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Xencelabs Medium Tablet Bundle Review

First of all, thank you Xencelabs team @xencelabs_us for inviting me to try out your new tablet bundle. I appreciate the opportunity very much!

When I opened the packaging, I was delighted to see so many items included in the Xencelabs medium tablet bundle.

The Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium Bundle ships with a protective carrying case for the tablet and all of the accessories including the Quick Keys, the pen case that contains both digital pens, dongle, adapter, nibs, nib extractor, and a drawing glove.

Two digital pens are included, a 3-button pen and a thin pen which feels similar to an Apple Pencil and a set of extra nibs is also included. The felt nibs feel natural to sketch with.

The Xencelabs Quick Keys unit enables artists to incorporate shortcut keys into their personal workflow.

The tablet is beautiful and from an ergonomic standpoint is comfortable to use. The front of the tablet facing the artist is tapered and it’s comfortable to rest your wrist on its edge as you draw.

I like the elegant simplicity of the tablet itself and it looks well made. A lot of careful attention was spent on the accessories, as well.

When testing the tablet, I explored using it with Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop. The digital pen that I most like to use is the 3 button pen, as it was most comfortable for my hand. The thinner pen is nice for writing.

The medium tablet features 8192 pressure levels and is capable of drawing and painting clean, smooth brushstrokes. The tablet and pen allow 60° of tilt, but I discovered right away that rotation is not recognized.

As an artist, I enjoy simplicity when painting my digital fine art from scratch. I prefer a high quality tablet and pen set up simply so the drawing and painting experience feels as natural as possible.

The Quick Keys unit is useful for production illustration jobs or for photo editing and retouching where there are repetitive tasks, but I would rarely utilize it for my fine art painting experience.

Many of the brushes that I use in Corel Painter have rotation incorporated into them and an Art Pen that recognizes rotation is needed to quickly pull brush strokes accurately, in a natural way.

I was curious to test the Xencelabs medium tablet with three button pen along side my Wacom Intuos Pro medium tablet and 4D Art Pen.

With both tablets and pen set ups I was able to paint smooth brush strokes. Some of the brush hairs looked a tiny bit mechanical or stiff with the Xencelabs set up. The Wacom set up painted brushstrokes (and brush hairs) that seemed to achieve finer, more realistic brushstrokes and with grainy dry media like Pastel and Charcoal the Wacom set up achieved subtly more natural texture. The difference is small but as a very experienced Painter user, I noticed the differences.

Also, with the Xencelabs set up using only Tilt, it took more trial and error to pull brushstrokes along directions that I want to paint them. With the Wacom tablet and Art Pen, I am able to paint them immediately, accurately positioning and pulling a stroke the desired direction that I want to paint.

Conclusion: For my painting experience, I prefer using the Wacom Intuos Pro with Art Pen that incorporates rotation. For illustration and photo editing, the Xencelabs tablet and pens, with Quick Keys unit is a great solution, if an illustrator or photo-artist feels that 60° Tilt and pressure sensitivity is preferable for their working style. For a production setting with repetitive tasks, the Quick Keys unit is easy to set up and a good solution for storing quick commands.

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It was an honor to interview Captain Bud Scelsa for this story on legless.tv Rest in Love Captain Bud. Aloha always, Cher

Here at Legless we believe that to know where we’re going, we need to know where we’ve been. Which is to say: we like a little history. Our good friend in San Diego, Cher Pendarvis, has been kind enough to share with us a short piece about a good friend of hers who is a real, living part of our history. You’ve probably never heard of him, which is why we think it’s important that you do.  

Captain Bud Scelsa: an inspiration across generations and cultures.

A passionate all around waterman, paipo knee-rider and sailor, Captain Bud Scelsa is a bridge from the ancients to the present. As a founding member advisor to the board of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, Bud helped teach many Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike how to canoe sail on the 40’ Naleiha and the 60’ Ho’kule‘a. For many years, Bud surfed daily dawn patrol sessions at Aiwohi, or Publics, riding his self-made wood paipos “knee-down,” as he calls it, or “kukuli style” as the Hawaiians called it. Bud is an important link between the heritage of the ancient Pacific surfers and modern day knee-riding.

