#My cable to my drawing tablet is busted

[saltycakey]

[heyitsmejona]

Bottle Of Tears.

[boppeepudding]

the cable for my drawing tablet is like busted,, i ordered a new one but was expensive and will take a while screaming crying

[mimithealpaca]

uprooted

"why the long face, ursula? you have a sister!"

"oh--um, i'm just... a little worried?"

"nonsense! just think about the cool things you can do in the city. like taxis. buses. when i was your age, i used to know all the routes, you know..."

"...yeah. yeah, you're right..."

If you don't already know, Ursula is my daughter. She's not the oldest OC I have, but she is definitely a favorite. I love the design I came up for her (this is her modern AU version) and although her shtick is that she is a naive bby that the world will try its darndest to break, she won't and she will retain her compassion and keep on going. I think that is why I love her. She pulls out the hope in me that I refuse to let the world blow out. She's the sky, the clouds, and the sun--she too has her own troubles, but even when times get tough, she'll pull through, and before you know it, she's soaring.

Anyway! I'll talk more about her later (aka give you more story) when I draw her again. Because I will. I promise you. I love her too much XD

Fun fact: She also makes a cameo appearance with her sister, Felda, in my BKDK/Kacchako (platonic) fancomic, which I am selling on my Etsy shop as of writing!

Technical fun facts: This was a drawing I did in order to test the refurbished Wacom Intuos Large I got recently. I COULDN'T RESIST THE DAMN TABLET MONOLITH'S SALE, I'M SORRY QWQ) My TL;DR review is that it... it gets the job done, lol. I'm not used to it yet. I think I'll have to tweak the pressure curve. OH, AND ALSO, IT KEPT DISCONNECTING >.> I'm hoping that's just because the cable was loose and not because this thing is busted...

[josiebelladonna]

*puff of smoke* blizzards.

this. fucking. thing. that just hit us.

first off, it wasn’t nearly as bad (or as cold, for that matter) as they were expecting—then again, that’s california for you. if this was in nevada, they’d just tell us to put chains on and go very slowly. on wednesday, they were forecasting 9 inches and we got like 3 inches here at the house (really, i went out to the front porch with a ruler and stuck it down once the snow stopped). the snow was like powder, too, i picked some up and it crumbled immediately. 

thursday, we got a quarter of an inch, and that was when our internet went out: the week before, it went out on us because we had a lot of high winds up here, and the internet guys actually showed me the data cables, how the winds completely busted and frayed them. it was over valentine’s day and the two days after so… you know. no skin off my nose. but i went out there on thursday to get a bunch of firewood while there was a break in the weather and i looked up at the power pole at the end of the driveway, and the cables and the transformer were just caked in ice, like the aftermath of an ice storm (ice storm… powdery snow… i feel like i’m in carson city again, minus all of the fun of course—you can’t hop in the car and drive down to the golden nugget for a hot meal on a day like that here 😒). figure it was a combination of that plus improper fixing of the cables.

friday mid-morning was when the blizzard actually hit, and the internet company chickened out on us at literally the last minute: and yeah, it wasn’t nearly as bad as they were expecting, especially considering the places here in california that got snow like fucking santa cruz and venice beach.

it was breezy, but not like… hurricane force winds like what they were expecting. nothing to sneeze at, it was right under the realm of your standard santa ana wind event. my mom and i had to stay in the bedroom where it was warm (“i ain’t going out there!”) though, because regardless if it wasn’t that cold as it was on its own, it was the wind chill we were concerned about.

yes, it snowed. did it ever. on saturday. friday, we got next to nada (like half an inch), but when i woke up on saturday morning, i was greeted by snow, over my knees. once it stopped, i got out there and started shoveling. my mom had a migraine all day so i spent all day saturday by myself, drawing, writing on my tablet, and when the snow finally did stop on sunday, i went out there and shoveled some more—when i came back in, because it’s a lot more strenuous than it looks, i took my top off and walked around shirtless, and i ate a bunch of hearty food to keep my strength up—i felt like a female john henry (jane henry?)

i’m no meteorologist—not yet, anyway, i want to study it at some point in the future—but i wasn’t going to make the same mistake they made back east during the “snowzilla” event of seven years ago, and waited until the snow actually stopped to measure again (they were apparently measuring every hour when it should have been like every six hours).

