Putting Together A Portable Wacom Setup

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Krita, Wacom One, Windows 10 Laptop

I want a portable graphics station that I can move around the house. When it’s too hectic in the studio and I need a quiet place to think, I’ll be able to go downstairs to work . My hardware is an 8-year old laptop and a 12-year old medium sized Wacom tablet, both of which still can do their job. I have access to a nifty Wacom One pen display that has a drawing area about the size of my large iPad. The Wacom One has a great display and stylus and it has the added advantage that I can use the desktop versions of Krita, InDesign, Clip Studio Paint, and Photoshop.

I drew the picture above at an impromptu, unscheduled Al Fresco Art Club Challenge. I was just sitting at the kitchen table with my laptop experimenting with the Wacom One when my partner joined me to do a pastel drawing. We worked together for an hour for the first time six months. It was fun just sitting there quietly with her, working together.

Graphics Card Hell

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Buddy can’t find his family. Perhaps he’s the last of the purple-faced Monarch Butterflies!

Today most of my “art” time was spent trying to get a graphics card to work. My intent was to use my 27-inch iMac as a second screen for my Windows computer. To do that, I needed a graphics card with displayport connections. I bought an Nvidia Quadro with two displayport connections. This card is almost identical to the graphics card in my Thinkpad, so I thought it would work.

The cardI bought was in style about 7 years ago. After I Installed it, it showed signs of life for a few minutes then the Windows desktop froze up. The computer was still running and I could connect to the shared directories from my other computers, but the PC desktop was kaput.

When I downloaded new drivers for the old Quadro, it turned out that that Quadro hardware isn’t supported anymore. And my PC’s old CPU isn’t supported, either. After some agonizing, I looked at the back of my PC and saw that the motherboard had a displayport connection that came with the onboard Intel 4000 graphics. I hooked it up and it worked with the iMac monitor. I used the 4000’s HDMI output for my Cintiq. It all works, and it was just sleeping in the shadows all these years. The only downside is that the 4000 graphics are not going to do much for modern high intensity tasks. The upside is that Clip Studio Paint doesn’t need a hot GPU.

All’s well that ends well.

Drawing with One-point Perspective

I’m working on a picture that show the kids climbing a sheer wall of stone. I’m using one-point perspective to give the picture some interest. The vanishing point — horizon line — is at the bottom of the canyon.

Getting into Deep DooDoo, Audio DooDoo, That Is

The deep doodoo, for me at least, is getting my USB microphone working with Linux. I’m planning to do many screencasts over the next few months, both for my day job, and for the Skillshare courses I intend to create, and I’m trying to get my old Samson C01U working. My Skillshare courses will be all about programming languages.The irony here is that I’m talking about left-brain stuff on my art project blog.

After several days of tinkering I got my old Samson working. This mic works without any hassle with WIndows or OS X, but getting it to work on Linux requires putting on a pointy wizard hat and waving a magical staff at several configuration panels. The fact is, I was lucky to get everything working.

USB audio is a real pain on Linux. When I think of the time I’ve spent getting this old mic to work, I realize that I could have spent that time better by buying a low-end XLR setup that would sound better than any USB mic. But you know what, I like to get old equipment working. The computer I’m writing this on is one I built five years ago. It just feels good to keep the old electronics alive rather than junk them every time a pretty new gadget comes around.

Picture #31, Family United

Now that I’m not using wi-fi and not using my iPad, I inked this picture on my desktop computer with my Wacom tablet and Affinity Photo. I felt like a clumsy beginner. But I will get better as I do more work. I used a plain round brush with no personality except for the characteristic wobble that my lines normally have. Wobbly lines have become the hallmark of my style.

Pictures #27, 29, 30 Revisited

Today was chore day. We pulled weeds under our four 90-foot deodora cedars, pruned some branches that were dropping over the gate to the driveway. I wielded the weed whacker and cleared the walkway. I love to whack weeds. The artist in me left a few dandelions on the pathway to achieve a wabi-sabi effect. Then it was off to do the laundry. Between loading the washer and dryer and folding clothes, I had time to tweak some pictures that needed attention. I even played with a little color while I was at it. Now, I’m ready for Saturday family time.

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Picture #30, Buddy Takes the Blame

This drawing is 100% digital. I had to recreate the “Buddy Takes the Blame” picture because I used the original version for the “Buddy Asks to Join the Jay Family” picture. I got lazy, and today was payback time. This picture took about one hour to draw. Momma Jay looks a little upset!

Picture #29, Momma Jay is Scolding Jimmy

Momma Jay is scolding Jimmy because she thinks he broke here commandment against playing around the chimney. She’s warned the kids that the chimney swallowed her brother the previous year and he was never seen again and she doesn’t want that to happen to them. The problem is that she doesn’t realize the Jimmy didn’t intentionally break her rule. He was only trying to rescue his friend who had just fallen down the chimney.

I haven’t seen many modern children’s books where the hero is scolded by his parents, but I do recall that in the tale Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack was called an idiot for trading a cow for some magic beans. In that case it turned out that the adults were the idiots, not Jack. We’ll have to wait to see how Jimmy Jay’s story turns out.

This is image #29, and I still have about 5 more pictures to re-ink. My new dilemma is that I want to keep the book to the standard for children’s books, 32 pages, and I’m going to have about 38. Some of the images will not make it into the book.

Picture #28, Momma Jay Knocks on Bernie's Door

I have only a few more pictures to re-ink and then I’ll move on to painting. My publication date is May 15, but I won’t be ready. I’ll push back the deadline a couple of weeks. Fortunately, in late May and early June I’ll time off my day job to work on the book, complete it, and then start working on the next book. I’ve got a plot in mind that involves Jimmy Jay, Buddy Butterfly, and a trip to Mexico!

After doing quite a few iPad drawings over the last 5 months, I’ve learned that I really don’t sync with digital drawing. It’s not me. I fiddle with everything endlessly and my drawings end up looking “digital.” I’m doing all of the drawings for the next book using traditional media, pen and ink all the way. I’ll still do the coloring digitally, but once I’m more comfortable with watercolor, I’ll do all of the painting using watercolor. All of these decisions mean I’d better write “practice painting with watercolor” on my to-do list.

In this picture Momma Jay is asking Bernie the Buddhist Dachshund, the owner of the house, if he’s seen her son. She’s in for several big surprises!

Picture #26 again, with Bernie the Buddhist Dachsund

The point of redrawing Bernie’s ears was to make him look like a dog, and to make him look startled. I think he does look like a dog, but I don’t see any surprise. I see concern.

I’m thinking that I’m not able to draw a startled cartoon dachshund at this point in my career. My plan “b” is to change the writing to match the vibe of the picture. I won’t write “Bernie was so startled his ears flew up.” I’ll say, “When Bernie heard the racket coming from inside the stove, he thought, “Oh no. Not again!”