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Cintiq Sleeve Problem Solved

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

Made by Lollington.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I really think that all of Wacom’s products ought to come with a simple travelling sleeve of some sort. While I’m not going to be carrying my Cintiq 12WX around every day, I really wanted something to store it in (even if it’s only to keep the cat hair off of it). The problem is of course that it is a bit of a non-standard size… which got me to browsing around on Etsy.

I stumbled across Lollington’s store, saw a really cute octopi fabric* in their shop… and noticed that they also took orders for custom sleeves. Sweet! I fired them a few questions which were answered promptly, and then I placed my order.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this awesome with everyone. The quality is really nice. The sleeves are padded with high density closed-cell foam, are spill resistant… and if you custom order, you can specify the zipper placement as well as size to ensure that everything will fit snugly like it should.

Would definitely do business again. Maybe once I’m in the market for a new laptop. :)

* Designed by Heather Ross, from her Mendocino line. So cute!

Tags: cintiq 12wx, etsy, heather ross, lollington, mendicino, octopi, purchase, Wacom
Posted in Art & Design, Geeky, Miscellaneous | No Comments »

Wacom Cintiq 12WX

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

I had to. How could I not? At the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, Wacom had a booth. Now, I’d scoffed after using one of their Cintiq 21UX’s while attending school. It was too big (and had to be re-calibrated every time I wanted to use it since it was a shared device). I didn’t like the idea of being tied to a desk. I’m a sketchbook doodler, and I generally work not much larger than 11 x 17″. I want to be drawing in my lap, possibly even while sitting on the floor. I’m a little notorious for getting into strange seating positions (one of which prompted my friends to force me to watch Death Note just because of the character “L”). Anyway, while I was at the Expo, I asked one of the nice booth attendants if I could hold the Cintiq 12WX (since they only had the 21UX’s and Intuos/Bamboo models out for people to use).

She let me hold it, and I kind of fell in love. :] Now I’ve been a bit of a Wacom kid for about the last ten years or so, starting off with one of the original Graphire models (which I swear the Tupperware lady took the stylus to). I’ve been using an 6×8″ Intuos 3 for the past few years, and the Cintiq 12WX felt like a fantastic step up. I hardly noticed the size difference, and the weight of the device felt just like one of my hardcover sketchbooks.

Anyway, long story short, I used a few gift cards I’d received, payed the difference, and bought a Cintiq.

First let’s start off with the negatives:

I wish all Wacom products came with a neoprene cover or sleeve of some sort. Specially the smaller models which are often carried around (you know, the entire product line except for the UX). Where is my snazzy Wacom branded sleeve? :(
It gets a little warm down around where my hands generally end up. My Intuos 3 would also get a little warm like this in places, so it’s to be expected.
I’d read about people getting “jittery” places (specifically the corners) on their tablet display. I haven’t encountered that problem at all. I’m going to assume that it probably has/had something to either do with the drivers, or general interference. The Intuos 3 would go absolutely batty if I ever placed it on top of my laptop keyboard and tried to use it. So far so good though.
The “break out” box. It’s annoying. Specially if you want the Cintiq to be portable. It’s more portable than the UX, but only to a certain extent. Once we make a few leaps and bounds in regards to wireless technology though… Is it the future yet?
It’s expensive, and a bit overpriced (if you break it down to individual components). However, I’ve had great success with Wacom products. My original Graphire is still alive. It required a little maintenance to fix the wiring which had come loose (thanks Mike!), but otherwise it’s still kicking. If the Cintiq can hold up to similar wear and tear, then good on it. Only time will tell here, but I’d like to think that it’s a quality product.
Does anyone honestly use the stylus holder?
Shouldn’t there be a little bit more stylus calibration going on? My Nintendo DS has more calibration features.

