#I only just remembered I have other pen nibs in the holder

[theforgxttenshade]

My toxic trait as an artist is never knowing when to change my pen nib and not doing it.

[kichimiangra]

For poor artists...

Okay so weeks ago I came across a post (That I can’t seem to find now...) that roughly went like this: “All you tumblrites with depression need some hobbies to help with depression because hobbies help.”

“Not everyone has the privilege of being able to afford hobbies!  Hobbies cost money!”

“You don’t need expensive stuff to draw!!!  Draw on scrap paper!  Napkins!  Go to the dollar store!”

Now for weeks since seeing that post it keeps coming back to me... almost hauntingly.  It’s not that I can’t comprehend that people can’t afford expensive art supplies, on the contrary I very much remember being like that!  But today you poor artists have access to something wonderful that I didn’t growing up:

Under the cut let me tell you a tale about a wonderful place that could have granted my wish for art supplies growing up!

And that place is called Wish.com!

(Disclaimer #1: Almost everything I’m talking about here are supplies that I myself have personally purchased and tried using AND STILL DO!)

(Disclaimer #2:  I don’t believe that good supplies make a good artist, but good supplies can help make a good artist better/ make their life easier!)

Now growing up I did not come from a wealthy family.  I had 3 siblings, all of us close in age so we were kids/ teens together.  My father worked in a warehouse and my mother was a stay at home mom because it was impossible to find an affordable babysitter considering that My older sister had trouble in school with bullies and a reading disorder, I was an un-diagnosed autistic devil-child, my younger sister had severe asthma and was always sick, and my younger brother was deaf.  We all kinda needed special attention.  As you can imagine we didn’t have a lot of money, and as I got older and more Artish meant I had to make due with what I could get.  That didn’t mean I went without, just often had to save and wait for what I could use, which followed me to adulthood.  Had Wish.com been around in my teens it would have been a godsend and I’m patient enough to wait a few weeks to get my order!

God I love these things!  These ball point pens with 10 colors are what I use for story boarding comics and note taking!  I used something like these when I was in college because notes were much easier to organize and read when color coded!

“But KC!  I like to sketch with blue/red pencil first!” Lookie here!  Colored pencil lead refills in all sorts of colors!  Cyan works great and so does the red!

Now I didn’t know they came this small until recently but I LOVE this 0.3mm Mechanical pencil!!!  The lines are so thin and small!!!  I have literally never seen anything smaller than a 0.5mm in a store!

Now I like mechanical pencils for their consistent lead size as you draw! They’re just a click away from being back to sharpness!  But you may want a 0.5mm and a 0.7mm and this 3pc set is soo sleek looking!  It’s good to have a 0.9mm too! I used to have a spongebob .16mm pencil I stole from my brother but it went missing!  I have never found another one that HUGE again! T_T

Speaking of pencils this nice little set comes with a mechanical pencil+lead+a white plastic eraser.  They work great though the eraser is not my personal fav...

THESE are my favorite erasers to use!!!  Not only are they cute colors but they’re a good consistency!  They’re softer than a plastic eraser but a bit harder than a gum eraser so they feel really good to erase with and do a good job!!!

If you really like working with Pencil you can prolly just get a cheap #2 pencil at a dollar store or a box of them at Walmart, but I Really like the feel of a 2B pencil!  This lead holder comes with some replacement lead too so you don’t have to worry about sharpening it to nothing!!

This set of Graphite sticks are a little messy but it comes with all kinds of lead hardness and you can use an x-acto blade to sharpen them to different size points!!!

This is a pretty basic but nice sketch set and has a lot of size options to pick and buy from!!  I’ve used the small 32 set and it has everything you need if you love pencil art!

