Yet Another Cintiq Companion Review

By now, most digital artists have heard of the Wacom Cintiq Companion and what it does, so I'm not going to bore everyone reviewing the basic specs. In fact, Norm wrote a nice review awhile back covering just that- LINK. I wanted to give my personal take on the machine as an illustrator and as a user who has put the Companion through it's paces for the last 8 months or so.

The Good 

• Natural Drawing: Before I purchased the Cintiq Companion, my digital illustrations were created using Wacom tablets. The main reason I made the switch was because I wanted something that could mimic the more natural feel of drawing and painting traditional. As good as tablets are, you can't recreate the same direct relationship between your hand and eyes while you are drawing. This is where the Companion has me sold; and even after years of working on tablets, it only took several hours for me to feel comfortable making marks on the Companion.
• Portability: Another big reason I decided to go with the Companion and not one of the larger-screened Cintiqs out on the market was that this had a built in computer. This made working on the go a true possibility. In fact I've spent hours at a time working in my car, with a battery life of about 3 hours, I've found a real use for my Companion outside of my studio. The only caveat I have working outside when it's bright outside can be a bit difficult.
• Performance: I'm really impressed by the processing power of the Companion. In Photoshop, my files can be as big as 150mb yet there is no noticeable lag. 
• Customization: Wacom has really done a good job making this product user-friendly. Being a Photoshop-user who relies on a lot of keyboard shortcuts, I was concerned about compromising my workflow on the occasions where I didn't have access to a keyboard. To my surprise however, with the abundance of customizable shortcut keys (express keys on the side of the Companion as well as the onscreen shortcuts), really once you have everything customized to your liking, I found I could work easily without the keyboard. Right now, I mainly decide whether to use a keyboard based more on screen space rather than efficiency.
    

  

  A screen shot of my Companion. Along with the express keys that are off screen (mainly for brush and erase tools), you can see that you have a lot of flexibility, plus I still have room for more if I need them.   

The Bad

• The Stand: Compared to the quality of the Companion itself, the stand almost feels like an afterthought. Though it does a reasonable job while the device is firmly resting on a hard, flat surface, such as a desk; if I decide to move it around, there's a good chance it'll slip off it's notch and collapse down. This is especially true when I have it resting on the most vertical setting. To me, it makes a lot more sense for the stand to be permanently attached. Since it has the ability to fold flat anyway, I haven't found a reason to not have it attached...and it's not like it adding a lot of extra weight. 
• Scratches: Within a week or two after I started using my Companion, I noticed I had a scratch on the screen. The thought of my beautiful new machine covered with scratches put me in a panic, so I quickly ordered a screen protector. After about 4 months with the screen protector on I'm still noticing an increasing number of scratches. These are minute scratches mind you- that you only really notice when you have blank white areas on the screen. Personally, I don't think I'm heavy-handed when I draw, and my nibs don't really show signs of wear, so I'm left wondering if this is just a common thing for Cintiqs. All I know is that replacing screen protectors will be part of my routine. 
• The hiccups: When my Companion is running well, it's a great tool to work on, however I have noticed more instability issues with Photoshop than normal.  These crashes were not caused by me overworking the processor, so my guess is that it may be Windows 8 related. Also there has been a tendency for my onscreen shortcuts to malfunction or my stylus or onscreen keyboard to not respond. This tends to happen if I accidentally hit too many shortcuts at the same time or too quickly. Other issues happen when I have my Companion coming out of sleep mode or screensaver. I tend to point my finger at Windows 8 and Wacom compatibility issues.

The Ugly

• No Charge: About a couple months into using my Companion, the battery inexplicably decided not to recharge when it was plugged in. This became really frustrating because I would be working and my machine would just shut down on me without any warning and all the work that wasn't saved would be lost. The first couple times this happened, my Companion was able to hold a charge partially if I played with the connections. But in a matter of a week or so, it recharged for the last time and was basically dead. Fortunately, by then I had prepared for this and backed up all my files, but it was of little comfort. After contacting Wacom, I was left with sending my Companion back for repairs. Three weeks later, I received a package from Wacom and to my surprise, rather than fixing my Companion, they ended up sending me a new one. And the new Companion is charging like it should...for now.
  
  

  

  Seeing double...after returning my broken device back to Wacom, they decided to send me a new one rather than repair it. So now I have two nice boxes for my trouble.