Now for the positives:

Whoa! I’m drawing on the monitor! I’ve worked on tablet PCs before, but this was a slice of awesome. Just for the “cool factor” alone and the pressure sensitivity of a real tablet, I think it’s worth it. (It’s sort of reminds me of scribbling on a wall… it feels wrong, but so right.)
If you’ve used the Intuos series, the “transition or learning period” is pretty much non-existent. At least it was for me. You don’t have to re-learn how to draw (you already know how! Right?). The buttons can be mapped to whatever you desire, and then you just pick it up and go. No more blind contour drawing! You work directly on the monitor and make things appear. This alone was worth worlds to me. I can actually zoom out on my drawing and still retain precision. I’d had extreme difficulty doing this with my other tablets.
Lack of friction. Blah blah… it seems to me like the people who always complain about the lack of friction are those who have never used tablets before. Yes, there’s not much friction. I like it though. It feels exactly like any of Wacom’s other tablets.
I actually kind of like the stylus that it comes with. Somehow this time around the grip doesn’t “feel” as awkward to me. I have fairly small hands and some of the previous (freaking fat and chunky phallic) styluses just didn’t feel right. Yes. That is what she said.
No eraser bits! Hmm… yet I still go through the motion of physically wiping them away whenever I erase something.
I can turn it around in my lap to get at angles that I would usually have to rotate my canvas to get at. This is going to make digital inking a breeze.
The colours! I haven’t even gotten around to calibrating the colours on the display, but they look pretty close while using Adobe Photoshop just out of the box. We’ll see shortly how it compares to my 100% colour calibrated laptop.

The final verdict:

If you’re a digital painter or artist, I’d say get it. I don’t know why I waited so long (Oh wait, I do. I was a poor student). If you’ve never owned a tablet before or are just taking your first baby steps into the realm of digital art… then forget it. (Unless you happen to have some money to burn.) It does take a little bit to get used to the friction-less surface of any tablet, and often people find it so awkward to work with that they don’t take the time to condition their drawing habits.

I really, really like the Cintiq though. I think I’ll have to name it.

Tags: 12WX, Art & Design, Cintiq, drawing, illustration, review, tablet, Wacom
Posted in Art & Design, Geeky, Reviews | No Comments »

2010: I wuv you, Panda.

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010

Hello 2010, and welcome! Like many others I’m feeling rather obligated at the moment to write up my own rendition of 2009: A Year in Review, or even A Decade in Review. So much has happened really. I blitzed through high school, then post-secondary education, and now here I am.

Graduation

I graduated from my four year program with a Bachelor of Design degree. The four year long process was both exhilarating and draining. Truth be told, I felt a little bit like an impostor while attending ACAD. Why? Well I’ve always been a person with varied interests (Biology, History and English to name my top three subjects with a smattering of computer programming). As such, I had never really dedicated myself to art. In fact, when I graduated from high school I didn’t even know that there was even such thing as a Bachelor of Design. I was oblivious and misinformed. Coming out of high school I thought that if I wanted to pursue any sort of career in the Arts field, that it would have to be Fine Arts (and of course everyone has heard of that tired starving artist line). Imagine my surprise when I found out about the Visual Communications Design program. It was pretty much everything that I imagined it to be. I only felt a little awkward when people would be going on about their favourite artists and idols… and I would have no idea who they were. I’ve never really idolized anything.

Still, I had a fine time while I was there and I met some really fantastic people (and it is only they who can really related to my pain/pleasure of school). The only thing I think that really could have benefited the course more would have been some more business oriented programs that circulated around marketing yourself. Creating a portfolio and a resume/CV really wasn’t enough. I’m grateful however to the teachers that answered all of my questions about the business aspect of things. It’s amazing how much stuff is overlooked, and it really comes to no surprise that so many students each year are taken advantage of. It’s not their fault – they just don’t know any better.

Family

What can I say? My family has alway been fantastic. Thanks for supporting me while I was in school, and really, thanks for everything. I wouldn’t be the kind of person that I am now if it wasn’t for them. My siblings better be coming out to visit me this summer! Do you hear me Jamie and Steve? I’ll get the two of you here if I have to drag you across the country myself. It was really fun seeing everyone at Christmas. Here’s to random car dancing and loud music. ^_^

Moving

I’m a hard person to keep track of. I have moved every year for the past five years. Good news is that my android phone has GPS and my phone number has only changed once over the past ten years.

