Digital Artists Handbook

folly - the digital arts agency and charity based in England's NorthWest - recently launched an important new project, the Digital Artists' Handbook, backed by Arts Council England, which might be a useful resource for comics creators.

The Handbook is a new, up to date, reliable and accessible source of information that introduces artists to different tools, resources and ways of working related to digital art.

The Handbook has been edited by Marloes de Valk and Aymeric Mansoux of GOTO10, a collective of international artists and programmers and folly's Creative Director, Kathryn Lambert, says the organisation is very excited about the Handbook.

"We hope it will be an indispensible resource for artists seeking an introduction to the world of free and open source technologies," she says. "folly strongly believe that free/libre open source software (FLOSS) is an empowering, cost-effective and democratic way to introduce digital art technologies to artists".

Building on the colloborative and accumulative nature of the web, the Digital Artists Handbook will always be a work-in-progress, with new articles being commissioned on an ongoing basis, and new fields explored.

While there are as yet no articles on digital comics creation, the folly team would no doubt be happy to consider them (click here to send article suggestions).

folly describes the goal of the Handbook as a "signpost", a source of practical information and content that bridges the gap between new users and the platforms and resources that are available, but not always very accessible. The Handbook will be slowly filled with articles written by invited artists and specialists, talking about their tools and ways of working.

"We're especially pleased that folly has worked with a range of international artists and specialists who have shared insight into their areas of expertise," adds Kathryn.