Despite having it's fair share or glitches and imperfections, the Cintiq Companion is still a great tool and the best portable drawing device I've ever worked with. With it, I have been able to produce my illustrations without sacrificing any quality or efficiency... if anything, it has improved it. A lot of the issues I have with the Companion, I chalk up to Wacom venturing into new territory. I can only imagine if they do decide to come out with a second generation model, it would simply be great.

Playing Around

Recently, I've been playing around with different programs. Being a creature of comfort, it really took a bit of effort for me to get out of my Photoshop routine and try a new program. So this past week, I've worked with both Adobe Illustrator and Manga Studio, and I'm glad I did, I definitely made some discoveries and I think I made some real progress in being comfortable using them.

Here's a quick, B&W piece I did in Manga Studio. I was really impressed with the fluidity of the lines I was able to achieve with the program. I came see myself using this program if I ever needed to do more polished B&W illustrations.

New Catalog!

Hi all! The latest promotional catalog has just been released. Hard to believe this will be the tenth one. The theme of this catalog is FOOD...YUM!

Here's the link:
http://www.flipsnack.com/AC98DF86AED/fun8bfq0

My First SCBWI Illustrator Intensive

I recently attended my first Illustrator Intensive hosted by my regional chapter of SCBWI. For several years I've wondered whether these workshops were really worthwhile. And after some thought, I decided to feed my curiosity and see for myself...and what I found was a mix of both good and bad. I wanted to share my experience with everyone.

But before I go any further, I wanted to quickly go over the general setup of the intensive. Along with an option for a portfolio review, the main event of the intensive were the advanced exercises. Participants were given a choice between two exercises, one by each of the two speakers. Our speakers for our intensive were Loraine Joyner, Senior Art Director at Peachtree Publishers, and Ronnie Ann Herman, Artist Rep at Herman Agency. We were required to start on our exercises prior to the actual day of the intensive, and we would bring our work and get feedback and share with the group. Loraine's exercise involved choosing a story from three selected manuscript and with that, we were tasked with creating character concepts, a 32-page storyboard, one tightly rendered sketch, and finally a finished color illustration. Ronnie's exercise was slightly different, she had two basic scene ideas. For each scene, she wanted characters sketches, a rough sketch, and a finished illustration.

I ultimately went with Loraine's exercise. I thought it was the more challenging of the two, and developing a storyboard was something I felt I could use more practice in. For this exercise, we had about two months to create the character concepts, storyboard, and tight sketch, with a two week deadline to complete each portion of the exercise. As we finished each part, we turned in our work via dropbox our regional adviser with SCBWI. Once we had everything submitted, the work was then forwarded to Loraine and she critiqued it. We would then take her comments as we worked on our final colored illustration. This was presented on the day of the workshop and shared with the group.

Below are my two character concepts for the story I selected. For my exercise, the main characters were a zebra and a lion;

And here is my finished illustration.

The main highlights of the intensive include;
- After meeting Loraine in person, I definitely felt I made the right choice in working with her, I thought her presentation was very informative and she had a lot of useful nuggets to share.
- Loraine gave my work a very thorough critique, and made some really good comments.
- The day reminded me of my time in art school, and I enjoyed the energy in the room. Everyone was engaged and eager to learn.
- The day long intensive allowed for time to catch up with some friends and fellow illustrators who also attended. It's always nice to be able to "talk shop" with other people who know can relate.

On the flip side, here are some things I wish were better;
- Poor communication was a big source of frustration for myself as well as other attendees I spoke to. Some of this blame fell on the shoulders of the regional adviser that was collecting the work. To me, she gave the impression that she wasn't receptive to any questions we might of have.
- For the better part of this venture, I personally didn't feel like I had anyone I could go to for questions. And this almost ended up in disaster! It was unclear whether we were required to complete a finished illustration, and in the end, I had to rush at the last minute to get it done.

All in all, I'm glad I decided to do it at least once. Would I do it again...probably not. I really enjoyed being in the company of "my" people. It was reminiscent of my college days. And though it felt like this workshop catered more for novices and the inspiring, I still walked away feeling recharged and inspired. I recommend these workshops for those who might need that extra bit of  motivation, or for someone looking to get a little taste of an art school class setting. 

Who Inspires You?

Please check out my latest post over at Once Upon a Sketch. In it I asked the question; who inspires you? As a fan of illustration, I'm always curious to see who other artists admired, so it was fun to get some insight into who my fellow contributors picked as some of their favorite artists.

Here's the link: http://onceuponasketch.com/2014/05/who-inspires-you/