My digital art workstation

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Here’s picture of my desk. The big change is that I’m now using my 2017 iMac’s beautiful 27-inch screen as a second monitor for my Windows PC. How? The magic happens because of the Astropad Luna Display, a dongle that allows my PC to use the iMac as a second monitor. I give this product an enthusiastic thumbs up.

When I changed over to using Windows, I was able to use my 2009 iMac as a second screen for my PC. The older iMac could work as a second screen by plugging in a display port cable. However, Apple removed the second-display feature from newer iMacs. Using the Luna Display dongle, my PC, or any recent Mac, can now use a newer iMac as a second display. It’s cool, very, very cool. The LG monitor in the iMac would cost $1,200 dollars as a discrete monitor. It was sad to see it sitting on my desk gathering dust.

As for the Apex Pro TKL keyboard, it’s the best keyboard I’ve ever used. It’s got the feel of quality.

Links to products mentioned in this post are Amazon affiliate links.

When You Only Have 20 Minutes, Take a Picture of Your Desk

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Left to right: Lenovo Thinkpad W530 (2013), iMac (2017), iMac as PC monitor (2011), Cintiq 22 (2019)

On the left is the Thinkpad I’m setting up as a graphics work station. It’s slow, but fast enough for the work I do. The battery is nearly dead — it runs for about 45 minutes before it turns itself off. The old iMac makes a good 27-inch monitor for my PC, which is under the table. I have a pair of low-end Logitech speakers behind the old iMac and a pair of old Grado SR80 headphones that I’ve kept alive for 20 years with several application of glue.

The slowest CPU in the room is definitely my brain. I’ve got all of the gear I’ll ever need, and downstairs I have a lifetime supply of watercolor paint and Copic markers. Now all I need is some time to draw. As the wise man said, “Art is long; life is short.” He got that right.

My Work Setup

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Spending the day hunched over a Cintiq will make you a hunchback. So, inspired by Borodante’s enlightened video entitled This is Why Your Drawing Setup Sucks!, I experimented with duplicating my Cintiq screen on my 27-inch iMac screen. The goal is to be able to sit upright in a posture that will not hurt my spine and neck. It will take some time to get used to using my Cintiq as a plain, but very expensive, tablet, but if it helps my back it will be a great change.

In the picture it looks like the Cintiq color values are green compared to the iMac. The Cintiq screen is actually calibrated correctly. It has a matte screen that’s a miracle to draw on. When I’m sitting in front of these two screens, the images have the same colors, but the Cintiq images are less brilliant. That’s the price you pay for having a matte screen that feels like butter.

Today I Moved Two Inches Forward

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Today I put in a solid six hours of work and finished two pictures. I feel that working with the Cintiq is many times more productive than working with the Huion pen display or with the Wacom Intuos tablet. Really! I used to scoff when artists claimed they worked twice as fast with their Cintiq’s as they did with the Intuos tablets. I’m a believer now.

By the way, I use the word “finished” cautiously. I’m painfully aware that, in my case at least, a picture is finished only when I can no longer bear to look at it, or when I realize the every “improvement” I make is pulling the picture further off track.

I started page 23 yesterday and completed it today. I started and completed page 24 today. I’m giving myself an encuraging pat on the back. There are 50 pages in this book, so I’m about half way there. “There” is June 30, the deadline I’ve set to get this book published.

The Friday That Turned into a Chore Day

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My book’s files imported into my Mac via Clip Studio Cloud

My book’s files imported into my Mac via Clip Studio Cloud

Today I resumed working full-time on my second children’s book. However, as change is the only constant in life, my plans for a productive are day went up in smoke.

I started the day with a chore: fixing the bathroom window. About year the double pane window’s balance springs broke with a mighty snap. When I tried to dismantle the window to see what was going on, I was stumped and decided to prop the window open with a glass bowl until I had some time to do research on how to fix the problem. This research went on for a year, but today, with the help of some Youtube repair vloggers, I dismantled the window and replaced the coil springs. It was an easy job, I thought, but it took me more than two hours. Now that I know how it all works, I could probably do it in 15 minutes.

The next chore was getting my Cintiq hooked up to my iMac, which I thought would be easy. My iMac is a bit faster then my old PC…not much, but it does have a nice 27-inch screen that I can use for color corredtion. Since my files were synced to Clip Studio Cloud…or so I thought…it would be easy to jump over to the iMac, sync the files, and start working. To my dismay, when I synced the book’s files to my iMac, my work for the last two weeks was missing. I had to reconnect my PC to a monitor, then figure out why the files hadn’t been synced. The Clip Studio Cloud has a baffling interface, but I think I managed to sync my most recent files…maybe. I really should read instructions before pressing The Big Red Button. I eventually succeeded in syncing my PC’s files to the Clip Studio Cloud, and then to my iMac. I’m back in business.

Cintiq 22 Arrives in the Nick of Time

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cintiq_22_blog.png

I’ve been waiting for 10 days for this Cintiq 22 to arrive. I had enough will power to wrap up my part-time job before opening the box and setting up the display. Of course, it did. It’s awesome. I can sit in front of the screen without seeing my reflection floating over everything I paint. After working for several years with the Huion, I can fully understand why Cintiq fans are so devoted. They’re awesome. Quality trumps price again.

I also bought the Express Key Remote. It can be customized to work with any application. Again, awesome. I was a little confused when I first tried it. Everything began to work when I re-paired the device to the dongle.

Coffee with Taco

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IMG_0830.jpg, Taco the Pug

Today was a quiet day. In the morning we buried Taco’s remains in a sunny spot in our back yard, next to the chairs we sit in when the Al Fresco Art Club actually meets in the fresh air. Afterwards I was felt a flood of emotions arise. Years of memories overwhelmed me. Everywhere I look inside the house and out, I remember the simple pleasure of his company.

In the afternoon I spent some hours working on my part-time job, which will be coming to an end on May 20. I’ll be working part-time again starting in September. I’ll have three months to finish The Butterfly that Airlifted a Burro over the Border Wall. After that I’ll be starting book three in the series, which has a working title of The Burro Who Escaped from the Circus.

Today I ordered a Cintiq 22. I’m stoked about that. My Huion has been grating on my nerves for too long. I’ll sell it on Ebay.