#MY PHONE! HAS A STYLUS!!! I CAN MAKE SO MUCH TERRIBLE ART!!!!!!!

[yikes-ajax]

I am proud to say that after dropping my phone in my bath, this is the first photo I captured with my new phone

[asksector5]

A Bad Day Part one

(No art, mentions of homophobia and Sexural assult) 

When people say that someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed it means that they seem grumpy. But when one is grumpy two things could have caused it, one way is waking up on the wrong side of the bed and falling off hitting your head causing a bruised bump to form on one's forehead: which is covered by a Spiderman band-aid. The other way is a series of bad and strange things causing the grumpiness. Such as forgetting one's phone only to drop and crack it, getting decked in the nose by a stranger because you mumbled something to yourself that sounded homophobic as you listened to a very LGBT audiobook on your daily commute to your secret government job, resulting in a bruised and bloody nose. Then nearly falling into a construction site but managing to catch yourself but then still falling because the dick from the subway pushed you in. After climbing out of the hole you make your way down an ally to meet a group of thugs, you manage to fight them off at the cost of your favorite knife. Then when you make it to your very secret and high-class government job the guard at the gate slaps your butt… You do slap him hard, but now you have to do a pile of paperwork on the incident. And E-49 HATED paperwork because this was her life now. But she did wake up grumpy because her hair dye decided to crap out on her last night turning her beautiful neon green hair to a baby puke green.

When Epsilon came into work, a bit later than usual due to several unforeseen items, he could feel more tension in the air then what was considered normal for when he came late. Uncertain what happened, he went to the commons where he saw his apprentice looking unusually beat-up and grumpy, as though she got in a fist fight and lost.

“What in the world happen to you?” He asked the younger girl, only to get a “Fuck off.” Epsilon stepped, frowning slightly, but lingered to see if she would tell why she was so ornery.

“I’m not in the mood, Epsilon” E-49 muttered, knowing exactly what he was doing as she finished the sexual harassment form and went to the next form to say why she punched the asshole.

“Alright,” he quietly replied. Uncertain what to do next, he walked over to a seat and pulled out a tablet and a stylus, doing something on there.

After a while E-49 grew too fed up to deal with today and yeeted the clipboard, “Why do I have to fucking explain why I decked an asshole who slapped my ass?!” she snapped at no one before getting up and storming out. Epsilon, who was growing concerned at how she had been acting, put the stuff away and followed her. E-49 was, of course, in the training room punching the life out of a punching bag grunting with more and more anger with each punch. Epsilon walked in, asking “What happened to you? I’ve never seen you this...”

E-49 stopped and turned to the older man, “You really want to know what happened? Do you? Because my life has been shit since last night!”

“Explain ‘shit,’ E-49,” he replied, “There’s many definitions from different people what shit could mean.”

E-49 looked extremely annoyed before ranting, “Bad stuff keeps happening, my hair dye fucked up and now my hair looks like baby puke, I fell out of bed nearly cracking my head open, some douche decked me on the bus because I said ‘get that gay douche’ under my breath due to the book I'm listening to, then I nearly fell into a construction hole, caught myself, then the douche PUSHED ME IN, THEN SOME THUGS NEARLY MUGGED ME AND I BEAT THEIR ASSES BUT THEN MY FAVORITE KNIFE BROKE, THEN I GOT MY ASS SLAPPED WHEN I PASSED THE GATE!!!” E-49 screamed before punching the punching bag with so much force it flew off the hook

“...Jameson did what,” he said, his voice going completely deadpan.

E-49 turned and glared at Epsilon, “I got my ass slapped by that douche, then I knocked his TEETH OUT!”

Epsilon sighed heavily before going into a frustrated rant. “I told this guy he was going to get himself into trouble for that the last time he pulled this shit! He swore not to do it again, that lying pig! I should’ve got this jackass fired...” “Well, he's in medical ward now, cause you know…” E-49 sat down sighing and hid her face, “This day has been a load of bullshit…”

“Do you want to know what I do on terrible days?”

