The Inkling from Wacom

The Inkling

I produce a webcomic, and I do it digitally from start to finish. But just because I don’t use paper in my process doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in new tools.

Wacom just released the Inkling. Here’s how Aegir Hallmundur from the Ministry of Type describes it.

What the device offers is convenience, and a bit of magic. It’s less hassle than scanning or photographing your notebooks, and you get scalable vectors nicely separated into whatever layers you want. You can draw an outline sketch and then feel free to scribble and annotate all over it, knowing each addition can be turned on and off and moved about at will, or even deleted entirely. That’s the real appeal of this thing.

Read his review. He covers how it converts the art, the software used to manage the files, and how it does vectors.

Personally, I don’t like it. Too hinky a system for $200.

A comparison between sketches on paper and the result captured by the Inkling.

The Wacom Inkling – a review

The Inkling at Wacom.com

November 15, 2011 | No Comments

A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design

Shots from the Microsoft video

This is a great critique by Bret Victor of the “vision” of the future that Microsoft trotted out in their recent popular video.

Victor:

My problem is the opposite, really — this vision, from an interaction perspective, is not visionary. It’s a timid increment from the status quo, and the status quo, from an interaction perspective, is actually rather terrible.

This matters, because visions matter. Visions give people a direction and inspire people to act, and a group of inspired people is the most powerful force in the world. If you’re a young person setting off to realize a vision, or an old person setting off to fund one, I really want it to be something worthwhile. Something that genuinely improves how we interact.

Victor’s arguments really make Microsoft’s look into the future seem dull and unimaginitive.

Fascinating.

—–

A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design – via Daring Fireball

November 14, 2011 | No Comments

Create comics on iPad

Strip Designer Screen shots

Nice quick tutorial on making comics on the iPad.

I would add one step for the lettering.

Use an app called Strip Designer. It makes balloons for you AND allows you to install actual comic book fonts from sites like Blambot.com.

Just place the finished art in the app as though it were a photo and then letter away!

Create comic art with the iPad – Macworld.com

Strip Designer

November 11, 2011 | No Comments

Internet Explorer at less than 50% usage…and there was much rejoicing

IE 6 About screen

Internet Explorer is now at less than 50% of web usage. Best news I’ve heard in a long, long time.

Internet Explorer is still an important browser, with a userbase large enough that few developers can afford to ignore—though sites that don’t need global appeal may well be able to safely ignore Internet Explorer 6—and at current rates it will remain important for a few years yet. But until and unless Microsoft makes its browser appeal to the influential geek demographic, it looks as if Internet Explorer has nowhere to go but down.

Die, IE6, Die.

The end of an era: Internet Explorer drops below 50% of Web usage – Ars Technica

November 10, 2011 | No Comments

Evan Dorkin Profiled on David Wasting Paper

Even Dorkin Portrait

I’m a fan of Evan Dorkin from years ago when I found a collection of Milk and Cheese in the local comic shop. And then I saw that he got writing credits on a couple of my favorite Space Ghost episodes, and I liked him even more.

Kind of lost touch with his work in the last few years, but I was VERY happy to see him show up in this latest of a very long line of interviews with interesting comics artists.

Evan Dorkin – Cartoonist Survey #246 via David Wasting Paper

November 9, 2011 | No Comments
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