FINE LINERS!!!  I have a story about Fine liners! Internet shopping hadn’t quite taken off yet for my family and the only store I knew that sold Microns/Fabercastelle fine liners was a local store.  They didn’t sell them in singles so the cheapest set you could buy was a $15 Faber Castelle set with 5 pens (Sm/Med/Lrg/Brush/Chisel).  Now $15 doesn’t sound too bad until you remember my family was poor.  How poor?  Poor enough where my sister and I would each get one of these sets for Christmas and store one away while sharing the other set in hopes of getting them both to last until June where I could get another for my birthday that will hopefully last BOTH of us until next Christmas.  I noticed when you buy Microns off of Wish.com you have a 50/50 chance of getting a knock off brand but these ones here worked pretty good for their price!

“But KC!  Not only am I a poor artist... I’m a poor HIPSTER artist! I wanna kick it OLD SCHOOL!” WELL This is a nice cheap little set of dip pen nib holders and nibs!  The pink one is cute but I have the black one.  I personally love my Cork nib holder more but for plastic this one is decently comfortable to hold and a good price!  I find Nibs are a bit of “You get what you pay for” but if I was displaced into an apartment somewhere without any of my stuff and I wanted some dip pens this set would do just fine!  Dip pens take some skill to get used to so even if you want to just cheaply try some this is a good set to start with!  And if you want better nibs later on they fit right in these holders!

I also have a very decorative (but functional) glass dip pen!  Unlike the metal nib dip pens above the glass one doesn’t really allow for a lot of variation in line weight, but if you want the line work to stay a consistent size then this one is pretty good for that, though depending on your paper it can bleed a bit... once again takes some practice to get used to it.

Now you’re gonna need some ink for those dip pens!  I haven’t really gotten to try any black ink from Wish.com because I have a few bottles of black ink that I keep getting for birthdays and Christmas and such, so I haven’t run out and gotten to try a new brand.  COLOR ink on the other hand...  These little 5oz bottles have gold sparkles in it!! And they look nice to boot!  They can get a little expensive because on THIS particular order you can only order them one at a time (And pay shipping for each bottle) but you really don’t need all 24 bottles as a lot of the colors look similar to each other.

Here’s a sketch of Keira Hagai from Jak and Daxter along with the supplies used to draw it (Notice the ink, glass and black nib pens and the 0.3mm pencil.  The only thing used not from Wish.com is the feather sweeper I made from sculpey and chicken feathers.)

The ink doesn’t work great as paint though but you know what does?

PAINTS!  I didn’t buy this one but it’s a nice little affordable starter set with pallet and brushes!

Now I’m a bit snooty, I prefer to buy watercolor paints in tubes and an empty paint pallet.  The paint pallet I have isn’t THIS one specifically but this one is a bit nicer than the one I DO have and a bit cheaper as well!  (Mine doesn’t have a lid the folds out into a paint mixing area)(Now I wish I had this one!)(Maybe when my current pallet runs out of paint...)

If you use watercolor paints you’re gonna need some brushes!  This is a pretty good deal!  You get 12 brushes and get to pick either flat or round tip brushes!  They’re also not too shabby!

I use a set like this though!  They has a water reservoir in the handle so you squeeze the water out and onto the paint!  The reason I prefer these is I have a lot of pets and they like to get into mischief, so having a pallet that can be closed if I get up for a bathroom break or water that can’t be knocked over is a must for me!!

“But KC I like more... dry mediums...” Lucky for you colored pencils are all over the place on Wish.com!  You can get all kinds of different sets and sizes and some even have nice carrying cases too!  I haven’t bought any because I own a LOT of colored pencil sets already and don’t use them frequently...  I’ve also tried some chalk pastels from Wish that worked well enough on their own but the way I use them is grinding them into a fine powder and brushing them onto paper and that didn’t grind well...

And What’s art without PAPER!?!?  Wish.com is tripping paper!  Whatever is in your price range look around!  I can promise you you’ll find a sketch book or two within your budget!  Some even name brand sketch pads!

And now some miscellaneous stuff:

I LOVE binder clips!  Great way to keep all my paper together and in some places hang stuff up so I can stare at it a bit before continuing working on it!

