Mario 3D Ramos Blog.

Warming up for Wacom´s Inkling

Ever since I found out about Wacom’s Inkling (trailer here for the lazy) I decided to start drawing again with a pen on paper so I would get the feeling again for sketching with one. Drawing with a pen is a lot harder than regular pencil mainly because I have to think and draw a lot more carefully than before since I cant easily erase my mistakes. Which is great! It forces me to try and think through my sketches a lot more carefully and while I made this little sketch every time I had a couple of minutes to spare from work, it gave me some thoughts on what are my expectations and fears of Wacom´s new Inkling which is out due to October this out. So first, here is the sketch:

I tried playing with different kinds of strokes, varying the pressure and alternating between almost any pressure (to get a nice soft line) to a harder stroke so I could get a darker, more defined line helping me to get a little gradient on my sketch so I would have some sort of lighting and shadow on it. Unfortunately I don´t have any scanner so I actually took a picture with my iphone, so sorry for the bad quality but this wasn’t suppose to be anything except a play-around with a pen.

Even before the sketch was done I was starting to think about some possible issues I might have with Inkling:

* I wonder how precise the pressure sensitivity is? On their website it says it has 1.024 pressure levels. So basically half as many as their Tablet pens. Which I assume then that some of my strokes wont be recognized. Which is a shame.

* How precise will all my strokes be? Will it have a limit on to how many strokes one can make in a certain sketch?

Alright, I admit that those weren’t really enough points to complain, rant or fear if Inkling is worth the price of 169,99 Euro but I think I can easily say that this is something I DEFINITIVELY have to get my hands on. As an artist with certain learning disabilities, I end up drawing and writing down in paper all of my ideas, solutions and processes of whatever I am doing so I can actually picture what the hell I have to do. I dont think Inkling will magically help me out with this but it will absolutely save me some time and help me organize my sketches and save them in a little folder. I cant count the times I made some sketches which I thought “I gotta model/sculpt this character/creature” and end up throwing away the paper. :-/

Anyway, I think any digital artist will find a use for Wacoms new tool. I know I will be one of those who will want one as soon as my economical life lets me. :P Living on an intern budget is already hard enough without buying new gadgets. ;)

So what are your thoughts on Inkling? Leave a comment or let me know how you would use it. :)