Injecting life into Veronica...

So happy - I got my new Wacom drawing tablet on Monday afternoon and it's amazing! The feel of the pen and the drawing surface is sooo much more pleasurable and realistic than my previous model (graphire4). The increased accuracy and additional sensitivity are definitely noticeable and I am really looking forward to working more with this tool!

In my excitement I decided to play around with my drawing of Veronica and I found that I could actually make her look much closer to the Veronica in my memory by using my tablet and alot of dodging, burning, cloning etc... in photoshop.

I am so pleased with Veronica that I've decided to add digital work as a permanent part of my creative process from now on! There is only one negative - all my artwork will now take twice as long, but I really think it's worth it - I have put both versions of Veronica below so you can see the difference - let me know what you think :)

Pencil and Photoshop

Pencil only

Also, in a previous post I mentioned that I would be adding Veronica to my Etsy store on the 1st of March to celebrate the arrival of Autumn - but I actually ended up deciding to hold off until I had the new version instead, so I'll be adding her tomorrow - sorry about that - hope she's worth the wait!

Manda :)

Would you pay over $1000 for one tablet?

I was so devastated when my son Jet decided to do a little teething on my Wacom tablet pen which I use instead of a mouse. So, for the last week I have actually been back to a normal mouse which for some horrible reason always makes my hand cramp up like some kind of rigamortis attack...

Yesterday I finally decided not to get a replacement pen but to get a whole new tablet instead! See below!

I am so excited as my current tablet was designed for home photo editing, it's not really a professional model or anything and was a little clumsy - but my new one - well that's a different story! I am getting the Wacom Intuos4 Large which has all the specs I need, I mean the pen registers pressure from 1 gram and with 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity apparently it's a dream to draw with - the pen even comes with 10 changeable nibs!

I briefly considered the tablets with inbuilt LCD screens, they are incredible - just imagine drawing straight onto your artwork with a pen whilst having the screen in your lap or on a desk, but these were way out of my budget... still - I can dream right?

So, back to the real world - I researched the Intuos4 thoroughly on the internet and the cheapest store by far was gizmomart.com.au, I got the tablet for $499 from them and postage was $15, whereas most other stores were in excess of $600, some even over $1000. I found it surprising that one of the most expensive sites was the Wacom Australia wholesale store where you have to pay over $700 plus postage - weird hey? Anyhow - Gizmomart says that this offer is only till 1st of March 2010 so if you are in the market for a tablet I'd get in quick.

So now I begin my tortuous wait for the mail man - the site didn't say how long it would be but I am hoping I'll get it on Friday, (wishful thinking I know) I really can't wait to put this tablet to the test - I'll post my findings asap!

All pencils are not created equal...

My beautiful new Polychromo pencils arrived at 10:20am last Friday (which was even earlier than I predicted), I met the postman at the edge of my driveway and in my excitement almost took off without signing for them! They were so good looking, all perfectly sharp & the same length... I almost didn't want to use them!

The first to be coloured by my glorious new friends was Benji in his little fishing boat - I did him first so I could compare the results against my old pencils and I am so pleased to say, I am delighted! The new pencils are so much easier to blend and have a smoother and more consistent flow (even on the much more heavily textured paper I chose this time). Also the oil based leads leave no waxy residue on the surface of the paper so the artwork ends up with a much more rich and vibrant finish because it isn't clouded or too shiny.

I learnt alot through completing Benji about working with these pencils and I am really looking forward to completing Elvira now there are a few things I am going to do differently.

In the mean time I am going to add the new Benji to my Etsy store as a limited edition print - there will only be 15 available and it should be up tomorrow.

I hope you love him as much as I do - I'd love to hear what you think!