I like art markers and not many truly can fill in the shoes left by Copic brand markers.  I have tried a handful of copic alternatives (And watched even MORE comparison videos by other people who own said markers.)  I feel like there is no such thing as a GOOD CHEAP QUALITY art marker.  There are lots of sets on Wish.com that (For their prices) are what I consider “Cheap enough to tinker with”  When I was in highschool back in 2007-9 I really really really wanted Copics and was resentful that I was poor and couldn’t get any.  I would get so angry when I saw 14 year olds on deviantart who drew like ‘14 year olds on devintart’ but had no less that two 72 sets of copics. I know, it was rather petty of me to be resentful of younger more fortunate artists... The trade off with my parents was that I would settle for Prismacolor markers, bought 1 per week with a 40% off coupon provided I did all my chores and kept my grades above failing.  That was the closest I ever had to an allowance.  Throughout the years I’ve settled with ‘Tinker Markers’ (Cheapish alternative markers) and Ohuhu, Prismacolor, and Touch New seem to be the better alternatives.  Just don’t go looking for a brush nib >.<!

MASKING TAPE!  Always good for taping things to other things!!  Unfortunately I feel like Walmart gives you bigger rolls for better deals so if it’s going cheap I’d say you don’t need tape from Wish...

Aaaah!  A light board!  And another long trip down memory lane!  Last October going into Inktober I noticed there were people throwing little fits about Inktober itself and if it’s okay to do it with a digital medium.  One persons comment stuck out (And echo’d in my brain) where they said (And I’m paraphrasing): “How am I supposed to focus on my ‘self improvement’ with traditional art if I just can’t draw from the anxiety of knowing that every pen stroke is permanent and I could completely ruin my drawing at any second without the CTRL+Z and layers!?!?!?!” To which my first knee-jerk reaction was: “Wow kid... I think you have waaaay more problems than inktober if your anxiety levels are THAT high that you can’t just accept an oopsie doodle and try again...” But then I do remember a time when I was like that.  In college I scheduled a really bad semester with too many classes, mostly art classes.  One was a classic Pen and Ink class which I did fear screwing up, not because of anxiety of failure but because I would have to start over on my homework, and that would take time from all my other homework.  Time I didn’t have.  I found a large sum of money on the ground ($100.00) one day, waited a month (Nobody claimed it), donated half to my local animal shelter (As is a karma thing in my family with ‘found money’) and used the other half to buy a light board (With a 40% off coupon.)  It was the size of a shoe box, thick and clunky, and didn’t get very bright, but it did what I needed it to.  If I screwed up on ink homework I’d throw a new paper over it and start again.  You can be cheap and use a window on a sunny day, but light boxes (or light boards now) are so affordable and sleek and thin and wish has a lot of them!  I have a cheapish but large A-Line tracing board that sits on my drawing table and fits well and honestly saves 40% of what anxiety I would have putting pen to paper (If I hadn’t been drawing freehand so long that I just don’t get that kind of anxiety over it)

If Wish.com was around when I was a teenager art supplies would have never been THAT big of a deal and I wouldn’t have had to ‘Carpool’ 3 fine liner sets per year with my sister!

Really, I know there will still be people out there who still can’t afford some of the things listed above, but if you have an inclination to try art whether it’s with pencils, paints, markers, pastels, ink, dip pens, fine liners, whatever you lean towards, Wish.com has a cheap affordable version that may not be the best quality out there on the market, but thinking back 15 years ago little KC would have loved to save up some money, order some new supplies, and wait a month for them to arrive so she could use them.

Once again most of the supplies listed above have been bought and used by myself.  There are some great materials at mostly affordable prices on Wish.com so if you are poor like Little KC was you probably know the patience of putting aside a dollar here and there and having to wait, or if you are well off but don’t want to spend too much on a hobby you haven’t tried yet and don’t know if you’d like Wish.com has you covered!

