Etchr Mirror Review and Demo

https://etchrlab.com/products/mirror (correct link!)
www.patreon.com/kellymckernan
www.kellymckernan.com

Hello! I'm Kelly McKernan, an independent artist based in Nashville, Tennessee. I work in traditional water media, including watercolor, acrylic, and acryla gouache. My work is exhibited with galleries, I travel for events and conventions, and share my journey as an artist on my Patreon.

I'm a big fan of Etchr, a company that works with professional artists to create incredible products. I've gotten my hands on a number of their creations, including the art satchel (I bought one for my partner), and the upcoming Mini Palette. The quality of their products is outstanding and the design truly innovative. When I was browsing their website, I came across the Mirror, a simple device that makes tracing an image or reference a breeze.

Since a part of my process involves transferring a finalized drawing (usually created on the iPad pro with procreate) to panel, using a lightbox isn't much of an option unless I transferred my drawing to watercolor paper before I create the panel (to see what I'm referring to, check out my tutorial on mounting paper to wood panel: https://www.kellymckernan.com/blog/20.... So, I'll instead print out my drawing to the size of the painting, rub the back of the paper with graphite powder, and then transfer the lines by hand. It's messy and it takes time and finesse not to complicate things beyond reason.

I saw that the Etchr mirror could be a solution to this messy part of my process, though it wasn't terribly clear to me how it works. I reached out to Etchr to see if they'd provide me with one to demo in exchange for a review (hey artists, sometimes this works!). Ania was lovely to speak with and sent one my way!

I think the packaging is really quite nice to the touch and is easily assembled and disassembled into a roughly 6" x 9" box, with a carrying case included. I love this, because I travel often and also super appreciate good design!

The instructions were clear, though I fumbled a bit with getting my devices to rest properly. Prior to this demo, I had tried both an iPad pro and my iPhone 6S with the downloadable app and found success. I tried working from reference images as well as finalized drawings to test it out against my process. This thing is so cool!

A few things to note, however:

- Low light on your paper with high device brightness seems necessary to get a clear projection

- I was really concerned about distortion if I tried raising the Mirror onto a taller platform in order to "enlarge" the image. However, instead of distortion, I found that the larger to try to project your image, the harder it gets to keep your lines straight, because...

- Because there isn't a physical projection, the Mirror relies on you to stand completely still (I didn't breathe for a lot of my transferring!) to view the projection and trace underneath. Because of that, I don't recommend this for those of us that have trouble keeping still.

While I don't think I will be using the Mirror for anything larger than 6" x 9" I think this is a really handy device to have around for small pieces, quick studies, transferring sketches, etc. I can see this replacing the need for tracing paper when I'm looking at making adjustments also. I really love that the Mirror can help me bridge the gaps between useful digital tools and my traditional painting process.

I would especially recommend this to young artists and students who use their digital devices for studies, sketches, and transferring reference! For professional artists out there, I think this is worth the $49 USD (plus shipping) if you work small and use reference often and on the go. Those that take commissions at conventions may find this incredible useful too!

Big thanks to Ania from Etchr for giving me an opportunity to try out this fascinating device! Thank you to my Patreon patrons as well for their support! This was originally a Patreon-only livestream demo of using the Etchr mirror to create a series of small graphite drawings with watercolor.

To view the full livestream video or to find out more about my Patreon, please visit www.patreon.com/kellymckernan.

(I apologize for the audio quality! I'm a bit technically challenged sometimes, but I'm learning!)