Save Back-up Organise Title There is a beast out there called the “Crash Beast”. It doesn’t happen to painters or printers or fashion designers because their work is not virtual. Digital artists and designers have to be vigilant. It doesn’t sound very creative, but oh my god, it will save a lot of heart-ache if you follow these simple rules.

Camera (10mp min) Hard-drive (usb powered) Memory stick (4gb min) The students that get the best results are those that think ahead. Pre-empting and anticipating needing equipment can avoid a lot of pain. Always have a digital camera and a way to store media.

Crap In Crap out Anyone working in the digital world knows that the computer wont make it for you. You have to produce materials before working digitally. Don’t expect it to happen on the computer: draw, photograph, sketch, make, build, perform, record, video!

Take risks The best work comes from taking risks, putting images through a process and testing hardware to the limit. Just because a tutorial shows some amazing work, don’t always copy it and get bogged down by perfection.

Share Its easy to get lost on your own when working on the computer. Remember to share your work – that might mean printing it out, putting it on a blog or making time to show it on screen. Evidence is everything though so don’t forget to print everything for assessment, including the step by step process of development.

The computer is a tool Don’t be afraid of computers and definitely don’t say you don’t like them. They are a tool like any other and they can really help as long as you see them as part of a bigger picture of production. All artists and designers now should be able to work with them, just like normal people need and texting skills, so artists and designers will need Photoshop and Online skills.

Digital delivery All universities will expect digital delivery of your work before interview. This might be as a blog, sending prints, using drop-box or ing to an account. Be prepared.

Going beyond Working digitally gives you huge potential to change work and transform what it is. Drawings can become videos, photos can become web pages, paintings can become animation.

Google / Wikipedia addiction It’s really easy to get addicted to Google images. Remember they aren’t your images. Your work will be more original if you use your own photos and artwork. If you work for a client and produce stuff for money then you have to work within copyright. Most internet images are low resolution at 72ppi and will print out all pixelated.

Draw People that work on the computer tend to forget the importance of drawing. Drawing and sketching really helps with generating ideas. Don’t wait for the computer, start sketching stuff out.