Heartbreak

I’ve had my heart broken not once, not twice, but four times. The last time it happened I think something inside of me snapped. I didn’t get angry. I was upset, sure. Of course, when you’ve invested in someone for two and a half years you’re not really expecting them to turn on you randomly one day and plainly state that they’re not “in love” with you anymore. You can’t really plan for these things though. What really struck me were a selection of his words. He said that he pitied me. Brother, I’m the last person in the world that needs your pity. I have always been my own person with my own ambitions and goals. It takes a really self-righteous and selfish guy not to see that. In the end though, none of it was my fault and he was the one making the mistake. I mean, who in their right mind would throw away a girl like me? :)

It’s all good though. I wish I could explain it exactly, but ever since that day I’ve felt invincible. No person, and specially no dude, is going to stand in my way. Sucks to your ass-mar. I’m not the one that fucked up.

Music and Entertainment

I finally got around to seeing Edmonton. The red (Sky Screamer) and purple (Nessie’s Revenge) water slides at the West Edmonton Mall are scary. Mostly because they hurt. The red one was almost a straight vertical drop that resulted in a painful wedgie and the purple one threw me up and then slammed me down so hard multiple times that it felt like I was being slapped (it is very aptly named). I couldn’t really breathe all that well after doing the two of those. I sort of regret doing them first because they made the rest of the water park seem like nothing in comparison.

Aside from that, just this past year alone I’ve really upped my entertainment intake. I guess this is the sort of thing that happens when you stop being a student and actually become a consumer. I went to the Calgary Stampede for the first time, saw Evil Dead: The Musical (so much blood and awesome), went to see DragonForce in concert, saw the Blue Man Group, went to Video Games Live (sweeeeet!), attended the Lindy Hop Exchange in Calgary and saw the Polyjesters, and then some!

I’ve also been playing a few more video games as of late. My Steam ID and PSN ID are both “Jaceen”. Feel free to add me.

Aron

He gets his own heading because he’s awesome like that. The title of this post is dedicated to him too. Bwa… hahaha… ha ha… yarr…

Business

I started my own business! It’s not too much of a surprise since this sort of thing runs in my family. Well, one side of my family anyway. I’m working as a media and design consultant with an emphasis on web development, interactive design, and improving user experience. I’ve you’re looking to hire me though, I’m solidly booked until at least June 2010. My large projects have been keeping me busy (and happily fed! No starving here). I still haven’t decided on an official name for my company yet though. I’m sure once I do though, it’ll be great.

Kitty!

I’m looking into adopting/buying a cat. So if you know of a particular fuzz-butt that is in need of a home where he/she will be pampered all 12-25 years of its life until death, let me know!

Here’s looking forward to 2010 being even better than 2009. So far, so good (albeit a little on the sleep deprived side… my brain nearly exploded yesterday).

Screw new year resolutions. Just focus on being as bloody awesome as you can.

Tags: 2010, ACAD, aron, awesomeness, business, cat, edmonton, Games, graduation, kitty, music, new years, psn, review, steam
Posted in Art & Design, Geeky, Miscellaneous | No Comments »

Web Developer/Designer & Black Shuck

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Welcome to Calgary, a place where it snows in June. We sure have been having some odd weather. At least it’s green outside now. :)

As you may, or may not have noticed, I’ve changed up Shriker.ca a little bit. It’s still going to be undergoing a few more visual tweaks (namely with the navigation), bit I’m rather content with the direction it’s going at the moment. My gallery is also temporarily offline as I’m putting together hopefully a better solution to showcase my current and past projects in a more organized portfolio.

I keep getting the feeling that people in general can’t quite grasp what I do, or what I can do. Either I come off as too much of a programmer, or too much of an “artist.”

I’m a hybrid of sorts.

I can do a lot of things, and am constantly adding to my skill-set. Among changing the site around, I’ve also put my Web Developer/ and Designer Resume online… and am currently working on complimenting it with a more organized portfolio of projects. We’ll see how that goes.

So what have I been up to otherwise? Lots of contract work (some of which is pretty awesome!). I haven’t found a more permanent niche within a specific company yet, but I’m still on the look-out. For the interim, my current position is rather fantastic. I’d just rather be collaborating with a few more people.

Black Shuck's Limbo

To keep the doodle-bug in me alive, I’ve decided to participate in ArtSlam. The short of it is this: for 92 days, I’m going to be drawing concept art for Black Shuck. Black Shuck, for those not in the know, is a little pet project of mine. It’s a pocket dimension that newly deceased souls sometimes have the misfortune of being pulled into.

You may follow my progress in the ArtSlam community via the tag, jods. For the most part I’ve been working on various quick environmental drawings, but am planning on working in some creatures and characters.