Born in 1946 and raised near the ocean in Newport Beach, California, Bud shared a love of the water with his brothers. When they were 8 to 9 years old, the Scelsa boys learned to sail around Newport Harbor, using a 10 foot pram dinghy their grandfather gave them. At the same time, Bud began bodysurfing and riding an air mat at Big Corona. His mom, a bodysurfer in the 1920s–1930s, was very supportive. “Mom would drop us off every summer morning and on most weekends much of the year until we were old enough to ride our bikes down the hill to the 22nd street pier at Newport,” Bud remembers. Eventually, Bud learned to coast his bike down the hill with a 9’2" longboard under his arm, which was OK as long as it wasn’t windy!

A little later, Bud began bodysurfing at Wedge, and he found its power exciting. Bud loved the pure feeling of bodysurfing the powerful shorebreak waves. At that time, Wedge regulars included Joe Quigg, Carter Pyle, Ron Romanosky and others whose names Bud has forgotten after almost 50 years.

Bud’s whole world changed when he was 20. when he left college and joined the United States Coast Guard. In 1966, while on his first trip to Japan with the Coast Guard, Bud’s ship passed through Hawaii and stopped in Honolulu for fuel. Bud grabbed his brown Duck Feet bodysurfing fins and hitchhiked to Makapu’u, where he found the power of the waves reminded him of Wedge. Bud fell in love with Hawaii that day and decided to return when he found a way to get orders to come back. He was soon befriended by a Native Hawaiian beach boy and musician, Splash Lyons and his family. Hawaiian-style, Bud was hanai (adopted) by the family and has lived intermittently at the Lyons’ family home on the South Shore of Oahu ever since.

Bud met his good friend John Wilkie one day while surfing at Makapu’u. John was an excellent bodysurfer and paipo rider who rode his board knee down or “kukuli style.” John allowed Bud to try his Paipo Nui and Bud, naturally, loved the feeling of speed and control. Inspired, Bud decided to work on the “kukuli style” of riding and after that single session became a life-long knee-rider. “During the 1960s and 70s, Makapu’u had a number of paipo riders, and it seemed we all rode "kukuli style,” remembers Bud.

One day, after surfing paipo with Bud and other friends at Aiwohi, I sat down with Bud to ask him a few question about his beautiful, hand-made wood paipos and his knee-riding.

CP: How did you become inspired to make wood paipos that you knee-ride?

Bud Scelsa: Once hooked on paipo, I needed a board. The first few boards made were just two twelve-inch wide redwood boards that were glued together, shaped and then glassed for durability. Most were 24 inches by 48 inches. Lots of others were making plywood boards that were either painted or just left as is. None of these (plywood) boards lasted.

CP: Are your current wood paipos inspired by the designs of the ancient Hawaiians?

Bud Scelsa: Yes. When I began paipo surfing in the 1960s I was using a Paipo Nui. Once I decided to build my own I then decided to do a little reading to see what used to be considered a paipo. By pure coincidence, I was reading a book about surfing written by Ben Finney. Ben was later my Anthropology professor when I was attending University of Hawaii in the early 1970s. I saw that the kahiko forms were very basic. Straight rails, no rocker, some tapering at the nose, square tail. I made a redwood board 2 ft by 4 ft and then glassed it so it could survive the Sandy Beach shorebreak and Makapu’u. Those were my home breaks from the late 1960s to about 1981. The boards have evolved in style ever since. So far only the earlier boards looked similar to one another. All the ones made starting in the early 2000s are unique in shape and size. I call them a “Kahiko Hybrid.”

CP: I love that your paipos are often made of reclaimed wood. What do you think about recycling and  sustainable surf-craft building?

Bud Scelsa: I see lots of thought and effort given to sustainability. I’m not sure if re-purposing does more than delay the eventual lifetime limit of a board when they are built of PU foam. A wooden paipo can last very long. I have two that I made in the early 1970s that are still very useable. I am sure all my boards can be kept active. Some other approaches are boards like the beautiful gun George Downing made from a Yucca and the wonderful intricate laminated wood boards made by Lon Klein. Mike Casey also is preserving dead wiliwili by making great boards. Re-using foam can work to some degree but PU foam can be tough to reuse very many times once a board breaks in half. Foam boards, due to their physical modulus cannot be expected to survive the hard treatment needed to get good performance. Some non-PU materials and coatings are interesting and I think much will be found to limit the environmental issues.

CP: With sincere Aloha, you love to share the stoke of riding wood paipos, and we see you as a bridge from ancient Hawaiian wave riding “kukuli style” riders to the current knee-riders on modern boards. What do you think of modern knee-riding?

