A couple of very different sketches

The news was light today and I haven't installed any new software in a couple of days, so I decided to actually use the Surface Pro for a change. 

I'm not a 2d artist, I just play one on this blog.  But what I like about these two images is how different they are aesthetically despite both being created in Manga Studio. 

For #PortraitNovember, I used one of Ray Frenden's soft pencil brushes for this quick sketch of my daughter. 

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One of my former colleagues posted a very attractive photo of herself on Facebook this morning and Tex Avery's howling wolf cartoons sprung into my head. So I tracked down a shot from one of the shorts and used it as an excuse to practice inking and flat coloring.

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The Yiynova tablet monitor I received earlier this week has a defect and is being replaced, but before it died I began working on this image of the granddaddy of superheroes The Shadow. The image I was using as reference is on a Kindle HD 8.9 and the Surface Pro 2 is off-screen powering the Yiynova. 

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What projects did you work on this week? Do you have an image you've drawn on your Surface Pro that you'd like to share with our readers? Use the contact page form to send me a note with a link. Make sure to says what software you used and if you care to walk us through your technique, that's even better! 

Nib replacement for Surface Pro pen? Fuggedaboutit

A while back, a reader asked  about replacement nibs for the Surface Pro pen.  I hadn't considered the question until that moment because many months ago I had replaced my standard pen with a Wacom Bamboo Stylus Feel - Carbon (a name only a Japanese company could bring to market).

Unlike the standard stylus, all replacement pens come with extra pen nibs. In addition to the Carbon, I've purchased three other Surface Pro compatible pens and I had assumed all along that  the nibs were interchangeable. That assumption turned out to be incorrect. 

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The standard Surface Pro pen's blue nib (center) doesn't match either the older wider nib above or the shorter Stylus Feel nib below.

The older Samsung and Wacom stylii I reviewed here have a wider diameter and don't fit in the Surface Pro pen's barrel.

The nibs for the Bamboo Stylus Feel pens are the correct diameter, but almost imperceptibly shorter in length.  Before realizing this, I put a Feel nib into the Surface Pro pen and had a devil of a time pulling it out again.  I've seen some posts on the TabletPCReview.com forums state that the nibs are compatible. They are not.    Take my word for this, DON'T TRY IT AT HOME!

Searching the Microsoft online store turned up no replacement nibs for sale.

Recently, the official Microsoft Surface blog posted a feature dedicated to the Surface Pro pen that included a new email address for "like-minded pen enthusiasts." I wrote asking for advice about nib replacements. Last night, Microsoft's Markus Weickenmeier, whose title is Manager - Surface wrote back confirming that Microsoft doesn't sell nib replacements.

So when your nib wears down (and it will), the only Microsoft solution is a replacement pen for $30. 

My advice is to pick up one of the available alternative stylii and store the standard pen as a collectible or for when you pass it along on eBay or Gazelle. Although the alternatives cost the same or more, they feel better to write and draw with and come with several replacement nibs. And when you run out of those, additional sets of five nibs cost only $5 - $10 direct from the Wacom Store. 

Wacom Customer Care overview of how and when to change the nib of a Bamboo or Bamboo Fun pen. The tips provided here apply to Surface Pro compatible stylii as well.

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Official Surface blog publishes pen tips

These should come as no surprise to regular readers of SurfaceProArtist.com, but it's still nice to see Microsoft communicating directly to creative users. 

The Surface Pen is far more powerful than a traditional stylus because it is pressure sensitive – meaning that you have control of the thickness or darkness of the lines or brushstrokes you’re creating based on how hard you press the pen against the screen. 

The post includes a link to a video of Christy Karakas, who uses the Surface Pro and Adobe Flash to storyboard Adult Swim's SuperJail! 

Sometimes in the past I've had problems with digital interfaces not being good at picking up quick movements like drawing tiny dots or "hatching" but I am really impressed with the Surface Pro, it has no problem interpreting tiny nuances like that. I love sketching on it!

Find the full post here. 

Can you help solve this Surface Pro 2 - Wacom driver mystery? Update: Fix forthcoming?

