Wacom Inkling
Words by Lynda Beckett
Buying presents for people in tv, film and theatre production is always difficult because they have everything. So this year at OffScreen we thought we would give you a few ideas.
The first is a gadget. We all love gadgets. This one is especially useful for the doodlers and artists amongst us. In fact it is a top gadget for anyone who writes on scraps of paper, draws on napkins or the back of fag packets. The Wacom Inkling is a really neat way of capturing those ideas that come to them in a café or pub during a meeting. It enables them to transfer their thoughts and images into their computer. And the beauty of this gadget is that it’s small, something they can carry around in their pocket. The Inkling digital sketch pen comprises a pressure-sensitive ballpoint pen and a wireless receiver that captures your sketch/notes and stores them digitally. The wireless receiver just needs to be clipped to the edge of the piece of paper, cardboard or napkin you are using. Then you tap the receiver and start to draw. It’s a clever little gadget. Tap on the receiver again and you can create layers in the digital file. It is compatible with Adobe® Photoshop®, Adobe® Illustrator® and Autodesk® Sketchbook® Pro. It’s a versatile piece of kit that means their moments of inspiration in the pub or the coffee shop will never be lost.
Everyone enjoys a good book over the Christmas holidays, and one full of pictures that you can get stuck into is a god-send when you’ve had your fill of turkey and the rellies. Oliver Messel – In the Theatre of Design covers the work of the designer who lived from 1904 to 1978, It’s a great book for anyone interested in film and theatre set design. Shortly after leaving the Slade School of Fine Art, Messel made his name as a stage designer, working for Sergei Diaghilev in 1925. From the 1930s to the mid 1950s Messel was one of Britain’s leading theatre designers working on revues, musicals, ballet, opera, theatre and films. In the post-war years he designed several films, including Caesar and Cleopatra with Vivien Leigh in 1945. In 1959 he designed Suddenly, Last Summer, with Elizabeth Taylor and Katherine Hepburn. A master of design, he was able to capture the mood of any design, be it for film or the stage, and interior design.
Published by Rizzoli
An offshoot for Messel from film and theatre design was lavish interiors and architectural design in his later life. This book holds the life and works of a very talented man and is well worth a read.
If you want to give your friends presents that are going to inspire, why not buy annual memberships for the Tate or the Royal Academy? For a year they will get unlimited free entry to all exhibitions, access to the Members’ Room and a quarterly magazine from the gallery. If you think your friends would enjoy more variety an Art Fund Pass is great value. It will get them into over 200 museums and galleries throughout the UK for free, and will enable them to visit most major exhibitions for half price.