And if you’d like to, Reblog this for other poor artists so they know they don’t have to share their fine liners!

[acaseforpencils]

Jason Chatfield.

Bio: I grew up in the far flung suburbs of Perth, in Western Australia, and used to spend my paper route money on MAD Magazines (I cheaped-out and stole my dentist’s waiting room issues of the New Yorker. I think I was the only kid who looked forward to going to the dentist).

I moved to New York in 2014 and started pitching to the mag in person. I’m not sure Bob liked me, so I went back to pitching via email. Then I went in on his last day and finally sold my first piece. I feel like it was his final f—k you to the magazine. “Here! Have a Chatfield!” 

Find this print here!

The cartoon was a goofy play on Vlad the Impaler. 

I didn’t sell to the magazine again until last month, but I’ve had a handful sold as dailies. And I’m published in MAD often, so they’ve clearly done away with any of their standards.

When I’m not drawing gag cartoons I write and draw a syndicated legacy strip called Ginger Meggs which I took over 10 years ago. It’s been around since 1921 and now appears daily in 34 countries. He’s kind of an Australian version of Dennis the Menace, except he predates him by about 30 years.

Tools of choice: For drawing/roughs, I use a Prismacolor Turquoise clutch pencil with a red lead and try to find some paper with a little bit of tooth. The mixed media pads at Blick do the trick nicely.

I ink using a Uni-ball Vision Elite Stick Roller Ball Pen… or a Pigma Micron 03. 

DO NOT use the Uni-Ball Vision Rollerball Pens, Fine Point (0.7mm) if you’re traveling. They explode on planes. And ruin your copy of The New Yorker.

For a wash, I just use watercolor and whatever brush is lying around. Nothing fancy. There’s a scanning app on my phone called “Adobe Scan” which does a nice job of scanning line-art into a PDF when I’m out of the studio and need to email in a quick rough.

I use a Wacom Mobilestudio Pro for finished artwork. I like to get out of the studio and work from a bar or restaurant, so it helps that I can take that with me. I use a little glove that I got on Amazon so I don’t grease up the screen, and the felt-tip nib that comes in the pen-holder makes the friction between the stylus and the screen more like pencil on paper. Unfortunately, they’re not waterproof, as I found on a recent vacation…

My wife plays piano and sings at bars around the city so I’ll often sit at the bar during her sets and draw. Digital/Traditional depends on what deadlines are most pressing. (She has a weekly residency in Astoria —if anyone’s interested in going, let me know!)

A lot of people email me for advice about tablets —I’ve been trialling/demo-ing Wacom products for 15 years— I think they’re great. If you’re married to doing stuff by hand but want to colour digitally, you can get a decent tablet without going broke. Depends on your workflow.

Writing Desk: My wife and I were living upstairs in 5A when my neighbour in 4B died. He was a brilliant poet and had an incredible old writing desk. It’s the only thing that was left in the apartment, so I’m looking after it ’til his grandson moves in at the end of our lease. I work for countless hours at this old thing. It’s beat up, but I’ve patched it together enough that it won’t collapse and bury me mid-brushstroke. I’ve stuck a few of my favourite toons on the top of it.

Tool I wish I could use better: My brain. It really is a sack of cats. Whenever I want to sit and do work, it clocks off. Then it comes up with a pearler of an idea at 3 in the morning when I’m trying to sleep. I write it down in my phone, but autocorrect makes it indecipherable by morning.

I like working with my writer friend, Scott. We both do comedy at night and have developed a nice short-hand. We also seem to have the same library of references and can build on each others’ premises, which tames my sack-of-cats.

Tool I wish existed: The Deadline Extender.® I’ve never missed a deadline, but that said… an extra 3 or 4 minutes to allow for a terrible wifi connection, or a errant scanner wouldn’t go astray.

Also: The Deadline Extender® PREMIUM: Let’s you go back in time to when you were procrastinating and slap yourself in the face. $30 p/month.