Rin glanced up at the older man, waiting for an answer.

“When days like this happen, I take a notebook and vent through rough drawings.”

E-49 took a couple deep breaths before running her hand through her hair  before standing up, “Do they sell sketchbooks at the commissary?” she asked softly

“Unfortunately not. I can give you directions for the art store I go to, though.” “Could you walk with me? I get this thing where I can’t be alone or I will explode” Rin mumbled. What Epsilon didn’t know though was how literal this was...

Epsilon rolled his eyes but then nodded to her request.

Brightening up a little, E-49 got up. “I could also show you my favorite Knife store! They have chokers I think you’d love!” The teen said, her trademark smirk returning to her face

“The Sonic Collar is not a mere choker,” Epsilon retorted, “That being said, I’d like to see their collection...”

Rin giggled and grabbed her messenger bag, “Let’s go then… and thank you Epsilon.” “...No problem.”

To Be Continued

[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!

[voidlitmoon]

Hello! Congrats on finding me I guess??

I'm Moon or Manti n use she/her and ae/aer pronouns (equal use please) Prounous.page

This is my main blog, please do note it is my ONLY personal blog on Tumblr currently!

I am a co-owner of @askmonstersides (basically abandoned)

New to Tumblr? Click here here or here! All are safe links to helpful Tumblr posts /gen

More rambling below the read more

I'm a disabled aro/ace creator, ready for my creativity to only work during the night once every month. I've been actively using Tumblr since August 14th 2019, the internet itself longer, and haven't figured out how to escaped since. I don't talk a lot but when I do uhh as seen below I ramble :)

✨️Common tags and content✨️

Talking tag - #the moon has spoken

Art tag - #the moon has drawn

Writing tag - #the moon has writen

Favorites tag - #i will cry if I can't find this again

Reblogs - #reblog

I'm a self proclaimed artist and writer for fun, both mostly created on phone w/ no stylus, for fandoms and OCs. I use Sony Sketch for art

I'm in several fandoms and reblog quite a lot of content around them. I enjoy OC and original content, and absolutely love animals and science, so get ready because what im going to reblog is a mystery even to myself

Current main fandoms: MCYT (DSMP, QSMP, MCC, Hermitcraft, general CC!/C!s (especially EmeraldDuo and Benchtrio)) Pokemon, Wings of Fire, Ghibli, In Stars and Time, Sky CotL

Non main fandoms: Gravity Falls, The Owl House, Bee and Puppycat, Sander Sides, Helluva Boss, Ace Attorney, Spiderverse, Cult of the Lamb

Please note I will reblog other fandom content, these are just the main ones :)

I AM BAD AT REMEMBERING TO TAG SPOILERS ON REBLOGS UNLESS ITS A FANDOM WIDE THING OR ITS A RECENT BIG SPOILER I apologize in advance

Anon asks are on, I can and will turn them off if they're abused inappropriately. I am open to requests drawing and writing wise, but I will not promise I will do any I feel uncomfortable or un-inspired by. Please keep asks appropriate

Note: Asks are currently off, sorry!

This blog is basically PG-13(/15?) Aka I will say fuck, talk about medical stuff, and post blood/gore as much as I want but there will be no sexually explicit content

I am TERRIBLE at talking to people and making first contact, it you wanna be my mutual please just message/send an ask I will have no clue what to say back but I will open my arms immediately and send cat pics :))

Speaking of, I have 12 cats, please ask about them I will give a billion pictures!! I have as well 4 dogs, and 4 chickens

🌧Serious stuff🌧

Do NOT repost my artwork (or writing), even with credit. If you want to make any art a pfp on Discord or Tumblr please send an ask or send me a direct message. Credit is required written somewhere in such case, please avoid interacting in drama. I have the right to refuse. Systems are completely welcomed ^-^

