Digital: 

• Drawing Pen Tablet (with Computer / Laptop), or a Pen Computer. 

  • • An up-to-date computer, large screen, mouse, keyboard and a complete OS is typically required for professional-grade, high-resolution, technical and fine-stage work.  
    • Simple, affordable, non-LCD pen tablets quickly jack into a computer's USB port, are reliable, and allow you to work on a large screen. Larger screens are required for higher quality and resolution, for many of the projects in this course, and in industry. 
    • For medium budgets, non-LCD Wacom pen tablets, small to medium, (new, used, or refurbished), are good. Wacom is an expensive brand, but there are many other good brands, reviewed online. The size of a non-LCD tablet is less important than the size of the display. 
    • You may borrow medium-size Wacom Intuos 5 (Pro) pen tablets from the SAE Tech Store on campus. Please do this before class. Borrowing time and availability is limited. 
    • For higher budgets: large LCD pen displays, Microsoft Surface, or Wacom MobileStudio Pro are awesome. 
    • Small LCD tablets are not recommended, and are known for thick, sloppy lines. Minimum size for fine-quality designs is A4, 300ppi, 3508x2480px. 
    • Most backpacks will carry a 15-inch device, some large backpacks will carry 17". 

• Adobe Creative Cloud 

  • • Adobe Photoshop for drawing, painting, and image processing. 

    • Adobe Premiere Pro for editing video animatics. 

    • BUY an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription with your SAE credentials, and get a student discount. 

    • We only support Photoshop and Adobe Creative Cloud apps, due to professional industry-strength features, widespread industry use, and demand for skills. Industry teams frequently share software workflow, skills, features, layers, files, and artists. We have provided workstations on-campus, and the student discount price of an Adobe CC subscription for the duration of your studies is reasonable. We require you to use Photoshop skills and techniques, and supply all formats in editable working condition, including special features. This will affect your grade. Please kindly learn Photoshop, and become comfortable with it. 
    • Technical drawing typically requires a desktop PC, large screen, and the full desktop version of Photoshop, compatible with SAE's software environment. 

• For weekly outside-class time, online remote work, and Adobe CC access: 

  • • To view both a subject as well as a drawing at the same time: use either one very large screen, or two screens. 

    • Use SAE Tech Store to borrow equipment e.g. drawing tablets, and in special cases, computers. 

    • In special cases, inquire about using an SAE workstation remotely via VPN through IT Services, if they'll support this. 
    • Do not auto-update Adobe CC software, or use versions that are different to SAE. Use the same software versions that are installed at SAE at the beginning of each trimester.  

    • You must buy an Adobe CC subscription, obtain off-site Adobe CC access, or attend the college in your scheduled outside-class time, for access to Adobe CC tools. Please use Google Calendar to schedule your weekly outside-class work sessions. 

• Headphones/earphones for viewing A/V reference, feedback, and tutorials at your workstation. 

• Most of the important parts of the course require Photoshop. All work including traditional should be digitized, cleaned up, aligned and finished in Photoshop layers. 

• David prefers to teach digital pen drawing, whenever the choice seems questionable, as the pros usually outweigh the cons. While we support traditional as much as possible, we strongly encourage digital, to empower your skillset.   

• You are expected to come to class prepared. 

Traditional: 

• Pencils for roughs, under-drawings, & construction, in very light tones 

  • • Non-Photo Blue or Light Blue pencils, sharpened. 

    • In an emergency, use 3H to 5H pencils (light grey), sharpened, much less preferable.  

• Pencils for dark fine lines, and shading: 

  • • 2B, 3B pencils (most common), 4B, 6B for deep darks, all sharpened. 

    • Mechanical pencils are discouraged, unless you buy a thick one (2 mm +), which can be sharpened with a knife or sandpaper, because variation of line thickness, angle and flat edge within the same stroke is desirable. While this is a style choice, you are encouraged to learn via deliberate practise. 

• Kneadable soft erasers (Officeworks, or an art supply store ) are preferable to hard erasers, because they can be formed into a point more easily. Both are useful. 

• Pencil Sharpener with barrel (Officeworks). 

  • • Note, box cutter knives are sometimes useful as pencil sharpeners; they can be used to sharpen other kinds of media besides pencils, and you can make highly customized points. Please sharpen over a bin, to catch the shavings. 

• Sketchbook / visual diary - minimum size A4 or larger, spiral bound. Larger sizes (A3, A2) are requested for life drawing, for closer subjects, and if making traditional oversized backgrounds (for camera moves, establishing shots, etc.). The best drawing paper has a slight texture, some thickness, and is slightly off-white, not hard/smooth/shiny or ultra white. Acid-free is normal for artist's paper. Printer paper can be used, if necessary, but only in emergencies.  Sketchbooks/visual diaries (required) usually have good drawing paper. 