Tricks: Ok, well. This is going to sound a bit Dalton Trumbo, but bear with me: I do my best work…in the bath.The most productive 3 hours of my week are during Scotchbath Sunday; an immoveable chunk of time on Sunday evening whereby I lock myself in the bathroom, run a bath, lug my drawing stuff onto a bit of wood that sits over the bath, and just write and draw. Nothing else. I write weeks worth of my syndicated comic strip (Ginger Meggs), I write New Yorker cartoons, scribble up roughs for dailies— and when I feel like I’ve earned it (usually 2 hours in) I tap the side of the bath three times, and my wife peels herself from her piano and I unlock the door to a nice big glass of scotch. It’s a hell of a carrot on a stick to work towards when you’re stuck. (PS. Lest you think I’m some kind of Don Draper-era misogynist; the scotch reward part was her idea. I think she realized it keeps me in the bath and out of her way.)

Anyway. It’s a great way to switch gears creatively. It’s like being on an aeroplane. No wifi, no phones — just the work you need to get done. Get involved. #ScotchBathSunday.

Oh! And if I get my deadlines done for the week, I have a small budget for a solo lunch somewhere where I can eat cheese and draw. I really didn’t know cheese ’til I moved to America. (And yes, I’ve already been to Wisconsin. Good Lord.)

Tips? I always tell younger artists to not even think about touching a drawing tablet until they’ve learned to draw by hand first. Otherwise they’ll always be drawing away, knowing they have the insurance of the CTRL+Z key at their disposal if they screw up a line. That’s not a good habit to have when you’re working to a deadline. But, once you do know how to draw, by all means dive head-first into the digital realm. It’s incredible. Procreate, Sketchbook or Photoshop are all great.

Misc: One of the hangovers from working in advertising illustration is that I’ve had to be a bit of a chameleon style-wise for the last 15 years and haven’t allowed myself to just settle into one style. Lately, I’ve just decided to say “Bugger it!” and try and find a loose, consistent style that I’m comfortable with, that’s an apt conduit to my silly ideas.

I always loved George Booth’s line, and his ability to create a scene with so much movement but just at the right moment in time. Also Sam Gross’ dark, hilarious cartoons with perfect line-economy. And I’d give my left arm (I draw with my right) to know how Barry Blitt has so much control with his washes…

Chatfield’s portrait of Sam Gross

While I’m geeking out, I love seeing younger cartoonists find their feet and thrive in a style that just feels like they’re speaking to you— Ellis J. Rosen, Sofia Warren, Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell, Jason Katzenstein, Amy Kurzweil, and a seemingly endless list of talented younger artists who are putting in the work are a big inspiration. 

I know it should be Steig or Thurber or Addams, but my favourite cartoonist is Sergio Aragones.

I was always so enamoured of MAD growing up and studied the lines of Jack Davis, Mort Drucker, Al Jaffee and the Usual Gang of Idiots. I remember being so frustrated I couldn’t even come close to getting my work to look like theirs, but I think I found a style somewhere in between when I fell short. 

I think Wil McPhail’s poses are masterful, and I wish I knew how how the hell he did that. One day I’ll trudge up to England and knock on his door to ask him. I find myself doubled-over at John Cuneo’s Instagram, and Ed Steed’s absurdly funny gags. I have a slew of toons I’ve torn out of years’ worth of magazines and taped to my studio wall, or my zillion year-old writing desk. I’m constantly humbled by how generous and welcoming the existing crop of New Yorker cartoonists have been to a goofy Aussie immigrant — Joe Dator, Matt Diffee and Pat Byrnes, Mort Gerberg and an ever-growing list of prolific, talented cartoonists who make the 99% weekly rejection tolerable.

I’ve made some of my closest friends and have been lucky enough to meet my cartooning heroes through the National Cartoonists Society. I got to spend a lot of time with Sergio at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in the UK last year which made my year. We were signing together for a whole afternoon and I spent more time geeking out with him than signing.

