Art Program Struggles: Concluded! The End of an Era
This blog post will be a bit more cheerful than the last one because my tech issues have been concluded! I will go through how they got resolved, and how I was able to move forwards with the project without any tech. Enjoy!
After writing the last blog post, my parents and I did some research on the issue that I’ve dubbed as, “The Tail.” If you haven’t read the last post, whenever I lifted my pen after drawing a line, a smaller line would continue from that line like a web or tail. This effectively prevented me from drawing digitally for over a week. Combine that with the Wacom setup struggles; I couldn’t draw for approximately two in a half weeks. The system felt loose and oversensitive with every brushstroke, it was like I was drawing with spiderwebs.
As you can imagine, this lie effect made it annoying to draw with, and every tool had this effect. I’ve never seen this effect before, but as we researched the issue, we found that other artists have encountered this and made videos on the topic to help others overcome this issue. What they all said, however, was that you have to go to the pen settings and play around with the pen pressure. I did that, but that didn’t work.
I contacted Clip Studio Tech Support to help me fix the issue. But, they didn’t give me any new information that my parents hadn’t already found. My mom and dad recommended that I contact my CCS friends and my mentor to help me figure this out. My art friends told me that the problem could either be the program itself, or the Wacom tablet and pen. So, to combat this, I had to re-download both programs, unplug the device, and restart my computer. I did this, and the problem didn’t go away.
I was recommended by a friend to download an app that instantly connects to the program and corrects lines. He showed me an app that can only work with Windows but said that there were more apps like it. I have a Mac, so that download wouldn’t be compatible with my computer. So, my mom found more apps that do the same thing and we eventually landed on this app called, “Hej Stylus! V3.” After playing around with the settings, the tail was gone! I could draw digitally agein, and go full steam on the project!
During this entire ordeal, I was stressed and concerned as to how I would finish this project. Would I have to draw on paper and completely ignore the digital approach? I didn’t want to do that, I could, but that wasn’t my main goal for this project. The goal is to work on my digital art skills. But, I was getting myself ready to drop this goal if this issue continued. But, I wasn’t just concerned with the project, but I also concerned with future projects. I start Art School next year, and I will need this program and tech to work in order to complete assignments. What about commissions? I was beginning to worry if this tech issue would ever be fixed.
My art friends, teachers, mentor, and family gave me a lot of support throughout this ordeal. I honestly couldn’t have figured this out on my own. If any of you are reading this, I thank you all sincerely.
However, despite being techless, I still worked on the project. I did some research on the show that I’m adapting to stay consistent with the plot to give each page some depth. I watched some past seasons of the series for my resuerch. I decided to show past events that have lead the story to this point. I added characters and objects that have plot importance that we don’t see yet in this specific episode. This can also count as fanservis if you want to get into details, but it gives the story an extra layer. I even found a site that translates English into Enchanting Table, or the Standard Galactic Aphabet. To gives some context for this, the show I’m adapting is told through a form of Roleplay called Minecraft Roleplay. Minecraft is a video game that promotes creativity. It can become anything you want it to be. You can play with your friends, build bases, mine games, world landmarks, and even tell deep and complex stories with it. In the game, you can enchant objects like weapons, books, food, farmer, etc. You can do this by finding either an enchanting book or making an enchanting table. An enchanting table can enchant anything, however, the table’s connects are not readable to anyone who doesn’t know how to read it. It looks like completely gibberish, but it’s it’s own laugige that people can learn. And since the story is told through this game, why not pay homage to it by adding some Standard Galactic in the comic in the prologue. And that’s exactly what I did. Granted, I went a bit over board with the detail in the prologue when it was supost to be a simple sketch, but I couldn’t help myself.
Once I got the problem sorted, I went straight into finishing that character sheet I started before I had to stop and fix the program. This is the first piece that I completed from start to finish using this tablet, and I honestly have no complaints about how the sheet turned out. I’m honestly glad that everything worked out in the end.
-Bellapinkpen