• Color Pencils: Prismacolor is the best brand for traditional animation drawing, used throughout the industry. Light blue, cerulean / medium blue and carmine / scarlet red are the most useful colors, and col-erase colors are erasable. Art supply stores usually have some, but not all the colors of this brand. Here are some online mail-order links: 

  • • Prismacolor Col-Erase Sets:  Officeworks, The Art Shop,  Amazon,  Prismacolor Col-Erase Singles: Scarlet Red (Amazon) 
    • Prismacolor Sets and Singles: Discount ArtNCraft,  Light Blue (Artworx),  Non-Photo Blue (Officeworks),  Cerulean Blue (Officeworks) 

• Math sets, tools for geometry, and technical drawing. 

  • • Officeworks Math Sets, and a Pencil Case. For folks who struggle with neat curves, see  Curve, Ellipse and Stencil Tools. 

• Graphite sticks (Artworx, or an art supply store) are awesome for wide, soft, gentle strokes, and shading. 

• For broader, textured drawing styles, Conté hard pastel chalk crayon sticks are awesome, and the pencils are nice too. Colors like raw sienna, red brown, and the classic sanguine (a rusty burnt-orange/brown) are popular with artists for life drawing. Most art supply stores carry them, and here are some online suppliers. 

• • Conté hard pastel  Sanguine, Set - the Art Shop,  12 Color Set - Cavalier,  Sanguine Sketching Pencil - Cavalier,  Conte large pencil sharpener - Cavalier  

• Spray Fixative, acid-free, to seal the drawing after finishing, and prevent smudging. 

  • • Spray Fixative - Officeworks, Spray Fixative - Cavalier Art Supply 
    • Hair spray is a cheaper alternative, but it will age the paper, turning it yellow, over time. 
    • Please spray in a ventilated area and away from others. 

• Basic art supplies: Officeworks, Dymocks, or similar. 

• Better art supplies: find a good quality art supply store (many are nearby), or order online. 

• Digitizing Traditional Physical Art 

  • • For mobile devices, the free Google Photoscan app for both iOS and Android will give better results than your phone's default Camera app, and better results than a cheap scanner. It will take 4 hi-res images, and combine them to remove uneven light and shadows. 

• • • All traditional artwork must be digitized weekly, finished/cleaned in Photoshop, kept in your GDrive folder for this unit, and displayed in your web pages.  See Digital Image Standards - work must be digitized to 'presentation quality'. 

    • Adobe Photoshop to clean up messy/dirty drawings, for image processing, to crop, adjust tone, align, frame, and finish to 'presentation quality'. See Digital Image Standards. It is not possible to complete this course 100% traditionally and pass. If you start any project traditionally, you must digitize your work, finish it in Photoshop, and submit digitally, on time. 

    • Adobe Premiere Pro for editing video animatics. 

    • BUY an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription with your SAE credentials, and get a student discount. 

    • We only support Photoshop and Adobe Creative Cloud apps. All files must please be saved in Photoshop-format layers, in PSD/TIF. Alternative file formats will not be accepted. If delays occur due to non-standard formats when sharing project files, or if your project files and layers are inaccessible, this will lower your grade and you may not pass. Please ensure your work is done only in the apps we support, and supply Adobe CC project files with all layers and features in editable working condition.  
    • Do not auto-update Adobe CC software, or use versions that are different to SAE. Use the same software versions that are installed at SAE at the beginning of each trimester.  
    • You must buy an Adobe CC subscription, obtain off-site Adobe CC access, or attend the college in your scheduled outside-class time, for access to Adobe CC tools. Please use a calendar to schedule your outside-class time. 

• Headphones/earphones for viewing videos at your workstation 

• You are expected to come to class prepared. 

Online Attendance 

• Online attendance will be announced for the whole class, and only under special conditions, such as a public emergency, or if the lecturer is unable to attend campus.  For attendance via video conference / Zoom, see Google Calendar appointments and emails for required equipment and space. 

• If you're attending on-campus, online, using an SAE workstation, you'll need a headset, which you can borrow from Sydney Tech Store. 

  • • If you want to use your own mobile earphones+microphone, these usually have a single 3.5mm audio jack, so you'll need a cable splitter adapter, because many SAE workstations require a separate headphone / microphone jack. 

• To view both a subject as well as a drawing at the same time: use either one very large screen, or two screens. 

• Use SAE Tech Store to borrow equipment e.g. drawing tablets, and in special cases, computers. Booking ahead is recommended. 

• In special cases, inquire about using an SAE workstation remotely via VPN through IT Services, if they'll support it. 

• Do not auto-update Adobe CC software, or use versions that are different to SAE. Use the same software versions that are installed at SAE at the beginning of each trimester.  
• You must buy an Adobe CC subscription, obtain off-site Adobe CC access, or attend the college in your scheduled outside-class time, for access to Adobe CC tools. Please use Google Calendar to schedule your weekly outside-class time. 

Digital Imaging Guide 

See Digital Imaging Guide  for image format, organization, and 'presentation quality'. 

• 22T3 https://saeinstituteaustralia.padlet.org/duncan_maclean1/rnr6vvlz38dun07k

• 22T1   https://saeinstituteaustralia.padlet.org/davidjsmith/eig8pc294e9128sk 

• 21T3   https://saeinstituteaustralia.padlet.org/davidjsmith/21t3_drawing_ani170 

• Student Gallery 

• Perth / Shelly's group https://padlet.com/s_nordfelt/vtx960iu8ob8