Believe the Hype, Tools Matter

Over the years as a professional digital artist, the biggest struggle in my work has been whether I should buy the latest and greatest tools and equipment or not. I made it through the last five years of business using Windows XP, a Pentium 4 with 3GB of RAM, the Adobe CS2 Creative Suite and a lot of patience.

Along with the old system, I began to foster the mentality that having the right tools wasn’t as important as having the ability to effectively create and deliver the work that was necessary to get the job done. But somewhere along the way, I was getting bogged down to the point of inefficiency, frustration and a tendency to daydream about better equipment.

Enter the moment of change. Recently, I upgraded my computer and software to the latest and greatest from Apple and Adobe. Not because their marketing said that I should, but because I needed to. The results were tremendous. In the month of December 2010, my productivity quadrupled. I produced almost an hour of finished video work in Premiere, animation rendered in After Effects went from hours to minutes, working on large-format projects in Photoshop was fast and discovering new ways of collaborating with Skype opened up doors with existing friends and clients. But most importantly, the new tools made work fun again.

With all the hype that is out there, find the tools that can reinvigorate your work life and bring an element of fun and excitement to your business. You don’t need to be constantly upgrading your tools and equipment, but don’t limit your vision out of stubbornness or refusal to see value in the benefits of modern technology.