These are a few color sketches from last night’s figure drawing session. I was having a hard time getting into a long drawing so I did some short color studies, where I focused on pushing saturation. The first one was done on my iPhone, the others are Photoshop.
You can see the previous version here, and the original sketch.
The image and video above are of a painting I did using Brushes on my iPhone. I don’t use a stylus, just forefinger and thumb.
This week we did a series of 5 SECOND poses, at the suggestion of my friends at Drawn Today. Kimberly, the model, was great, whirling through each pose with grace and precision. It was fun and definitely challenging. I’ll scan some of those drawings soon, and suffice to say they are very simple. After the 3 minutes of 5 second poses, the minute poses seemed an eternity. I felt like I could take my time and not rush the 5 minute poses. Tim commented that this was his best 20 minute pose yet. I highly recommend the exercise. If you don’t have a figure drawing session, goof around with your friends and have them do it. 5 seconds is easy to hold a pose and it might be fun and silly for people while you’re getting good practice.
Round 2, DING!
I also test drove the Cintiq 12wx (pictured here, image courtesy of Wacom.com), the medium-sized tablet with a screen like the Cintiq. It works just like the big Cintiq, but is on a tablet. Fun and portable, right? Well, not quite.
As I mentioned in Cintiq vs Intuos4 I have a large Intuos4. I was taking a trip to LA in part for work and was tired of hauling that behemoth on the plane. So I hit the Apple store to get something I could use more easily for travel and on the plane. I ended up buying the Cintiq 12wx, went outside, had a think, and went back and bought the medium Intuos4 as well. I bought both because the clerk at the store informed me that the Cintiq required power, so I wouldn’t be able to use it on the plane (except for Virgin or in first-class). That said, I gave both a shot and here’s what I found.
The Cintiq 12wx like the 21ux is a great experience. Physically drawing on the image is awesome. The Cintiq tablet actually beats out the Cintiq monitor on physical usability because it’s down in my lap, and it’s easier to look up and down to my laptop screen. I can also switch my hand from the tablet buttons to the keyboard like I do with my large Wacom. Where the large Cintiq requires a left-right body shift for the second monitor, the tablet version is an up-down head nod which is much easier. The Cintiq tablet still has the Intuos3 style buttons, and I’m not sure why they didn’t make it Intuos4 style out of the gates.
It has two major downsides in the portability category: it needs power to work, and it has three big cables (monitor, power, usb) with a connector brick for both power and the video/usb. The power thing means no plane use on non-Virgin airlines. Ok, no big deal, I can switch to Virgin from JetBlue. However, it’s still not usable on the plane because it’s an awkward setup. With the cables and bricks, I’d be packed into my seat and getting up would mean almost full dis-assembly, or at least more cooperation from single-serving-friends than they probably want on a 6 hour flight.
I brought the medium Intuos4 on the plane and that worked perfectly. It’s slim, and the single USB cable fully disconnects from the tablet to be stored separately. It was easy to use and put away and that’s what I needed from a portable unit. I’ll wait for the tablet Mac for a touch-screen solution.
Again, the Intuos4 beats out the Cintiq 12wx for portability. Thanks to Mark Winters for recommending the medium Intuos4.
I just received the Cintiq 21ux today (pictured setup left), and I’ll be sending it back. The unit is great, honestly, but there are a few very key things stopping me from loving this item. The short version is simply that my large Wacom Intuos4 (pictured setup right)isn’t so far behind in terms of experience, and actually leads in terms of usability, thereby nullifying the need to spend $2k on the upgrade. If I didn’t already have my Intuos 4 setup, I would likely keep the Cintiq.
The first usability factor is the physical design. The side-wheel and button design on the Intuos 4 was a huge step in usability. The wheel is programmable to 4 different scroll functions so your brush size and zoom slider are on the same wheel, just click the center button to swap functionality. The buttons are staggered heights, so it’s easy to feel where you are without looking. The Cintiq still has the Intuos 3 button and track pad design, so I have to use two hands if I want the most functionality and the track pads are less precise than the wheel. The wheel is also fun. I’m just saying.
(see a button and wheel walk-through below or on my facebook fan page)
Second factor is the lag. The Intuos 4 has very fast brush tracking. The slight lag on the Cintiq isn’t bad, in fact it’s amazing, but the Intuos 4 is just more amazing.
The third factor actually goes to the Cintiq. Drawing on paper and canvas is an unreproducible experience. That said, the Cintiq has made the experience of digitally painting so close to that of actually painting, it tugs on my soul a little. It’s great. But it’s not such a vast improvement over my current setup to merit the $2k purchase price.
Finally, switching from screen to screen is much easier on my Intuos4, for me anyway. This is pure personal preference. I like mapping my two screens to the bottom 2/3 of my tablet, and so I’m essentially working on two medium-sized tablets. What this means is that I don’t have to push a button to use my laptop screen, nor do I shift my body to face my laptop screen. With the Cintiq if I want to turn off a layer, sample a color, turn the layer back on, and switch to a new layer, I have to press the display-toggle button 4 times, more if I want to move layers around in between, merge layers, etc. With my tablet setup I’m just moving my stylus.
The Cintiq is a great tool, with the same pros and cons of an Intuos 4. If it can catch up in the usability department, then it’s a great upgrade.
Weekly figure drawing in the beautiful Williamsburg, Brooklyn
GenCon (signed prints available, August 5-8, Indianapolis IN)
Dragon Con art show (Sept 3-6, Atlanta GA)
Illuxcon (signed prints available, November 11-14, Altoona PA)
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