Mr. Edutainment’s Tools

1. Imaging, Animation, Video

Adobe Photoshop

Raster image editor, background painting, vector fx, sketching, thumbnailing, raster illustration. There are simpler tools, I’ve tried many of them (Pixelmator, Affinity Photo/Designer, GIMP, Procreate) but nothing beats Photoshop in these areas. In the toolkit since 2002.

Clip Studio Paint EX

For comic inking and colouring. A really wonderful tool for illustrative work. Perpetual license. In the toolkit since 2022.

Toon Boom Storyboard Pro

Storyboarding and animatics. This software is a great place to 'be'. I love how it enables me to flow from storyboarding to animatic, scripts in tow, and hand-over to Harmony in one continuous, smooth workflow. Perpetual license. In the toolkit since 2021 (previously, Adobe Photoshop & Bridge since 2002).

Toon Boom Harmony Premium

2D animation. This tool does things its own way, and I love the unique environment it provides. Organised, the deformations/rigging is fantastic, makes both cutout and paperless a dream. Perpetual license. In the toolkit since 2021 (previously, Adobe Animate/Flash since 2002).

DaVinci Resolve

2D animation compositing, promo reel vfx, video production, final animation composition, audio editing. In the toolkit since 2021 (previously: Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, Final Cut Pro since 2007, iMovie since 2005)

Handbrake

Video compression. In the toolkit since 2009.

2. Writing, Development

VIM

I use VIM both for code and for regular writing. Used since 2014; it’s light, timeless, and endlessly powerful. Currently using both regular Vim and Neovim, depending on where I'm using it. (Previously: ST2, Espresso, DW since 2004, Frontpage since 2000, Notepad and MS Write since 1997). I also have MacVim installed for when I need to pop into an editor straight from Finder.

Final Draft

While VIM has fountain plugins, and fountain-focused apps like Slugline are great, Final Draft is the industry standard, its beat board tools really work well in my workflow, and it integrates nicely with Storyboard Pro. Used since 2023 (Previously: iA Writer since 2010, TextEdit since 2005, Notepad since 2000)

Godot

My game development engine of choice. I love the node system, and since I hop between game and toon all the time, jumping from Harmony’s node system to Godot’s node system feels like less of a mental shift. (Previously: Phaser, Vanilla JS, ActionScript3, GMS since 2001 back when it was with Overmars)

Alacritty

My terminal of choice. Having .config/ configuration alongside nvim/zellij/etc. is a really tidy way to manage the terminal, and make everything in the terminal experience match (eg lazygit and neovim having the same colour scheme). Used since 2023 (previously: iTerm2 since 2014, Terminal.app since 2005)

GitHub

Where all of my production code lives. In the toolkit since 2010.

Jekyll

Simple sites use this in combination with a GitHub Workflow to auto-deploy daily. This keeps media flowing on schedules, fast load times, and minimal moving parts. I can keep things simple, I can host this anywhere, and I have Ruby (and Liquid) at my disposal when I need simple templating. In the toolkit since 2011.

3. Communication, Organisation

Gmail

Gmail since 2005 and love its familiarity and simplicity.

Basecamp

Basecamp since 2010. It's a great tool for project management and team collaboration. It keeps everything in one place, so it's easy for teams to get cosy and make an 'office' out of the space.

Roon

For organizing both music and production scores. The depth of control it provides is phenominal, and allows me to immerse myself scores, to feel the story in the work, and plan beats more thoughtfully. Perpetual license since 2026 (previously iTunes since 2005).

Brevo

Brevo since 2023 (previously Sendy, ActiveCampaign since 2010). It's a powerful tool for running simple email marketing and automations. This product category often tries to over-complicate things, and Brevo keeps things nice and simple.

Xero

Bookkeeping and accounting. It’s great for those things, and easy to share with our accountants. In the toolkit since 2012 (previously iBank since 2007, Envelopes since 2005).

4. Hardware

Mac Studio

Used Macs since 2005 since they give me both a great development environment (like Fedora or OpenBSD) and a great creative environment for running Toon Boom, Celsys and Adobe products (unlike Fedora or OpenBSD). I use macOS mostly like I did 20 years ago, preferring file systems and terminals over new-fangled 'Stage Manager' fluff. The OS matters less than ever these days (macOS and Windows are equally fine for commercial software at this point, and Linux is a wonderful for the rest too), so I keep things as simple as possible, allowing my creative tools to shine.

Wacom Cintiq Pro + Wacom Intuos Pro (plus a pile of other Wacoms)

I love Wacom tablets. I’ve used loads of them over the years, for drawing and also as a mouse replacement since ~2008. I use a few tablets depending on whether I’m doing line work, painting, animating or I’m "on the go". My primary machine has both the Cintiq and Intuos Pro hooked up together, so I can draft linework upright then rest my arm while painting.

My Tools