Tools of my trade

A recent visit from my parents brought with it a load of goodies from the past, a box full of my old illustration tools.

There is something important about tools, whether it is in the pursuit of creative work or just bashing down a wall.

It is no exaggeration to describe tools as extensions of our limbs. Indeed much of the satisfaction of using a tool does come from sensory and tactile feedback, and when a tool delivers high quality results – sometimes even under an unskilled hand, the results can be truly emotional.

A tool rarely lives in isolation either, it is part of a family all with their own little specialisms and quite often has a home, like a tool box or rack where it sits merrily in its place until it is called upon.

With these back in my life I thought it would be fun to write a series of homages to the tools of my trade.