Wa~com!

[beckyh2112]

As part of Mom quitting her current job at CompUSA (so she'll have more time to get the house repaired and take care of her own mother), she bought me the tablet that I'd been hoping to get as a Christmas present. Or pick up myself when I had gotten enough paychecks to pay my DragonCon expenses.

It is lovely and awesome. The mouse I got with it isn't as good as the mouse I already had for my laptop, so I'll be keeping that. Then stylus, however, is very, very awesome with a side of awesome. It took a little while to get used, but once I had it down, whee!

About the only complaint I have is the action of having to put the stylus down when I want to type.

The tablet doesn't have a very good setup for transport, so I'll probably leave it in my dorm or haul it home on weekends. No toting around in my laptop bag. This means I keep my current mouse, too, since it is small enough to fit in my laptop bag and is well worth having for use in between classes.

Unfortunately, the way I find most comfortable writing is hard for the stylus to pick up, since I'm writing with the side of the pen rather than the tip. Meh. Also, the buttons could be a teeny bit more responsive.

But still, so darn cool!

Comments

[sapphirebreeze.livejournal.com]

Cool! What kind of Wacom? Graphire or Intiuos? I'm assuming not a Cintiq... those things are insanely expensive. What size?

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Graphire 6x8. And I really want to figure out the best way to use it with my Paint Shop Pro, since I really wanted it for doing art with. So far, am not sure how to approach learning to use it beyond playing with it at random. My control's pretty slip-shod.

[sapphirebreeze.livejournal.com]

Man. If there's a way to control a Wacom as easily as a pen/pencil, I haven't found it yet. That said, I loved my Graphire, and I love my Intiuos. Pretty much all my colored-on-computer art was done with my old Graphire, and the new stuff I've been trying to do start-to-finish on the computer has been with the Intuios. I'm no good at shading, though. Cell shading is easy enough, but the rest gives me a lot of trouble.

That said, I never had much trouble transporting my old Graphire (which was about that size). You remove the little pen-holder at the tip, then just wrap the cable around the whole Wacom, it lays pretty flat and I could always fit it snuggly in whatever I was transporting my laptop. Then tuck the pen away somewhere you won't loose it, and you're good. The stuff is very sturdy. Mine made it through two six month cruises and a two month pulse with me, often in very rough circumstances.

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

I'm kinda crappy with pencil drawing, though I could probably get better if I actually applied myself. Correction: If I applied myself to learning to draw as much as I've applied myself to learning to write, I could be decent. Part of it's training the muscles to work the way I want them to, after all.

But yeah, learning how to shade is a big part of what I want the tablet for in 2D art. The rest of it is for working with modelling programs with something more sensitive than a brick mouse.

Hmm, I'll have to try carrying around my Wacom. It's still pretty bulky, though, so I'll want to keep my mouse. Poor Da' will have to get his own laptop mouse.

[sapphirebreeze.livejournal.com]

Yeah. The Wacom mouse sucks (this is true of the mid-ranged models, too), and despite what Wacom themselves would tell you, the pen is pretty awkward to use for mouse-type activities.

[negaduck9.livejournal.com]

Ahh, I have a Wacom. Ain't they sweet?

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

It's so awesome! *is practicing pen-control in PSP by trying to shade a bit of lineart she colored way back*

[heatherbeast.livejournal.com]

Oooh man. I'm so envious.

I still need to try one out. When I have spare time. Uh... yeah.

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

They are wonderful and lovely! And make me want to learn how to draw so I can use it to its full potential.

[ravenology.livejournal.com]

Ooh you lucky, lucky thing.

Congratulations on your new tablet. Does this mean we'll get to see more art from you in future?

[beckyh2112.livejournal.com]

Me making art is not tied very tightly to the having/not having the tablet, though you're more likely to see my attempts at coloring lineart in the future. And random doodles.

[ravenology.livejournal.com]

Yayness, in that case. Random doodles are always good. =)