Bud Scelsa: I am living in an information backwater in that regard. As my home break has been Publics for so many years, I have no idea what’s going on in other places. I have seen a guy riding a “knee machine” out at Kalehuawehe (Castles ), a Hawaiian guy named Joe. A fellow from Oregon visits Publics once a year with his knee board. Beyond our little world inside of Aiwohi and Kalehuawehe, I’m not sure what is happening.

Cher Pendarvis October 2013

Legless.tv

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South Pacific Dreaming

This morning, we're thinking of our family - friends in Eastern Australia. Here is a painting that I created using my Wacom Intuos Pro tablet and Painter. South Pacific Sunrise was inspired by a gorgeous sunrise prior to a rain storm coming up the coast. I painted the seascape in Painter using a variety of Thick Paint brushes.  Happy creating, Cher 

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Exploring Dry Media

Hi, there! Here's a video that I created about a favorite media in Corel Painter: Dry Media in Painter. As you can see, a wide variety of brush strokes and textures are possible when painting with Dry Media, for instance, Chalk, Pastels and Pencils in Painter. Happy creating!

View the video at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_R9IRZjQ5E&t=24s

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The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book, Second Edition

My Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book is conceived and written to be helpful to artists using various versions of the software, Wacom tablets and iPads. Here is a description of the book on the Peachpit Press site. 

Artists today use digital tools that allow them to work as naturally and spontaneously as if they were using traditional artist tools such as pastels, watercolors, oil media, and gouache. With the recent growth of the tablet market, there are more tools and more sophisticated features available now than ever before and an increased desire by artists to learn how to use them. As much art book as guide, The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book uses traditional drawing and painting theory exercises, coupled with reallife projects, to show readers how they can use Painter and Photoshop with pressure-sensitive tablets for beautiful results. Click here to read more about the book on the Peachpit Press site.

Click here to see the book on Amazon.

Happy creating!  Cher

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The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book, Second Edition

My Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book is conceived and written to be helpful to artists using various versions of the software, Wacom tablets and iPads. Here is a description of the book on the Peachpit Press site. 

Artists today use digital tools that allow them to work as naturally and spontaneously as if they were using traditional artist tools such as pastels, watercolors, oil media, and gouache. With the recent growth of the tablet market, there are more tools and more sophisticated features available now than ever before and an increased desire by artists to learn how to use them. As much art book as guide, The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book uses traditional drawing and painting theory exercises, coupled with reallife projects, to show readers how they can use Painter and Photoshop with pressure-sensitive tablets for beautiful results. Click here to read more about the book on the Peachpit Press site.

Click here to see the book on Amazon.

Happy creating!  Cher

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Designing for education

Hello, there. Happy New Year. You may be familiar with my educational books and teaching, but did you know that I also have a strong background in graphic design? All of the books that I have authored, I have also designed and produced. It was both a pleasure and a challenge to design these works for optimum “teachability” and I am thrilled to have won awards of excellence from Bookbuilder’s West for these book designs.

Here are a two examples from the book design that I created for my Artist Tablet Books, a chapter opener spread and an art technique spread. Each of the chapters in the book includes an overview and step-by-step art projects. The Artist Tablet Book design uses a 12-column grid for the page layout. The grid allowed me flexibility with the layout, while keeping a clean structure throughout the book. My software of choice for page layout is Adobe InDesign. I love InDesign for its powerful typographic control and dependable function.

I hope that you enjoy seeing the spreads. You can view more samples from the book at my publisher’s site.

Sincerely, Cher

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Working with the Thick Paint Brush Panel in Painter

Hi, there! My painting is titled South Pacific Sunrise, and it is inspired by our visit to beautiful Australia in 2016. To paint, I used my Wacom Intuos Pro Tablet and several default Thick Paint brushes that I made for Painter 2018.  The default Thick Paint brushes in Painter are expressive and rich. After working with them for awhile, you may want to build your own custom brushes. This video explains the settings in the Thick Paint Brush panel. I hope that you enjoy it. To view the video, click this Link.

Happy creating, Cher 

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Working with Thick Paint media in Painter

Hi, there. Thick Paint is my favorite feature in Painter 2018. Here you see Sunset Over Point Loma, an in-progress painting that I created by painting with my Wacom Intuos Pro tablet and Thick Paint, beginning with a blank canvas in Corel Painter. 

Understanding more about the settings for Thick Paint will help you to get more out of this great feature. I hope you enjoy the video Understanding the Thick Paint Media Panel Settings, which covers the Thick Paint Media panel. 

You can view the video at this link.

'Looking forward to completing the painting of one of my favorite views!