it actually wasn’t nearly as cold as they were forecasting, either: on wednesday, the snow that fell down below us never reached the passes and it was gone by the evening hours (i could actually see it on the hillsides across the way from my living room window). thursday, it never got down that low, even though they closed the freeway. and then friday, i’d say the only really cold part of it all was the wind: i’m looking at the wind chill factor reported at the airport then, and… yeah, no exaggeration there. even looking through the window, i could tell it was that immense.

it was my first blizzard since i lived in oregon, about ten years. that’s more than what it’s worth for something that left snow on the california beaches, the floor of the central valley, even out by victorville, and made l.a. issue their first blizzard warning since the 80s (and first time ever for san diego). but it was pretty pathetic, though, and pathetic in a sense that it was not worth the loss of the internet, either. because of this, i’m thinking of starting up a weather journal again: not sure why i gave it up a couple of years ago, but this event has weirdly renewed my desire for it. i’ll share it here if anyone’s interested.

as for the internet silence… not gonna lie, looking at ig posts and the news app on my laptop of the stories of the last few days, it seems to me that i wasn’t missing out on anything. tumblr has been getting so fucking juvenile lately that it’s boring to talk about and getting angry about it feels incredibly pointless because y’all really are that emotionally dim—hell, i’m bored just putting this on here (your precious girliness, this fucking weird trend in femininity that’s inescapable now… it’s all for the birds. pick up a shovel and move your body). instagram, for what it’s worth, has been very kind to me, but there are times in which it feels rather dry—from valentine’s onward, this has been one of those times. aside from the friends i’ve made on there, and i was thinking of alex all weekend, it’s been pretty meh lately. i don’t give a shit about twitter anymore, and facebook… show of hands, who here actually unironically still uses facebook. most people who are my age or younger who use it anymore are either borderline psychotic or painfully uninteresting, such that they’re boring to talk to.

but i couldn’t listen to music, and i couldn’t watch tv. i could write, though, i could write on my tablet: nevertheless, it was probably the one pitfall of being offline. oh! and my mom was supposed to start a new at-home job on thursday, too—it was temporary, only lasting for about a month, but… you know. we thought for sure the damned thing was going to hold up especially since there was no wind on thursday morning and it was completely fine on wednesday.

i also associate the internet company hold music with the smell of my own shit now (literally, whenever my mom called them, i was on the toilet).

so, what did i do? besides write on my tablet, the worst at what i do best: make art. mostly illustrations for as the seasons grey, but also the art that’s on my to-do list.

speaking of as the seasons grey, i have it slated for the 7th but even then, i might change the date because shit could happen again. it’s really weird how the outages have coincided with my bringing this one to fruition: i don’t have anything to post right away and so, the internet falls away for a bit so i can get my ducks in a row. there’s just something weirdly coincidental about that. 

in fact, i’m starting to see staying offline as an act of self-love: that’s certainly how i treated it in late 2016 when election stuff was ramping up and family was on my case about everything.

i was offline during valentine’s day and i shit you not, about 20 minutes before it happened, i said, “i’m already fed up with this nonsense” out loud. 10 o’clock in the morning, everywhere i looked, online, and on tv, was valentine’s nonsense. i already hate valentine’s day, it’s just dumb, a saccharine, stomach-churning, nauseatingly over-commercialized “holiday” that puts material value on a perfectly natural feeling to the point of sucking all the life and sincerity out of it (the utter onslaught of shitty, capricious, obnoxiously ubiquitous posts about mutuals do anything but help, either). of course, i was fed up.

i’m not going to be an “infrequent ____ checker” and—😂😂😂😂😂 i’m not going to finish that 🤣

but when i made more art for as the seasons grey, at one point, i thought to myself, “tumblr could not be more incorrect. hell, all these sites could not be further away from the truth. it’s imperative to have a friend group, sure, absolutely. but sometimes, you do need to stand on your own. you have to be your own friend, your own source of inspiration, your own help, especially when said help from the outside annoyingly chickens out on you at the very last minute and suddenly, winter weather becomes incredibly tiresome.”

nevertheless, this had to have been the longest february ever, from the internet outages to my love of meteorology to finding out my mail was stolen to my outburst to fuckuary feeling like a complete fever dream: never has this 28 day month felt like 28 weeks before. i don’t think february 2018 even went by that slowly. was it worth it? …yeah, i believe so. it was all about me stepping into my own.