My ask box is always an open place for you to ask for warning tags (I use "____ tw") but I can not promise I won't forget in future posts. If you see a tw tag and it isn't a tw for you, it is not for you, ignore and move on with your scrolling

Don't assume my age, I'm a litteral stranger on the internet you'll probably never talk to why are you trying to figure that out?? At most I'll say I'm a young adult, still in college

C!/Character is different than cc!/content creator. CC!/real people shippers please don't interact, I don't feel comfortable with you anywhere near my blog

If you support cc! Drm Team, 4evr, or Wil Gold please leave, i don't want to start an argument with you just block me and go on with your day. I don't mind if you still use/talk about the characters (such as DSMP or QSMP) like Tumblr jpegs in AUs/writing/etc anyways dsmp c!Drm was abusive and you can't change my mind I watched Exile live

💙More locations to find me💙

Instagram - or @VoidlitMoon (art/maybe photography soon?)

Ao3 - or @VoidlitMoon (writing, fanfiction and original works)

Art Fight - or @VoidlitMoon

I am NOT on TwitterX, Deviantart, or Tiktok and do not post on YouTube, please report any reposters! I do have Discord, mutuals feel free to message me so I can send a friend request

🎨Series I have made🎨

Second Chance (Will You Take It?) AU Masterpost (MCYT, DreamSMP) status: hiatus, unfinished

Teaming the Pieces Together AU Masterpost (Sander Sides, Pokemon (setting)) actual AU created by @/sugarglider-s status: inactive, finished other than one side story I'm not gonna go back and write

Romantic c!Beeduo shippers are so poggers tho /gen

Credits:

Icon (art by me, not posted)

Header (art by me, posted here)

---------------------------------------------

Eret interact banner credit

C!Beeduo relationship banners credit

Tango terrified of Tumblr credit

2022 crash survivor credit

2024 Boop Badge credit

Ao3 Are You Lore? credit

Tumblr Sexy Man voter 2023 credit

Bug race participant badge credit

MCYTblr Sexy Man Voter 2023 credit

Johniel apologist banner - art by me, not posted

[supocoho-blog]

Art gifts for teens

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Life After Art Gifts for Teens

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The Secret to Art Gifts for Teens

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Art Gifts for Teens Secrets That No One Else Knows About

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What You Must Know About Art Gifts for Teens

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In addition, it creates a great fun timer' if you're having a family time for thirty minutes. You may even locate a quote for each and every day! There's no doubt that DIYs make our lives so far better and simpler. Basically, you wish to get your kid to produce the decision which he or she wants to practice so that they can play the way he or she wishes to play. http://visualartgifts.com

Gift cards can help feel as if you're making an attempt to know them, especially in the event you can figure out from mom or dad what their favourite stores are. Even the fourteen-year-old would be very happy to get such a terrific present for her birthday. Pin It An attractive present for that designer friend who travels! A gorgeous present for any artist.

The love of reading cannot be a terrible gift. Buying gifts for anyone is a challenging endeavor, but attempting to obtain a present for a 13-year-old girl can be particularly tricky. This cute and quick gift will surely bring a smile to anybody. If you are bored of searching for the very best baby present for someone dear, worry no more, here's a list on where and how to have the proper gifts.

Lies You've Been Told About Art Gifts for Teens

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One particular huge perk is that it is simple to tear out any of the pages to post them around your house or work space for just a little bit of motivation each day. Some folks are difficult to shop for! On a house network, there are lots of devices and several are hungry for media to play. A couple of our regional libraries have begun offering summer reading programs for teens.

[netmaddy-blog]

Microsoft Surface pro and Macbook Pro

New Post has been published on https://netmaddy.com/microsoft-surface-pro-and-macbook-pro/

Microsoft Surface pro and Macbook Pro

Imperfect, Heavy, Light, Powerful, and Excellent.

