As you guys know, I’m a graphic artist. So I draw. I sketch. And I create tons of useless little scribbles page after page until "presto!" I come up with one decent little piece amidst a pile of nothing. Typically, that’s when I pack up my sketchbook and head home to my scanner. I let the machine warm up while I line up the page on the glass, hold the book in place as it scans, and... "ACHOOO-UGH!!!" I sneezed during the scan and messed it all up. Trying again, praying not to sneeze, I finally scan in the work without a wiggle. Now I have to crop it and save it, then open Adobe Photoshop and clean up everything in the scan from there. And I haven’t even started fixing my mistakes when I drew the piece! By that point, I want to take a break from it since it’s such a hassle. This is what most of us do in order to get that one piece, that one small sketch, onto the computer for a design or concept. That is...until now.
Enter: Wacom.
And before I go any further, I’d truly like to thank technology for Wacom! Really, I could end this blog now and leave it at that, but really, THANK TECHNOLOGY FOR GIVING US WACOM!!!
If you haven’t already heard the buzz from at least a dozen different sites from Gizmodo to Adobe and just about every artist on the scene whispering in hushed but excited tones, Wacom has decided to eliminate the middle man and design a device that will take your sketch directly to a computer or laptop for manipulation. On August 29th, Wacom released this revolutionary video showing us just what the newest little gizmo in their product line can do. Welcome, the Inkling: a new digital sketch pen that captures a digital likeness of your work while you sketch with the ballpoint tip on any type of standard or sketchbook paper. That’s right, I hear you skeptics out there, "Why don’t you just continue to use the scanner, J?" Well, to point out the little round dude in the video, the inkling not only captures the artwork digitally, but you can save layers, as well as also create vector graphics for you to manipulate in Photoshop, Illustrator, as well as other vector or bitmap based programs. And what’s the nicest part about this little gem (besides the already awesome features I noted above)? It comes in a carrying case no bigger than a pencil case and comes with 4 extra pen tips, the USB cable and a place to slip in the pen.
My god... you mean to say I don’t have to lug my, albeit reliable, Wacom Intuos3 tablet with me when I travel? Nope! Say goodbye to that extra bag while on those road trips, and TSA will love that you have less to scan on your way through the lines (so will everyone else, for that matter). Simply carry the Inkling with you and plug it in at night once you’re back to the hotel room. It will need charging daily, I suspect, since it hasn’t been specified as to its battery length. It also hasn’t been specified as to the amount of memory it will have, but I figure, with it’s size, you could easily carry a good 10-25 gigs of drawings on it. If it holds more, I’ll be ecstatic, since that would potentially mean, I could draw during a whole vacation, never look at my computer (except to answer emails from my favorite artists and tee fans, of course) and plug in at the end of a week and download all my files to the computer.
Now, what could possibly be the downsides to all of this? Well, first off, you have to wait until mid September. I’m sure we can hold our horses until then. Surely you’re patient, right? I’m sure I can. But the other big downside? The price. Mind you, I got my Intuos3, used, for $399. Half the original value. So when I saw $199 for the Inkling, my heart leapt at the idea I could get this in the near future. Then I remembered I didn’t actually pay for my Intuos3. I got it as a Christmas present... So I’d have to save a bit to get this little time saver. The only other downside I see to owning this little device is, well to be frank, bugs. This is a new product. We don’t know how "accurate" these "likenesses" will actually be, but I’m gonna probably love this thing to death just because it makes my art easier to work with... until something happens and it doesn’t read that I’m using a different piece of paper and puts the layers from the last 4 drawings all on the same file. Yeah, I’d probably flip out as I spend 2 hours separating vectors for each piece. Or, in my blissful ignorance while vacationing, I THINK I have the space available on the device, only to find out it only has 2 gigs of memory and I have to scan my sketches anyway... Except those ones I drew on the napkin while drinking Bahama Mama’s on the beach. Those were great sketches... BUT I DIGRESS!
“J, what’s the bottom line here? Are you telling me to buy one or hold off?” Well, those artists who are great with sketch art, like our friends ISABOA, GIMETZCO!, or even the beloved Edgar R. McHerly may benefit from this little device. It’ll save time, and allow them to edit things and eliminate cleaning up those pesky paper textures in the background from scans. For those who are more digitally inclined already, like Oiseau, weardecay and Omnitarian (to name a few), I can see where it can be used to quicken the pace of getting ideas from paper to computer, but they seem to already excel in the clean lines and stellar methods they have in place. So I believe it all depends on your current style. Would I get one? Yes. Will I be the first in line to get one? Sadly, no. But whomever does purchase one of these magical wands better put on a heck of a show via YouTube of Vimeo so we can see you literally go from paper to finished product, so I can drool over it, silently from the confines of my little apartment, as I save up for one to use.
