Val Head: The Tools I Use

The latest in our series “The Tools We Use” features Val Head, independent consultant and digital animator extraordinaire.

Pen & Paper: Every project I work on starts with these for sketching, storyboarding ideas, or just making sure I don’t forget an idea.

Illustrator: It’s my favourite tool for drawing anything vector and for prepping SVGs for animation.

Sketch or Photoshop: I use one or the other for layout things depending on the project or team I’m working with.

Animate CC (Flash) or After Effects: For mocking up motion ideas that are complex or that I’ll be passing along to someone else to code.

CodePen: My go-to for making interactive prototypes, trying out ideas, and teaching.

IA Writer: Pretty much every newsletter issue, article, or blog post starts here. The unadorned interface helps keep me from getting distracted, and the preview mode makes it easy to see the structure of articles as you write.