Just shy of one year ago, I transitioned from a Macbook Pro and iPad combo to a Microsoft Surface Pro 128GB. In light of this week’s announcement of Surface Pro 3 and my acquisition of a Surface Pro 2, I think it’s time to reflect on what that experience was like. Like most folks, I was a little skeptical about the idea of combining a laptop and tablet into a single unit. Would it be too heavy? Would the performance be too low? Would the battery life be awful? And what about the new Windows 8 OS that’s been the subject of so much teeth-gnashing? I’ll try to answer all these questions and more as succinctly as possible. Hit the jump and let’s get into the question: what’s it like to live with Microsoft’s vision for computing in the future?

1. The Operating System, starring Windows 8/8.1:

Windows 8.1 Update 1 had a good head start with Windows 8, as I started using it during the first publicly available betas about 9 months before launch, dual booting on my Macbook Pro. That experience gave me plenty of time to figure out how to navigate the OS well before launch, so I didn’t have the struggle that a lot of people did. Of course, it probably helps that I just naturally enjoy exploring and discovering new things. The early Windows 8 experience did have its struggles, though. I’d become accustomed to the iPad and even to my Windows Phone 7 device, both of which had lots of apps available in their stores. Windows 8’s store was notoriously barren by comparison, and that led to some early frustration when trying to use Surface Pro as just a tablet. Too many apps and features were missing to make for a satisfying experience.

Nevertheless, the device’s ability to handle legacy Windows desktop apps with aplomb kept me satisfied enough to continue, and the app store dilemma became less important by the day. If there’s one thing Windows really needs to fix, though, is its way of presenting the desktop. The desktop is still wrapped in the trappings of an archaic system whose time has passed, and it’s time for Microsoft to update it to a more modern presentation that has fonts big enough to read on high DPI screens and large enough to operate with a finger.

With 8.1 and the new 8.1 Spring Update (really? We couldn’t just call it 8.2?), virtually all my complaints about Windows 8 evaporated. While some dislike the new aesthetic, I’ve personally found myself loving the flat colors, active tiles and removal of extraneous effects. My sincere hope is that as Windows evolves it gets even flatter and the metro aesthetic becomes more pervasive.

Suggestion: Use a Microsoft account, and use OneDrive! I can’t stress these enough. If you’re using Windows 8–and on a Surface Pro, you will be–you shouldn’t create an old-fashioned local account. Doing so cuts you off from some of Windows 8’s best features. Among these is the ability to have almost your entire PC configuration, right down to tile sizes, locations and apps installed, backed up to your OneDrive account in the event you either need to restore your PC or you sign into a different Windows 8.1 PC. Best, though, is that with OneDrive you get 7GB storage for free, which, while not enough to cover, say, your music and photos collection, is probably plenty to ensure your critical documents are all safely backed up within moments of you making any change. It’s easy to learn to save to your OneDrive folder, and once you’ve become accustomed to having that safety net you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

2. The Hardware: Build Quality, Heft, and Capability.

Surface Pro Docking Station

I used to lug around a 2010 Macbook Pro 13.3″, which weighed 4.5 pounds, and an iPad 1, which weighed 1.5 pounds for a total of 6 pounds. So when I say that the 2.5 pound total of the Surface Pro and Type Cover was a big weight off my back, I’m really not kidding. The sacrifice was that I had a smaller screen, but the gain was a far more powerful processor and far superior screen resolution and pixel density. The build quality is exceptional: there is literally zero flex to this device, its magnesium shell is hard and sturdy enough to withstand probably more abuse than you should feel comfortable making your PC go through. As a tablet, it’s half a pound heavier than that original iPad was, but as a laptop it has a huge advantage over anything Apple offers. But you probably wonder what I use my Surface Pro for?

Workload

I’ve spent most of the past year as a film school student at UCLA, which means that a lot of my workload involves editing and transcoding video, compositing after effects compositions, transferring footage across different media and so on. I use Adobe Premiere for most of these tasks, and my Surface Pro has handled them all with grace. I’ve had no problems editing and rendering 1080p video in real-time. And as you’d expect from a Windows machine with a full size USB port, working with external hard drives and optical drives is a breeze. Suffice to say, I also do the basics including working in Microsoft Office, writing in Final Draft, checking email, browsing the web, yada yada. Overall, I’ve had no complaints save one: early on, my first Surface Pro had some serious problems with the Marvell Avastar wifi chip and had to be exchanged, a problem that’s not entirely uncommon with this device. More on that later.

