The ad scamp: an app by VCCP creatives

VCCP has launched an app on the Apple store that is designed to help creatives in the ad industry to ‘scamp’ quicker and easier than ever before.

Devised by VCCP creatives Matthew Benney and Brendan Howell and developed by VCCP, the free-to-download ‘Ad Scamp’ app is designed to work on the iPad and brings the art of scamping into the digital age. ‘Ad Scamp’ makes use of technology and digital innovation to improve the scamping process and make it quick and easy.

‘Ad Scamp’ works by turning an iPad into a portable digital lightbox from which creatives can trace scamps.

The app allows the user to create a composition of images on screen, and then turn them into a line drawing. The user then places the iPad under a sheet of layout paper and traces the image through with a non-permanent felt tip pen or pencil, helped by the brightness of the screen.

The app includes a number of useful tools to make scamping quick and easy. As well as being free to add any amount of images to the composition, the user can move, rotate and scale them with touch controls. There is also a trace tool that locks the screen to all touch input (so it doesn’t ruin the composition when the user is tracing) and pumps the brightness up to full. It also turns the images into bold outlines to make it easier to trace.

Below is a four-point guide of how to use the app, once downloaded:

Step by Step Guide

1. Collect your images. Ad Scamp imports images from the iPad Camera Roll. You can also search google images and save them to your iPad. Alternatively you can take your own photos with the iPad. Images can come from anywhere.

2. You create a composition on screen. You can add any amount of images to this stage. You then move, rotate and scale them with touch controls. You can also change the layer order and visibility with the tools panel.

3. You press trace. Pressing trace locks the screen to all touch input (so you don’t mess things up when you are drawing) and pumps the brightness up to full. It also turns the images into outlines to make it easier to trace. You put the iPad under your paper and trace with a non-permanent felt tip pen or pencil. Pressing a small unlock button returns it to the ‘editing mode’.

4. You can save and load old scamps into memory. 

Ad Scamp is available to download for free now from the Apple store here.