Allusion

Visual artists have to manage lots of stuff about their library, especially during the creation phase: whether references, inspirations, past works, and so on, to constantly evolve, you have to tap into every possible resource there is. It goes without saying that some organizational skills are required to be efficient, so utilizing a tool to make the process easier can be of aid.

Allusion is a tool that was built for visual artists, aiming to provide a one-stop solution for one's visual library organizational needs: your inspirations, references, past works, and anything in-between, are all accessible via this one program.

The program can be deployed in two ways: you can choose to install it on your system, or use the portable version to skip installing altogether. Regardless, the tool is easy to set up, and getting it to recognize your photo library takes no work at all: simply add the folders where you store your visuals, and on you go.

After adding your library, you can start managing your photos. The interface features a quite modern design, which lends itself especially well when it comes to working on your visual library: you can switch between list, grid, vertical, and horizontal views, and specify the thumbnail size of your photos. This makes it easy to organize the library, as each of the photos is recognizable, so you can get to what you want in no time.

Tagging your work can cut down on the time you need to access certain files, leading to a more efficient workflow. As such, you can organize anything from your visual library, from past works, to references, and ongoing projects. Coloring your tags is also possible, which makes sorting through your images even easier.

You can also manage the metadata of your photos. Adding information related to copyright, the software used for editing, the creator's pages, and so on, is possible by clicking Edit in the Information panel.

Saved Searches can lead to even more efficient workflows. Simply put, you can set criteria to get to certain files faster, which makes the program automatically update when there are new photos matching your filters.

Allusion is quite a competent solution to organize your visual library with: free-to-use and beginner-friendly, the software can provide some much-needed help in managing one's photo library.