Exploring the Wacom Cintiq

Today I used a Wacom Cintiq 24HD tablet for the first time, after my Visual Language session, and wanted to share my experience and response to the equipment.

I am already very familiar with Wacom products; specifically the Wacom Intuos Medium Art Tablet, which I have owned for almost a year now, experimenting with the Bamboo tablet as early as 2006 before that. I have never had the opportunity to explore the Cintiq, however, so immediately jumped at the chance to do so when it was mentioned by my tutor! I was extremely excited at the prospect of drawing directly onto a screen, rather than relying on my poor hand-eye coordination (which results in my digital art journey being a lengthy process), enabling me to rapidly produce digital work quicker than ever before. My personal logo, for example, took nearly a month of daily trial, error and refinement; using the eraser tool constantly to remove my feathered and unsure line work, due to my small window of failing vision in one eye.

I signed out a pen specially designed for the Cintiq and instantly noticed a difference; the pen itself sits within a rocker, unscrewing at the bottom to reveal a range of extra and replaceable nibs - as well as a metal ring to help with the process. I was impressed already! The pen tool that comes with the Intuos range also has a replaceable nib option, though nibs and the remove tool have be purchased separately and can be rather costly. I spent roughly an hour experimenting with the capacity to sketch directly onto the screen but first encountered a problem with getting the Photoshop window tactually  display on the Cintiq! I had to ask a Level 5/6 student for assistance and it was brought to my attention that as the two monitors are working together, the Photoshop window on the Mac has to be swiped to the right towards the Cintiq to 'share' the program. Nifty! I will most certainly be remembering this for future exploration sessions.

Above is a quick four-step sketch I did to play with some of the buttons and options on the monitor, using the most basic Photoshop brushes as no custom ones have been downloaded into my palette yet. I am so, so impressed with what the Cintiq has to offer and what it presents to someone like me, a severely sight-impaired illustrator, who struggles with the standard tablet and is not always able to immediately track where the pen is drawing on the screen. I now have the opportunity to continue to create digital work but with more time efficiency and ease of use. While the equipment is extremely expensive - around £1,500 for the Cintiq itself and an extra £300 for the Ergonomic Stand - I believe that it is something worth investing in (with continued practice, of course!) as I can not put a price tag on how much this well help tremendously in my future professional career as a digital illustrator.