Webcams

Let’s be honest: the webcams on this device suck. They’re flat-out terrible, and there’s no getting around that fact. They’re fine for basic Skype video calls, but that’s pretty much it. If you really need to record video, use something else. Anything else.

Stylus

I frequently take notes in OneNote MX (that’s the metro version), especially lately. Like most students, I have tended over the past few years to type my notes, but recent studies show that students who take notes by hand tend to do better on tests. Well, I’m all for evidence based research, so I took this to heart, but I’m also lazy, which means I don’t want to type things after I’ve written them down. Enter Surface Pro’s stylus and voila: I can hand write my notes and have them in a digital format all at the same time. Hell yes. I find that the stylus, despite its cheap plastic feel, works well as a digital inking device. Some complain about the lack of a dock for the stylus, but honestly, I’ve no issues with that. I’ve been using it for a year and have yet to lose the thing.

Art Related Work

Last note on usability: my fiancée, artist Kelley Frisby, got her Surface Pro on launch day precisely because of the integrated Wacom digitizer with 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity. From the outset the usage here was contentious because Surface Pro shipped without a pressure sensitive driver that Photoshop could understand. However, once that driver materialized, she took to using the stylus all the time. And when we learned about Manga Studio Pro from artist Jonathan Case’s website, things really went off the hook as she found it to be far superior to photoshop for creating hand drawn illustrations. That she can have her Surface Pro on her lap with pressure sensitivity while she draws, and her keyboard handy for using keyboard shortcuts, is a huge benefit that other tablets simply don’t offer. Truly, if you’re an artist who draws and paints digitally, Surface Pro is the device for you. Nothing else combines so many hardware capabilities and broad software availability.

3. Battery Life

Surface Pro Kickstand

This is the one serious issue that has dogged the Surface Pro since its original launch, despite the fact that it was never as bad as people claimed or the fact that Surface Pro 2 completely mitigated the issue (and by all reports, Surface Pro 3 does even better). Early claims were that Surface Pro got about 3.5 hours of battery life. And under certain circumstances, that’s true: watching 1080p videos with the brightness up while downloading stuff in the background will, like any other device, eat battery life much more than average usage will. But that’s only part of the test, isn’t it? Under normal usage, which I’ll define as web, email and word processing, Surface Pro 1 will get 5 hours battery life right out of the box. With some mild tweaks to the power profile, which I’ve detailed in one of our most popular posts, it’s entirely possible to get 6-7 hours of battery life. My best time was just over 8 hours total, but with a caveat: I was working with the wifi turned off, writing in Word, in a low light situation where I could comfortably turn down the screen brightness to minimum. Most people I know get in the range of 5-6 hours.

Why I Switched

Let’s be as clear as possible here: the Surface Pro is not a flawless device, but then, neither is anything else. My chief complaints are that the desktop in Windows 8.x needs a Modern UI revamp, and I wish the screen were a little bigger. I hope to upgrade to a Surface Pro 3 at some point in the future for that very reason, though my suspicion is that the artist community, such as my own wonderful Kelley Frisby, will hesitate to upgrade as a result of the new device’s possibly inferior N-Trig digitizer.

So that leaves the big question: why did I switch? That’s a complicated question. First, I was never sold on Mac OSX, but when Apple’s Bootcamp 5 update removed my ability to install Windows 8 as a dual-boot OS choice, claiming it wasn’t compatible with the computer I’d been using for 2.5 years (and at that, running Windows 8 on for 9 months), the final straw broke. This was the third time Apple’d created problems for my devices, following the iOS 5 update that slowed my iPad to a crawl and the iOS 4 update that made my iPhone 3G all but unusable.

