BricoSketch: Mixing Paper and Computer Drawing Tools in Professional Illustration

Illustrators are advanced users of both traditional and computer-assisted drawing tools, and therefore, observing their strategies is very valuable for research on drawing interfaces. We interviewed four professional illustrators in their work environment. We also followed the work of an artist for a two-year period. We observed that artists mix a variety of techniques that involve specialized computer software and hardware such as Adobe Photoshop, a graphics tablet and a scanner, and traditional physical tools such as pencils, paper, and customized light tables. Our findings inspired BricoSketch, an augmented paper interface that enables illustrators to zoom into parts of their drawings and work at different levels of detail on paper. Our early results demonstrate that BricoSketch supports real tasks, improving productivity on paper while enhancing illustrators' creative ways of working.