something of interest did happen on friday, though: i was coming out of the bathroom and i happened to look out the window right as the sun was coming out of the clouds. it was 5 o’clock so it hung low over the horizon; all the while the snow was coming in at a low angle (blizzards give us sideways snow moving at high speeds: this snow was moving at a snail’s pace in comparison to some of the blizzards i’ve experienced in oregon and nevada). there was a break in the clouds and i closed my eyes as the sun washed over me. it was like a meditative state: my mind went blank and all i could fixate on was the sun. 

then alex burst into my mind, those deep, rich blue eyes, as if they came on the back of the sunlight. i opened my eyes and gazed out to the snow, and it seemed to slow down even more. i looked up at the clouds, this big one moving along at a fast clip, and joey and krista entered my mind right then. i watched the cloud move over the sun, and it literally took the shape of a dragon’s head. it was like something out of a dream, it was surreal.

[xenofiction-design-project]

My fear has come true: My drawing tablet has quit. At least, I think it's not the tablet itself but the cable connecting it to my PC, which has been busted but semi-functional for a while.

I ordered a new cable and I hope that'll fix things, since it appears my tablet itself still works fine and it's the cable which is broken. However, if it turns out it's not and my actual tablet is dead, I'll have to order a new one. Which will be pricey.

Also I'm just attached to my old tablet lol, I've had this one since early 2013 (when ALO ep 2 was in production) so it's a miracle it's still working somehow.

Anyways I won't be able to make or post new digital art until this issue has been resolved! May post some traditional art still.

[softgrungeprophet]

thinking out loud about art process/medium

pros of tablet (screenless):

-no art supply costs after initial cost (in my case it was like 80 bucks cause i use an old bamboo pen&touch)

-hand doesn't get in the way of seeing

-1 physical tool for everything (pen)

-can resize, undo, erase ink, and very importantly use bucket tool

-coloring is easier (see bucket tool)

-hotkeys (ctrl-z....)

-no need for scanner, digital only takes up less physical space

-pattern brushes! 3d models! assets!

- rulers, grids, snapping etc. shift for straight line, line tools

-change colors easily

-choose canvas size arbitrarily and at any resolution i want, plus cropping and cutting, copying, pasting etc.

-screen doesn't need a light on to see (at least not these days lol)

-text tool

-some tablets come with free software bundles (mine came with photoshop and corel, though not the new ones lol)

-if tablet is durable, may be cheaper in the long run (my first lasted about 5 years? i think? only busted because cable got damaged; current one is still fine)

-weird filters and effects, blur, etc.

-bitches love layers (i'm bitches)

-i can resize shit when i inevitably fuck up proportions

cons:

-upfront cost is expensive if it breaks (tho there are more cheap options on the market now)

-less intuitive for my brain-to-hand connection and coordination personally... harder for me to recreate lines digitally --always impressed by people who can follow their sketch precisely cause it's literally impossible for me 😂 i've gotten better at the intuitive stuff since i first started 10 yrs ago but it's still always a liiiittle awkward haha... but tbh this is still true for traditional to a lesser extent

-i get tangled in my cables a lot 😂

-digital storage on pc only, have to have printer for physical copies and colors can come out weird since i draw in rgb lol, risk of deletion or file loss or corruption

-using refs can get cluttered on only one monitor

-handwriting becomes even more illegible and calligraphy pens are kinda meh (at least defaults are)

-hand hurty because cramped space

-future...? longevity not any clearer than physical media tbh. might last forever or might be gone in an instant, even before considering future of technology... shrug! lol

-screen colors and brightness?! girl help my art looks different on every device i own 😂

-if you forget to save it's gone (luckily i save compulsively)

-csp text tool kind of mediocre tbh

-companies want you to buy new programs, stop supporting old ones, charge subscriptions, etc etc etc....

pros of traditional art:

-tactility and naturalness of hand on paper makes lineart and stuff a little easier--i'm still not very coordinated though so i still have issues with this regardless of medium...

-can look at reference on screen separate instead of swapping between tabs or cramming on one screen or canvas (physical references like books or objects make this moot for either medium tbf)

-medium experimentation easier than digital in that it lets you feel the different textures and behaviors in a way that's less functional digitally (tho there are some great brush sets) and more tactile or even potential 3-dimensional (ie thick layers of oil paint or mixed media painting with sculptural techniques)

- handwriting is (marginally) more legible...

