things. It’s another medium to explore, and who knows, playing with it might lead to greater creativity in other areas?