Anna's Cheshire Cat

Although this happened quite a while ago, I put Anna’s Illustration site up for her. She did the site design in Adobe Illustrator, and then I translated it to code and integrated her gallery. Simplistic, clean, and functional. She has some fantastic artwork (I love the vector done illustrations myself), so be sure to check it out.

Aron gifted me with some swing dance lessons with Swing Dance Calgary. <3 So I’m hoping to improve my skills there. Aside from that, ah… been replaying Final Fantasy 7, as well as playing World of Warcraft with Aron. I caught 500 fish the other day. I have no other excuse other than the fact that I was really bored.

Tags: ArtSlam, Black Shuck, gallery, portfolio, resume, Swing Dance Calgary, Web Designer, Web Developer, World of Warcraft
Posted in Art & Design, Geeky, Site News | 2 Comments »

Time Management Should Be An Olympic Sport

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

The ACAD portfolio show went really well and I made quite a number of contacts (if you’re reading this – hello!). Although everything has sort of left me wondering: just where did the past four years go? ACAD, in retrospect, has been a boon. There were times of course when I wanted to pull out my hair and even implode due to the stress levels. However, in the end what I came out with were necessary skills: namely, extreme time management (among many others!). We had the opportunity to work with industry professionals as our teachers and the overall competitive attitude is just what I needed in order to stay motivated. While my experience there had its low points (*cough* studios), I’m going to be making the best out of it. I think my only regret at this point is not being able to work with my classmates more. I think I would have enjoyed a little more collaboration, partly due to having realized that even though my classmates and I were all working toward the same Bachelor of Design degree, we each had our own specialities and tailored skill-sets. I don’t think anyone should ever underestimate the force of a Visual Communications Zombie.

I ended up getting my business cards printed at AladdinPrint, who I’m completely recommending. They printed my cards and shipped them to me all within three business days. Well, technically four business days, but only because I missed the UPS person on the first day (had to be at college for a critique, you see). So if you’re looking to get something printed quickly (and not sacrificing quality), check them out.

Now that the final class has come and gone, I’m hoping that people will still stay in touch. I’m going to be staying in Calgary. Doing what exactly? I’m not entirely sure just yet, but I’m working on it. I’m aiming for something in either Web Development or in some vein of Illustration. So the hunt is on and the resume has already been sent out a few times. I’m just hoping to find a place that will encourage self-learning and innovation.

In the interim, I’m picking up a few projects that I had to let fall off to the sidelines due to the demands of graduation.

Ramath-lehi, which has been my baby since 2002, has been getting an overhaul. For the most part I have been working on writing a few custom phpBB modifications for the board. All in all it has been coming along rather well. I’m hoping to have the site back up in a more fully operational state soon. There are only a few more really crucial PHP scripts left to write.

Then there of course is Black Shuck. I recently took Black Shuck offline in order to develop it on my computer locally as I test out a new back-end that adheres to a better Model–View–Controller (MVC) coding architecture. So far I’m liking where it is going because it keeps everything nice and modular (and not “nebulous“).

Aside from those hobbies, I’ve also been helping a few classmates get their own web sites up. I can easily to Photoshop PSD to valid HTML layout conversions to all those people who can design, but aren’t exactly code-savvy. So if you can design something in Photoshop, I can turn it into a functional web site for you.

My new little girl.

As a graduation present for myself, I obtained a new addition for my family! Over the weekend I attended TARAS‘ spring show and sale at the Ogden Legion. Wow, what a collection of reptiles and amphibians (and feeders…)! I ended up getting this nicely sized leopard gecko gal’ from BetterBoa. She’s the first pet I’ve owned in over four years, not to mention the only reptile I’ve owned since… gosh, I’m not even sure when that was. Mid-90s maybe? Anyway, she appears to be adjusting quite nicely to her new home, although her appetite isn’t quite up to what it should be (I bet it’s been a rough past few days for her). I’m sure that’ll come in time.

She still doesn’t have a name, so I’m open to suggestions if people have them. :)

Tags: ACAD, BetterBoa, Black Shuck, leopard gecko, MVC, portfolio show, Ramath-lehi, reptile, TARAS, web sites
Posted in Art & Design, Geeky | 3 Comments »