Creative Toolbox

Six years into hand lettering and I am constantly experimenting with new techniques, brushes or even photo editing apps. I love to see what tools other designers are using for my personal growth, that’s why I’ve decided to share with you my personal Creative Toolbox as well! Let me know if you find it useful :) 

Digital Drawing and Design

• Macbook - I use a MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020) for everything!
  
  
• Procreate - Super easy and very good for digital lettering! Procreate is my go-to drawing app. 
• Adobe Creative Cloud (especially illustrator) - I can’t live without Adobe! While I majorly use Illustrator & Photoshop, Softwares like Premiere Pro, Lightroom, and In-Design are great too!
• Wacom Tablet - I use a Intous pro wacom! I got in long back when there was no apple pencil and I think it was a great investment to digitise letters because procreate doesn’t give you vectors!

iPad and Pencil

• iPad Air  - I upgraded my ipad in May 2023 to an ipad Air 5th Gen
• Apple pencil (2nd generation)  -  Definitely recommended for people looking at digital drawing of any kind! (Please check if your ipad is compatible with a pencil or not before buying) 

Photography & video

• Apple iPhone 14 pro  -  I have never really used a DSLR camera and your phone is the perfect tool for making videos for social media! Easy to carry, edit in and compatible with most of the tripods.
  

Tripods (Iphone specific)

• Lazy Mount Tripod  - I have used this tripod for over 6 years now and I am still praying that it never breaks. It has a clamp that helps me clamp it up on my desk and take flatlay videos and pictures.

• Mini Phone Stand - Useful for really close shots of me writing or painting

• Tripod Stand - Bought a pretty Normal one from amazon and definitely does the work! Best for making videos of me painting time-lapse murals or of me or for talking in the camera and making videos!
  
  Lighting
• Literally nothing. I use natural light for all my work! Just sit near a window and shoot videos! I did that for over 6 years and still doing :)
  
  Video editing (Phone Apps)
• imovie  - I have used imovie on my phone for quite a few years. It’s great unless you have really heavy files, say 4K or so!
• Splice  - This app is paid but works sooo well. I have used it to edit almost all my reels and videos for client work! Works best if you have to edit 4K videos!
  
  Photo Editing (Desktop Apps)
• Lightroom  -  I use this to edit any photos on my phone! Pretty easy to work around! There are tonnes of free presents for this app available online if you want to save time or want the same editing for all photos!
• Photoshop  - Photoshop is great for editing photos and lettering together.

• Trello - I use this to record my creative ideas, organize business goals, and plan my social media calendar
• Google Docs and Sheets - It comes inbuilt with your Gmail. Since I use a macbook, I dont use Microsoft office. Google Docs & sheets save my ass!

• Shopify  -  Shopify is great for ecommerce and for showcasing your portfolio. I used shopify to make all my previous website. They have fixed templates which are super easy to use and are free. Although there is a monthly subscription fee per month, but I think it's super easy to use!
• Godaddy - My Current website is made using godaddy. It is super easy to use and helps you edit faster. I really like the interface as well. Definitely recommended. 

• Pens: Please refer to this blog 
• Paints: I use Gouache (Winsor & Newtons) and I love them.I also use Camlin Artist Acrylics paints. I have been using brustro gouache as well since a while and they are great.
• Brushes: I use Camlin brushes and they work really well for me.
• Rhodia notepads (dot sheet) -  A friendly paper pad for brush pens that also has a helpful dot grid to follow!
• Brustro paper for watercolour or gouache: I recently started using cold pressed paper from brustro and its really nice for watercolour and gouache. 
• Moleskin: I have been using moleskin for a while. Its super easy to carry around and it does the work well since it opens flat and leaves no impression at the back of the paper.

• Skill Share  :  I love watching online tutorials and I have learnt most of my techniques in lettering through online classes by Jessica Hische, Lauren Hom, Stefan Kunz etc. Buying online classes by these artists can be a bit expensive, so instead I would definitely recommend buying a membership of skillshare and watch the classes there! It covers a huge amount of skills like lettering, illustration, book design, type design etc.
• Domestika: I have bought a few courses from domestika and I love the courses. They cost about 500 rupees and are totally worth as the videos are pretty detailed and the teachers are great too.
• Youtube: Oh dont get me started on how much I have used this platform in my early days of hand lettering. Most of the things that I used in my early days is from youtube. Although I find it very cluttered nowadays, I still go back to it sometimes. 

If you have any doubts, don't forget to send me an email on lettersandallthat@gmail.com