Taylor DowInterview
Cartoonist, game designer, teacher
Adapted from Taylor Dow's interview on Uses This, published 26 November 2020. The kit is drawn from their answers and each reason is an excerpt, lightly edited. Shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full interview ↗
Is this you? Claim this kit →Hardware
I have bottom-of-the-line 13" 2017 MacBook Pro that I keep perched on a big, stupid laptop stand I bought on Amazon that I am pretty sure is just made of K'NEX.
I also bought a 27" 2019 iMac last year for 3D animation, but it broke when I stuffed it into a suitcase that I put it on a plane.
I have a Wacom Intuos 3 tablet that I've used consistently for fifteen years, original nib and everything.
I like to use Sharpie for life drawing because I'm usually drawing strangers who are far away and they end up with these super thick lines and solid black fills that look great when scanned and enlarged using my Epson Perfection V19 scanner (every scanner is the same IMO but there you go).
Design
The computer is way underpowered and can barely handle Photoshop, but I like that it's small and sturdy and that I get to rest my sweaty palms on brushed aluminum.
Sometimes I use Procreate for quick iteration of a sketch but its wack layer and resolution limits prevent me from using it for print-quality work.
I use Calligraphr to make typefaces from my handwriting.
Media
I use Flickr for photo reference, with search results sorted by date uploaded.