-physical object, already exists, cannot be deleted (but ...)

-color not completely dependent on screen (but can still be affected by lighting or fading, in fairness)

-i like doodling with ballpoint pens (i do all my thumbnails with bic pens and yellow legal pads or sketchbooks lol)

-if you don't save, nothing happens because it's just an object you made irl lol there's nothing to save; it exists (see physical object)

-no cables

-no download or program (or subscription) required (not that i use Photoshop except the free copy that came with my tablet but it's relevant as a digital artist)

cons:

-buy new art supplies constantly cause stuff runs out; markers are expensive (though ink refills in long run less expensive than buying new markers, still needs frequent replacement for certain colors such as skin tones, still adddds up)

-have to buy or otherwise acquire everything separately, can't experiment in different mediums without buying more stuff... different paper.... different pen types... ink types.... etc. and then if you don't like it or use it, it's like.... ok i'm out $20 (or more)

-hand is always in the way! ahh!

-no undo or any of that and no saving copies unless manually tracing or you scan it first

-if you are bad at letter placement you can't move or resize 😂 i def have trouble with this sometimes lol

-i don't like coloring in traditional mediums and filling large inks is time consuming and generally unpleasant... alcohol markers are better but i am just not a colorist at the end of the day... obviously other people like it more (i enjoy abstract watercolor though)

-can't change colors after the fact... (probably good to swatch huh)

-erase erase erase ugh i hate erasing...

-can't hide layers or group together cause it's all one layer (at least, in practice. i'm sure it's technically scientifically in layers of ink, paint etc.)

-white gel pens never work 😂 and i can't do large areas of white on top unless I'm using opaque paint (not always feasible) (maybe i should have become a painter, huh)

-shitty or cheap materials feel tangibly worse to use; also my inking pen of choice is microns and similar felt tip technical pens, and they can feel unpleasant on a lot of paper types, plus fast lines are harder to do without skipping and scratching, and larger nibs often aren't very good tbh (maybe my pens are just cheap?)

-have to manually measure out frames, panels, borders, use physical ruler for straight lines, often with pen bleed if you do it wrong....

-doesn't have any of those easy assets, models, pattern brushes etc. (well, partially; they do make stuff like screentone, manga background assets, and you can do collage in theory or trace stuff if you have a lightbox)

-messy or smelly depending on what you use (paint pens, alcohol markers etc), sometimes requires extra ventilation or working outside for safety (tho really at that point you probably wouldn't be using a technique that works digitally anyway so i guess it's an inevitability lol)

-some materials take longer to dry than others, need protective coating or are not archival/will fade

-physical object, requires scanning and editing (esp to make copies), takes up space, can be destroyed or lost (not so different from digital in that regard) also takes up more physical space to store lots of drawing or paintings, art supplies, etc.

-requires working space especially if you work larger or are using lots of colors etc.

-needs light (... usually. i did make a painting in the dark once but that's usually not practical lol)

-cannot type on drawing (well. you CAN but it's less straightforward than clicking a text tool)

-hand still hurty

-no resizing! have to live with fucked up proportions 💀 (i'm working on it)

no point to this just thinking about things i like and dislike about both ways of creating

when it comes to writing i will take typing over handwriting any day though

[soledadcatalina]

the "sleeping near each other" emoji for bec and grubbs?

[id: a digital drawing of bec macconn and grubbs grady from the demonata taking a nap. bec has her head rested against grubbs side, her wild coily red hair spilling over his torso. grubbs has a hand idly rested in her curls as he snores]

[leveliflared]

Oh wow your art + animation is absolutely beautiful idk how u create such flawless pieces so quickly ❤ i was wondering if u had any advice tablet/computer wise for ppl looking to get into art that doesnt cost an arm and a leg

⋆「 ☾ 」⋆ Aww thanks...!

I don’t really know if I’ll be of any help, but everything I draw is drawn with a Wacom Intuos Comic tablet. It’s about 100 bucks.

