A New Toy...I Mean, Tool.

It's been some time since the last blog post, I see...but that's okay. Things have been busy. Completed a commission for a coworker - an illustrated sellsheet for a new product she's inventing, so that's checked off the list! Woo!

I've also got another commission from yet another co-worker: an illustrated map of his fictional world, for the purpose of incorporation into his novel series, The Shadow Chronicles. His first book is out, titled: Shadows at Inverness. That will take some time; I plan to make a physical, traditional work of that - I need to practice with paper types, calligraphy and gold leaf a bit more to get that illuminated manuscript look.

Buuuut...in the meantime, I bought myself a little present. Well, not little exactly, nor cheap; it was pretty expensive: a Wacom Cintiq 13"HD touch drawing tablet. Fancy schmancy stuff.

And it is LOVELY. SO lovely.

With digital tablets, it's sort of been a given that there's a little disconnection when it comes to the drawing/painting process. You're drawing half-blindly, staring at the cursor on the designated computer screen as if it is your last hope. And it is, really. That's your drawing point. (Anyone who uses a tablet, this is baby basics of basics, I know.) Your hand is drawing on a surface away from the actual image being rendered. It's weird, but you normalize the feeling and that disconnect because you want to create pretty art. It's like playing a videogame, but for drawing.

The Cintiq eliminates that disconnect; you draw directly on the screen.

And OH, is it WORTH IT. I've already done so many sketches with it now.