I just finished the dragon I started sketching not long ago.
It all went pretty smoothly, so I won’t go too much into the details of the process.

What I would rather talk about – or brag about, as we could also put it – is that I did it with the super fucking awesome Wacom Cintiq 24 HD Touch I got from my wife for my 40th birthday.
Thanks again, wife, for the awesome present!

To be honest my birthday would be in December, however, since it was delivered long before expected and she couldn’t find a way to hide the GINORMOUS BOX, I decided that having nothing to unwrap on my actual birthday was well worth the two months and a half of bonus usage.

I won’t write a review, since other people have done a much better and professional job at it than I would ever do.
I’d just say that, from an artist’s point of view, moving from a tablet to a Cintiq really does make a big difference.
As used to as you can get to the “obstacle” of moving your pen somewhere in space and seeing the outcome on a screen, it’s by no means the same as drawing directly on a bi-dimensional surface.

The process of drawing becomes (or better, it gets back to) being natural. Gestures are immediate, shapes come out easily, everything is just more fun.
You just have to avoid thinking of the price.

Anyway, here’s the dragon.

I ended up being a lot more fiddly than I intended to, but after all I had things to try out, so I indulged in some detailing.
I made most of the rim lights with the new CS6 Pencil Tool, and hell, on a Cintiq it really feels like you’re drawing with a pencil.

I’m still a big fan of natural media, but the added plus of moving things around with a finger, or bringing up colour palettes with a gesture makes me just think “to hell with paper”.

I have another dragon lined up, or maybe two. Then it might be a few months of drawing Sci-Fi for an undisclosed project, if everything goes to plan.

Oh, I forgot the usual gif, here it is.

by Paolo Puggioni

2 Responses

1. Sara Lando says:

   October 30, 2012 at 15:08

   I’ll skip the long rant about how awesome your wife is and how jealous I am of your present and I’ll go straight to the “Holy crap” reaction I had when I saw the dragon.
   When I se your gifs it always go from “allright I get it” to “freaking magic”
   Well done, you!

   Reply
   • Paolo Puggioni says:

     October 31, 2012 at 13:39

     *blush*
     Anyway yes, it’s the first thing I ever owned that still makes me think “Jesus how cool is this?” every time I walk by:)
     basically it’s been my birthday every day for two weeks now.

     Reply