Okay. Enough drooling. Sorry.

I’m a fan of cartoonists.

Website, etc. I have a weekly podcast where I throw around ideas for New Yorker cartoons with a fellow comedian and writer, Scott Dooley. It’s called “Is There Something In This?” It’s a bit of fun. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the art of writing gags very seriously. It’s an extremely difficult skill to master, and we’re virtually zygotes at it. We have lots of listeners now, which is bewildering. Talking about drawing is like dancing about architecture, but here we are. Anyway you can find it on iTunes or wherever you waste time listening to podcasts.

My website is jasonchatfield.com and my comedy stuff is up at jasonchatfieldcomedy.com  ( I’ve been doing stand-up comedy for 11 years. If anyone wants to come see a show, hit me up! I’ll put you on the door). My instagram is @jasonchatfield. I’m still trolling the British chap who has the @jasonchatfield handle on Twitter to no avail. To that end, I’m @jason_chatfield on Twitter.

If you want more art supplies in your life, A Case for Pencils is on Instagram and Twitter.  You can also find me, Jane (the person who created/edits this blog), on Twitter here, which is where I stick the paintings that I’ve been doing instead of interviewing people consistently (I needed to balance working on other people’s work and my own work!). Oh, and If you’d like to support this blog, which is always very appreciated, there are many different ways to do so, which you can find here!

[cursiveblob]

Name Card -pt 1-

Back when I was on the veeery beginning stage of my calligraphy venture, I immediately wanted to try to make a name card. I want to make my name calligraphy even prettier, but since I can't do elaborate flourish and lines yet, I decided try and decorate it in what I can sort of do: by adding doodles.

Just simple lines, with thin upstroke and thick downstroke principles. Sparkle doodle here and there, 'coz that's not hard and it's a sure way to add more charm on your drawing if you don't know what to make.

The names are whoever I randomly thought at the moment. This one happens to be the name of a classmate in high school. I like her name.

I tried using flowers and leaves this time. I remember feeling pleased when I finished "Darwin". I didn't plan where I'm going to put things, other than it has to be round shape caging the name. It's a freestyle practice, after all.

Second attempt at using floral themed doodles. Wanted to make circular wreaths, but since I didn't look at any reference and only used my memory and imagination, it's kinda wonky.

This one is still rather wonky, but I'm pretty satisfied with more flowers I managed to add, and more moderate pacing on the leaves. I used the same name again, since I want to try "Kana" on a different doodle theme.

This name card is an attempt on using dip pens after only a few weeks practice. Still testing the limit of the strength I could use on the nib and practicing fluidity.

Another example of using dip pen on a name card. I used Niko G with Speedball oblique holder, and the ink is Higgins Eternal from my 1st workshop leftover. Paper is just regular store bought drawing paper.

Overall, it was a fun little experiment to do when you're just starting. I wanted to share my early experience for future documentation xD I want to definitely try this again, if only to show how much my strokes have improved since I made this--despite it is still only months since I started anyway. So it would still be horrible xD

[akelun-blogs]

SUNDAY NEWS #1 - My story with graphic tablets (Cintiq pro 16 review)

Inspired by this article, from David Revoy: http://www.davidrevoy.com/article332/tablet-history-log

As I decided that I’ll try to post a weekly article on my tumblr each sunday with the intention to share you some news as a form of self-motivation and as I didn’t have anything constructive to tell you today, I got the idea to tell you my story with graphic tablets when I read the article linked above from David Revoy, a great French artist who’s using only open-source software in Linux OS.

Also, one thing that can be interesting is that I got in April a new Cintiq model from Wacom: The Wacom Cintiq Pro 16, which, I think, doesn’t have a lot of review yet and you could learn here that this tablet is really terrible, in the good sense of the term, but also have some terrible... choices that we can reproach Wacom, in my point of view.

As I intend to tell you about my tablets in a chronological order, this review will be left at the end of this article.

