Art Program Struggles: Unconcluded… The Opposite of a Saga
This blog post isn’t one of success. It’s one of struggle and pain with zero happiness and no conclusion in sight. I would say enjoy, but I don’t think you will. Unless you like seeing people suffer, then A). Why? And B). Enjoy? You’ll get the idea when you read the rest of this post. With that out of the way, stay safe and have a good rest of the day.
After my most recent blog post was published, I continued as normal. I thought my tech issues had concluded, and the rest would be a breeze. Heck no! My luck with programs and tech isn’t the best. If I struggle with anything more than math, it’s technology, programs, downloads, passwords, installing updates, etc. You name it, I somehow struggle. I’ve had a few tech issues in the past. I’m not the best with computers. I’ve gone through three, at least. But this story isn’t about that. It’s about the art program that I used for years, like, almost a decade. Clip Studio Paint.
I use an art program called Clip Studio Paint. Back in the day, it was called Manga Studio, but they changed the name somewhere along the way. It was the first and only program that I used besides PhotoShop. Which I only used once or twice, to never use again. Clip Studio Paint was easy to use and access. It had a few hiccups here and there, but nothing to warrant a tech support call. The issues were easy to fix with the help of my tech guru, dad. The tech issues would always revolve around the Wacom Tablets or pens. When drawing digitally, the tablet or pens won’t respond and move the curser or draw, or when you did draw, the line would come off wabbly, pixelated, or unpointed, or god forbid, lag. But those are easy fixes. Just unplug the Tablet, check the pen tips to see if they need cleaning, tightening, or changing. Completely turn off the program and restart the computer. Once you turn the program back on, the tablet should work just fine. No more lag or pixilated lines or anything like that. However, I ran into an issue that I’ve never encountered before. And I haven’t been able to fix it.
I recently got my mom’s old computer, a mac. She gave it to me so I can use it for college next year. My other computer was old and dying, but I liked it. It rarely gave me program troubles. Files were hard to find, but I could navigate just fine. I was nervous to switch computers because I would have to download everything. But I eventually made the switch and redownloaded Clip Studio Paint; when I did, I noticed something was off about the drawing tools. They all seemed to be the same, no new features were added. But they felt off. They felt too smooth like I was drawing with a mouse. And the tool seemed to leave behind a tail, long after I lifted the pen. This was before I got a new tablet. I just figured that the program was just getting used to the computer, so I left it alone for a while. When I got the new tablet and started drawing again, the line effect wouldn’t go away. It’s been like this for a week now.
The drawing tools (that I’m aware of) leave behind this rat tail long after the pen has left the tablet. Some of the tips are round, some aren’t, it’s not consistent. I tried unplugging, reloading the pen, resetting the pen pressure, restarting my computer, digging deep into the program to reload it, but nothing worked. I got both of my parents involved, but nothing got fixed. At first, we thought it was the tablet, but I unplugged the new tablet and replugged the old, and the same thing happened. This leads me to conclude that it’s not the tablet, but possibly the program. I’ve contacted the company that runs Clip Studio Paint last Friday for assistance. But I haven’t had a response that talks about a solution in two days.
This issue makes it hard to draw cleanly, ink, or even draw in general. Character sheets, comics, everything has been left on hold until this situation has been resolved. This is a bit upsetting and anxiety-inducing because I am on a deadline to get this project done. My sister tried drawing with this issue going on, and she agrees that it’s reiterating. The program is not supposed to do this. I’ve never seen this happen in my years of drawing digitally. My family searched the web for answers but found nothing close to our situation, let alone resolve. I’m going to hold on to hope, but even that’s running thin. I want to draw but I am unable to in terms of quality and ease. I don’t know how to fix the program, and the clock is ticking. I’ll let you all know if and when this get’s resolved, but for now, I’m unsure of everything.
-Bellapinkpen
