Gadget: Wacom Intuos

After a year of thinking about it, I have now jumped the gun and bought a unit. I was supposed to get the cheaper one but even without any pitch from the sales guy I was immediately convinced with 2 things: I get two software copies and when not charging, it could be used wireless!

Installation is a breeze, I just needed to connect the device and it automatically installs the needed drivers. But then it ends there. I wanted to get the promised free software immediately so I attempted to get them, but first I need to register the device which is after I sign up for a new account. 

Here's the thing, their website is inherently terrible. It took so long for it to allow me to sign up and load to even register. When I was able to do those two things, I then attempted to load the pages to download the software I chose (I get 2/3 available for Intuos) but no matter how long I try I always get server errors!

Yay free nibs!

When I got fed up I reached them via twitter and their contact support. Twitter took a while (I only read their message days later) because I was able to reach their chat support after a few minutes. The agent I got was easy to talk to BUT she (?) dropped the chat even before I received the promised email for the links I could use instead of the ones I was attempting to load for hours. I hope they don't do this because a frustrated customer would not give a good rating without any results. Said email was sent to me some good minutes later, long after the chat was over. 

After successfully downloading and using the proper keys for the 2 software I chose, I tested it with the Wacom Intuos and both worked perfectly! I only needed to turn the device on and it is always ready to use. 

So far I am really satisfied with my purchase! The pen pressure does not feel like pencil but I attribute it with my own incapability and maybe I need to practice to gain muscle memory. I tend to push the pen too hard on the surface which in turn result to me losing the deftness I have with my right hand versus to a lead pencil. I may not be someone really adept at drawing but I can survive in that department as far I know , even my art teacher back in high school thought so :-P

It will take me quite some time to get used to this but the flexibility it offered is superb. It works in both softwares I got, although I have not yet tried it if it worked in GIMP and I'm not paying for Photoshop Cloud but I do feel like it should on both. I also liked that reconnecting the tablet is a breeze (after initial connection), I just need to push a button from the tablet and my laptop already knows I've opened a new device for input. I have not yet programmed the buttons on the tablet and the ones on the pen and I've only been using the zoom in and out buttons (tablet). The ones on the pen I'm still testing how I could do without stopping and getting frustrated on me not getting the correct hover for the right click options.

I would love to be able to improve via this tool. I have unlimited "paper" and unlimited times I could erase something which is a huge plus. I felt like me being the lazy f*ck who rarely erases anything hindered a lot in improving and since in this medium there won't be any ghost traces of past sketches, I could get over the erasing part. Who knows I might even rekindle my love for drawing once I get comfortable with using it over pencil. So far most of my drawings aren't as good from the tablet but I realized I could start with tracing, as with most tutorials say. Now if I only I could finish my other DIY to clean my working table hmmmm...

Price: 5k++ at Octagon