Happy painting! Cher

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More Sketching on the Go: Freehand Sketching with Adobe Photoshop Sketch and Adobe Ink

by Cher Pendarvis Enjoying sketching on my iPad brought back the memory of this portrait of Marika and the article about Adobe Sketch that I made awhile back. I hope that you enjoy the article! 

With Adobe Photoshop Sketch and your iPad, you can enjoy the fun, creative expression of making quick sketches wherever you go. Cher Threinen-Pendarvis, author of The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book: Creative Techniques in Digital Painting Using Wacom and the iPad, Second Edition, advises roaming with your iPad, sketching whenever the mood strikes. Grab your stylus and go!

You can read the entire article at this link.

Happy sketching, Cher 

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Hi, friends, happy December! We hope that my post finds you well. Today Marika and I are enjoying painting in Painter with my Wacom Intuos Pro tablet.   All the best, Cher 

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Hello, artist friends. I’m happy to make this video about a custom selection brush in Corel Painter, and hope that you enjoy it. It’s shown here demonstrated on my Sanderling sketch. Happy creating, Cher

View the video at this Link.

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Hello artist friends. This week I received some questions about working with a #wacom tablet, Painter and Photoshop. This article shares tips, and I hope you enjoy them. Happy painting, Cher 

Are You Tablet-Ready? Start Creating with Your New Wacom Tablet in Photoshop and Painter

Modern tools for digital art can be intimidating to a traditional artist. How do you actually get started using them? Cher Threinen-Pendarvis, author of The Photoshop and Painter Artist Tablet Book: Creative Techniques in Digital Painting Using Wacom and the iPad, Second Edition and The Painter WOW! Book, advises on how to experiment with some of the features, so you can get past your first hesitation and start enjoying new ways to draw and paint.

To read the full article, click here.

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The National Gallery's Johannes Vermeer Exhibition

Happy November! It would be wonderful to fly to Washington, DC to see this spectacular genre painting exhibition at the National Gallery of Art. Vermeer is one of our favorite painters!

“For the first time in over two decades, the National Gallery of Art is displaying 10 Johannes Vermeer paintings together in the same place. On the third and final stop of its international tour, the Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry exhibition has landed in Washington D.C. Coming from Paris and Dublin, the exhibition celebrates northern Renaissance artistry at its finest with Johannes Vermeer as its centerpiece.

With this in mind, the National Gallery's Masters of Genre Painting exhibition showcases both Vermeer and his many contemporaries through 70 paintings, in a powerful display of Baroque art. The presentation offers 10 of Vermeer's most notable works including The Astronomer (1668), Woman Holding a Balance (1664), and The Love Letter (1669-70). Additionally, there are several paintings by his contemporaries such as Gerard ter Borch, Gerrit Dou, Pieter de Hooch, Caspar Netscher, and more.” —quoted from the article in Town and Country

Click this Link to read the entire article in Town and Country.

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The 2017 Excellence in Journalism Awards

The 44th Annual Excellence in Journalism Awards was elegantly hosted by the San Diego Press Club on October 24. It was great to see colleagues and friends, and I am honored and thrilled to win First Place for my recent feature in The Surfers Journal: Edge Boards and the Mysterious Mr. X. Issue: 26.1. Thank you, San Diego Press Club. I'm grateful for the support of my wonderful husband Steve, and friends and colleagues. Take care and have a great day. Love, Cher xoxo - "Choose a job that you love and you will never have to work a day in your life" - Confucius -

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Aloha. The opening of the Women of Surfing Art & History exhibition at the Huntington Beach Art Center @huntingtonbeachartcenter was fantastic. This important show highlights 30 talented surfing women artists across multiple generations.

I'm thrilled to participate with this personal board that I hand-shaped, painted and built, a high aspect Fish, and two traditional watercolor paintings. The Pendoflex high speed torque tail on my board was added by my wonderful husband Steve. Also showing is a film portrait of my dear friend Rella Sunn that I made of her in 1977.

The show will be up through September 2. Please stop by this beautiful show and see it you're in the Huntington Beach area.

Thank you for reading.

Aloha, Cher Pendarvis

Links: 

More of our photos of the show are on my Cher Pendarvis Artist & Author Facebook page, to see them, click here. 

To visit the Huntington Beach Art Center site, click here

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Hello, I am happy to create a video about the new Thick Paint. I hope you enjoy it! Happy painting!

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAFppXg3u9I)

Also, I am available for consulting and teaching. You can reach me via the Contact Link on my web site. 

http://pendarvis-studios.com/contact/index.html