SUMMARY:

- Genius G-Pen M712 (2009 - Windows XP and Seven)

- Wacom Cintiq 12wx (December 2010 - Windows 7 and 8.1 and Linux Debian-based)

- Wacom bamboo pen & touch (2012-2013 - Windows 7)

- Wacom Cintiq 13hd (December 2016 and January 2017 - Windows 8.1)

- Wacom Cintiq pro 16 (April 2017 - Windows 8.1)

Genius G-Pen M712 - Bought in 2009, used between 2009 and December 2010 - tested in Windows XP and 7

(I was too inexperienced to judge the stylus pressure)

PRO: A big amount of shortcuts buttons, usable for left-handed and right-handed persons (probably too much I’d even say): 34 shortcuts buttons, 2 scrolls with 1 button in the middle of each scroll and 5 buttons to edit some parameters for the tablet. A good format to draw (A4). Love the design.

CON: The stylus needs battery, on the contrary of the Wacom stylus. Though, I never changed it even after 1 year of frequent use. No eraser on the stylus.

Initial price: around 120 - 140 € if I remember well.

Still in my possession and still working (didn’t try it on my latest computer in Windows 8.1 though).

Wacom Cintiq 12wx - Bought in December 2010, used between December 2010 and April 2017 - tested in Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Linux Debian-based (Ubuntu, Crunchbang (RIP), Debian, Mint)

PRO: This is a monitor tablet. The screen is really strong, in high quality and soft enough to avoid the nib of the stylus to get worn out (I didn’t change the nib even after 6 years of use and there’s no scratch on the screen). 5 shortcut buttons and a scroll bar on the left and on the right of the tablet (for left-handed and right-handed persons). Tablet of high quality with a high life expectancy (6 YEARS!). Plinth very useful to put the tablet in a tablet position OR in a screen position. Eraser on the stylus. No battery needed for the stylus.

CON: Screen too small and in a too small resolution. Screen too dark, it is impossible to color calibrate it correctly. Cables very bulky (with a big box to change the screen parameters). The frame around the screen is very large.

Initial price: ~ 900 €

Still in my possession and ready to be plugged in and used.

Wacom Bamboo Pen&Touch - Bought between the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, used only at my 3D arts school or when I travel - tested in Windows 7

PRO: Very light and easy to carry when I’m traveling. 4 shortcut buttons. Love the design. Pen & Touch functions. Eraser on the stylus. No battery needed for the stylus.

CON: A bit too small to draw (A5 format). The nib is worn out really fast compared to the ones used on Cintiq tablets (had to change it after 6 months of use).

Initial price: 80 or 90 €

Still in my possession.

Wacom Cintiq 13hd - First one bought in December 2016 and Second one in January 2017, used less than 1 month each and sent back - tested in Windows 8.1

PRO: This is a monitor tablet. Light. 1080p resolution. Cables not bulky at all. 9 shortcuts buttons. Eraser on the stylus. No battery needed for the stylus. Love the design.

PRO and CON (in-between): Still a bit small, but it’s clearly better than the Cintiq 12wx screen size. The plinth propose 3 position, in addition of the flat position, but the most vertical position is not vertical enough to allow us to use the tablet as a second screen when we’re not drawing, on the contrary of the Cintiq 12wx screen. Plus, the plinth is made in a plastic material which looks and sounds... really not strong.

CON: 2 tablets bought, 2 tablets received with a problem of white light escaping from the low part of the screen. Damn! I sent the 2 tablets back almost immediatly. The screen feels more granular than the screen of the Cintiq 12wx, which made me worried to have to change the nib of the stylus as regularly as with the Bamboo pen&touch to avoid to get some scratches on my screen with the time.