I remember being told be the clerk that it’s the best tablet to start off with and as I get better at drawing I can just save up and buy the bigger more advanced tablets but that was 4 years ago and I’ve been using the same model ever since (though I did end up busting a few as I went so if you do get one, be VERY careful with the cable, it’s very delicate)

As for my laptop, it’s the newest version of Mac as far as I know with a crap ton of storage- My Dad got it for my uni courses and stuff but it costs so much ;_; I’m afraid I won’t be of any help there, I’m a total Apple Boi 

[possiblytracker]

OK so i have set my mind on it now i’m going for this uhhhh (as long as i actually get interest dshkfdvdf)

For £12 (payable through PayPal invoice or ko-fi) i will draw you something like this (fullbody, plus shading)

or two things like this (bust or fullbody)

and i have five slots!

my tablet is very broken rn and i won’t be able to start work on anything until the new one gets here OR i get a new cable, so payment in advance is required in order to actually get the art.;; but i’ll start as soon as i can

make sure to message me what you’d like me to draw and whether you’d like something like the first or second option!

this is something like an £8 discount on normal comm price so please consider!

my ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/X8X3MZLD

slots under cut:

1: 2: 3: 4: 5:

[toywolfmaker]

Waiting for my new tablet to come in, my old one busted sadly, but this one's new and fancy. It's the XP Pen artist pro 12, very nice tablet. It's the ones you can draw on the screen itself by hooking up to your computer through the HDMI cable. It'll be my first screen drawing tablet, and I am very excited

[halcyonmirage]

Update:

So I ordered this wireless kit for my drawing tablet since the cable might be busted. And I also got this separate charger for the battery since it can't charge via USB cable.

The charger is here! Just waiting on the battery now.

Just in case, I bought a smaller tablet that was on sale. I can't open it since I'm planning on returning it if my old tablet starts working again. But if it doesn't, then I have this one as a back up.

Just wanted to buy it before the sale ends. It was 90$ off. Good stuff.

But here's what I've been doing in the mean time...

I thought of a new AU for Six Souls and A Flower.

And I don't mean Underswap or Underfell stuff. I mean like an AU for the comic specifically.

I've drawn some stuff for it but...

The art itself is slightly spoilery.

A different version, a different design for the kids...

But with them all grown up.

Would people still like to see/know more about this or nah? Let me know! ^-^

Thanks.

- Waddle Dee

[goodieghosty]

Good news and bad news

Good news: my house didn't burn down! :D

Bad news: the cable to my tablet is busted af :)))

It's my fault, I shouldn't have left it on the floor knowing the kitten still isn't fully litter trained. I was literally about to sit down and draw, went to the bathroom, came back to a burning smell

So yeah, that's awesome. I can't even pull it apart. These cables are 40ish dollars and atm I don't have that

That's great

I'm not crying, you're crying

It's not that big of a deal, just means I have to wait for my next check to buy a replacement cable. Next Saturday plz come soon.

In the meantime, I can't use my tablet

At all

Which is

Fcking great

Just wonderful

It just, feels like everything is going wrong art wise and the second I decide to turn it around I just end up getting sucker punched in the junk. I'm totally not going to shut myself in the shower and cry like a lil bitch baby as soon as this is posted

[ppitte]

Quick shoutout to my drawing tablet: I got this bitch when I was in 8th grade. That was like, 84 years ago. It has been thrown around, fallen to the floor countless times, I’ve never changed the pen nib, all the plastic is slowly turning dull and yellow, and today I noticed that the USB cable had started fraying. And it wasn’t cute, it was busted. Couple layers of duct tape later? WORKS. as if nothing ever happened, like it was just brought home from the store yesterday.

That tablet is the true MVP of this household, damn.

[slippery-minghus]

on the bright side though my drawing tablet still works. when i tried it last night it seemed busted for sure, but i managed to find a cable that worked. so i can actually start working on the painting i had in mind

(it’s a me2 screenshot redraw lmao)

[pigdemonart]

Hello! I'm currently looking for a new drawing tablet to purchase but I'm wary on which one to buy. I was wondering which tablet you prefer to use for your art! I looked through your FAQ and didn't see this answered anywhere, so hopefully I'm not blind and this isn't a bother! Thank you :^)

Hi there!!! I currently use a wacom cintiq 13HDBut I've used wacom intuos of all sizes and they've all worked great for me! that's just my experience though. Over my aprox 4 years of using tablets, I've gone over 5 different tablets. Either the cable gets busted or the pen stops working, and the pens are sometimes just as expensive as the tablet which is stupid as heck..I've heard there are other alternatives to wacom too which are cheaper and work just as well tho..