Layer Tennis: No rackets required


Selection of layers from Week 11's Match between Chris Glass and Aaron DraplinSelection of Layers from Week 12's Match between ISO50 and But Does It Float

Layer Tennis is a series of live design events on Friday afternoons presented by Adobe® Creative Suite® 4. • Two competitors swap a file back and forth in real-time, adding to and embellishing the work. Each artist gets fifteen minutes to complete a "volley" and then we post that to the site live. • The players may be designers, animators, illustrators or pretty much anything else, and they can use any tool or application they like. The match progresses volley by volley. • A third participant, a writer, provides play-by-play commentary on the action as it happens. • The match lasts for ten volleys.

I saw this term being thrown around in blogs and websites I frequent on, and I willingly ignored it. I guess, I was afraid I'd be hooked on something new... But then I saw ISO50 would be competing, then my eye caught that Digital Kitchen (opening sequences for Dexter, Six Feet Under, True Blood) had participated in a previous match, and I realized that resistance was futile... As I had initially feared, I am now addicted to it.

Finally, a kind of sport I can actually follow!