Who are you, and what do you do?
My name is Ashlyn Anstee, and I'm a storyboard artist and director, who moonlights as an author, illustrator, and GIF maker! I currently work for Nickelodeon doing writing and boards for an unannounced project. I have two picture books out for little ones that I wrote and illustrated (No, No, Gnome! and Are We There, Yeti?), both with Simon & Schuster! I love writing and drawing and making things, in a lot of different forms.
What hardware do you use?
I swap it up a LOT. Just like with traditional media, my hardware changes depending on what I'm working on. I have a Cintiq Companion that I use for storyboarding at home, and occasionally work off of an old 2011 MacBook Pro if I want to type up something & don't want to lug around my Companion.
I keep my iPad Pro in my purse, with the Apple Pencil & keyboard ready to write and draw anywhere. It's become my mobile workstation of choice.
And what software?
Depends on what I'm doing!
- iPad Sketching, I pretty much exclusively use Procreate.
- Storyboarding, I mainly use Storyboard Pro, now!
- Video/GIF editing, I use After Effects (I know - editing a whole video in AE seems like madness, and it is. Whoops!)
- Illustration, I scan a lot of paintings, and prod at them in Photoshop!
What would be your dream setup?
If I could have all the power of the Cintiq Companion on something the size of the iPad Pro, it would be my dream. Having to only run iOS apps on such a great setup like the iPad is such a shame!