The prospect of having a tablet and laptop all in a single device was also very appealing to me. Yes, there are compromises: it’s a little heavier than a tablet and a little smaller than a typical laptop, but the overall effect is a net positive, and I’m happy to say that my year with Surface Pro has me convinced: Microsoft’s vision of a world where tablets are just slim, light, touch-friendly PC’s is the right one. That we now see even desktop all-in-ones becoming large tablets (seriously, have you seen the Dell Venue Pro 18″ tablets? Crazy!) and touch slowly but surely spreading even to budget level laptops, is a good sign the convergence Microsoft predicted when it announced the original Surface Pro is really happening.

Problems I had & Solutions Microsoft offered

Surface by Microsoft

I mentioned the problem my original Surface Pro had with its wifi chip awhile ago, but there’s more to that story. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago my Surface Pro once again began having problems with the wifi chip, and no update, driver replacement, or even a system reset helped. Eventually the device started blue screening repeatedly, so I took it in to see what Microsoft could do for me. To my complete surprise, they handed me a brand new Surface Pro 2 and even let me pay the difference to upgrade it to the 256GB/8GB model, which I eagerly did. The new device is basically all the great stuff about Surface Pro 1, distilled into a purer form. Same weight, size and shape, slightly better screen (though I honestly can’t tell the difference, for what it’s worth), and the Type Cover 2 is a fantastic little keyboard that does its job with aplomb. I’m very happy indeed, and more than glad I bought the extended warranty.

Value Proposition

I’ve seen a lot of folks argue that the Surface Pro series is too expensive, and I can understand why. $999 before you even add the keyboard seems like a pretty tough pill to swallow, especially for a tablet when you live in a world of $499 iPads and $199 Kindle Fires. But I think it’s worth remembering what you get when you buy into the Surface Pro system:

1. You get an ultrabook that can run just about any legacy Windows app you can throw at it. It has excellent RAM options (4-8GB) and storage options (64-512GB), a full-sized USB port and both wired and wireless external monitor support (the latter via Miracast). In Apple land, this costs you $900 minimum.

2. You get a tablet that can do anything an iPad or Android tablet can do, plus more, with the only drawback being sheer numbers of apps. Even that is changing as the Windows Store approaches 200,000 and will soon merge with the Windows Phone store to boot. And because it’s Windows, you also get the perk of individual user accounts right out of the box. In Apple land, this is another $400+

3. A digital drawing/inking solution. Whether you just take notes or you do fine art, the Surface Pro has you covered. You don’t get this in Apple land at all. You instead buy a USB tablet that does not have a screen for $100+, or you buy a Cintiq to connect to your Macbook for $1,000.

Long story short: at first glance, yes, it looks like Surface Pro/2 is expensive, but you get a tremendous amount of value for your money.

Last Words

Would I recommend the Surface Pro or Pro 2? Absolutely, especially if you’re an artist or someone who’s just sick and tired of lugging around multiple devices. We live in a world where our computing hardware is not just powerful, but can do its job with surprisingly little energy or heat. There’s just no reason to carry two devices in your bag in addition to the smartphone in your pocket. If I could have a wish granted, it’d be for Microsoft to add an extra USB 3.0 port, thunderbolt, and move from an mSATA to a PCIe SSD. Mind you, it doesn’t exactly need those items, but the hardware nerd in me would be really happy to have them.

As for Surface Pro 3, well, I’d love to review it, and more importantly I’d love to put it in the hands of our classically trained illustrator so she can put it through its paces and render a verdict on its usefulness as an artist’s digital tablet, but so far haven’t had any luck getting time with the new device. But hey, if Microsoft would like to let us borrow one, we could probably work something out!

Oh, almost forgot: do buy Microsoft’s extended warranty for Surface Pro, no matter what version you buy. It’ll really pay off if anything ever goes wacky with your device, and it even offers accidental damage protection, which is usually pretty expensive if it’s offered at all.