Initial price: ~ 900 €

Sent it back almost immediatly (x 2)

Wacom Cintiq Pro 16 - Bought in April 2017, used once received and once I bought a cable Mini-display port <-> Display port and still used - tested in Windows 8.1

PRO: This is a monitor tablet. Perfect screen size to draw and work on a normal desk. 1440p (used in 1080p though because I prefere). Parallax problem resolved: I didn’t have to calibrate the stylus on the screen, on the contrary of the Cintiq 12wx and 13hd. It’s still possible to do it if for you the problem is not resolved enough, but I didn’t feel the need to. Screen really strong and soft (not granular as the Cintiq 13hd). Pen & touch function. Perfect screen quality. Eraser on the stylus. No battery needed for the stylus. Love the simplicity of the design.

CON: No more shortcut buttons. The plinth now allows us only to draw with the tablet in a flat position, or in a lightly slanting position only (though, it definitely looks stronger than the cintiq 13hd’s plinth). To use it as a second screen when I’m not drawing, I have to use a book holder, which is not very... practical.

BIG MISTAKE: In the French amazon store, they made the mistake to add this line: “The wacom expresskey remote allows you to[...]”. Oh really? What a shame this remote is not included and costs around 100 € then. Especially that it makes us think that it’s not a problem then if there is no more shortcut buttons on the tablet. At least, we’ll have the remote. LOL! ... Unless we don’t have the remote when we pay the tablet in the wacom website 1612 € but that we get it when we pay the same tablet in amazon fr 1507 € instead of 1600 €. o.O (Well, OK, we have the “contents of the box” discretely written below, but though, this is still misleading.)

BIGGEST MISTAKE: You bought your computer some years ago? It’s a bit old, but still young enough and it’s extremely powerful? Oh, and you thought about buying this model of Cintiq? Well, you can. You’ll just have to add 15 € for the cable mini-display port <-> display port + 65 € for the adapter display port <-> HDMI Wacom recommends you and you have to cross the fingers to hope that the adapter will work because... not all the adapters are working, or not always correctly. After all, we all know it. The HDMI is definitely done. One year before, everyone was using this but now, in 2017, it’s so old-fashioned! ... No, seriously, wacom, there, I don’t understand this choice. For Mac users, there should be no problems apparently. There is a special port for Mac. But for PC users, there is just ONE port for the screen! And this is not a HDMI one. This is a mini-display port. A port which is all fresh and almost unused. I mean... WHY? When I talked by phone with one of the Wacom staff about it, I really thought to myself: “But this is crazy! What a stupid choice! This tablet is awesome and I’m sure that this choice will disappoint A LOT of customers.” And I was definitely right. That’s simple, on the French amazon store, there are 4 reviews. 1 is rated 5/5 (the person noticed however a problem with the fan in the tablet if you work in Windows 10, but it can be solved in the control panel). 1 is rated 4/5 (it’s me). And the 2 others... Well, they all say that this tablet is, I quote, “extremely disappointing” and “should not be recommended”. For both of them, the problem is due to this port choice. Soooooo... maybe I wasn’t this wrong when I felt that this choice could have some bad consequences...

POSSIBLE EXPLANATION: I am not really good in term of hardware / electronic / informatic knowledges yet. But recently, I was wondering: Wacom did a HUGE improvement with the parallax problem with this Cintiq Pro 16. I ever heard from an artist on YouTube (probably one of the first persons whom let a review about this model) that this Cintiq is the first one in that case. True or not, I can’t say that the difference is not huge and enjoyable. But WHAT IF this improvement was the price to force Wacom to stop using the HDMI port and use instead the new ones, to know the “mini-display” port. Of course, it’s just an hypothesis and it still needs an answer from Wacom services to be confirmed or not, but... in my point of view, that could be an explanation which could explain the choice of Wacom.

Initial price: ~ 1600 €

Favorite tablet I am using actually (Happily, I have a recent computer from March 2016)

And you? What kind of tablets did you get / are you using? What do you think about them?

Don’t hesitate to share your opinion and story... and to share them with David Revoy in his article I linked above as well, because he was the first to ask and my article is heavily inspired from his one.

Kind regards.

Akelun