New Surface Pro 2 user Jonathan Hill (@oneofthejohns on Twitter) has now gone through two devices that exhibit the issue depicted below.

All the usual fixes-- deleting the Wacom preferences and drivers, reinstalling the drivers, calibrating-- haven't managed to correct the problem.

Have any of you seen this behavior before? Better yet, have you found a fix? Please post your experiences and advice below. 

Jonathan Hill: "Here's a small video showing a problem I'm having with the calibration of my Surface Pro 2 after installing the Wacom WinTab driver. Even after I delete the driver and the preferences, it's still there, just not as pronounced. Also, I've tried calibrating multiple times, both the pen and the touch, as well as just reseting the calibration as well."

UPDATE: See the comments section below for Wacom's response.

Video Tutorial: Drawing a Head in Manga Studio on the Surface Pro 2

This begins as a review of the Surface Pro 2, but quickly morphs into a drawing tutorial. 

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My first Surface Pro 2 add-on: a 64 GB microSDXC card

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64 GB SanDisk Extreme microSDXC UHS-I Card with Adapter

Given all the software I've installed since purchasing my Surface Pro, it's taken very little time to max out its meager 128 GB drive. Despite having 40 GB of documents and data offloaded to the microSDXC card, the system drive is still about 80% full --  and that's after making sure to delete expired demos and running Disk Cleanup with Windows Update Cleanup.

Storage space will definitely be less of an issue with my Surface Pro 2. I've doubled the storage space to 256 GB (although the system only reports 232 GB capacity) and I've signed up for the SkyDrive promotion for 200 GB of free storage for two years that came with the new tablet. 

But I know myself. Before this painful transition to SSD's, there wasn't a hard drive out there I couldn't fill with my pack rat behavior. 

So to be safe, I just purchased my first Surface Pro 2 accessory: a 64 GB SanDisk Extreme microSDXC card. This is the fastest microSDXC card on the market and certainly not cheap at just over $100. It's actually more than twice what I paid for the Ultra version that I installed on my Surface Pro, but I didn't want to create an unnecessary bottleneck on my new device in order to save $50.

Out of the box, the card is formatted as exFAT, which guarantees compatibility with cameras, Macs, etc. But in order for the files stored on the card to be visible in Windows Libraries, the card has to be reformatted as NTFS.

Andy Pollard has a great guide for reformatting your microSD card over at his blog, Southpaw, Right Brained.  Also be sure to check out his post on how to ensure that your microSD card shows up in Windows libraries: http://southpawprints.wordpress.com/2013/02/21/surface-pro-sd-card-and-windows-8-libraries/.

As I begin to work more extensively with the Surface Pro 2, I'll update this post with my findings regarding real world speed improvements between the Extreme and Ultra cards. I hope I didn't spend $50 falling for marketing hype!

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List of Windows devices with pen support expanding

Now that Windows 8.1 is released, the Surface Pro 2 is in the mail and other PC makers are rushing to get new machines out the door in time for the holidays, it's an excellent time to take stock of the options available for Windows artists.

The good news is that the list of tablets, convertibles and devices with active digitizers (pressure sensitive pen support) has grown dramatically since the first Surface Pro was released.

The challenge now is to keep track of all these new options and the huge variety of configurations and potential "gotchas." 

I've been wanting to assemble a list like this as a companion to the "What Runs, What Doesn't" feature, but it is a huge endeavor, especially since many manufacturers don't seem to think pen support is all that important. 

Fortunately for us, a couple of super users at TabletPCReview.com, JoeS and Mesosphere, have been curating just such a list since last summer.  The list, which currently details 37 devices with active digitizers, is now also available as an Excel spreadsheet here.

Because it's so large, the file is awkward to print legibly. I took the liberty of reformatting it slightly and eliminated many columns in the version below. This is a great resource. I encourage you to check out the complete file and also to drop by the TabletPCReview forums and thank Joe and M. for their efforts.  And of course, if you spot any errors or omissions, please let them know.

Updated with fix? Users reporting loss of pen control with Windows 8.1 update

As we wrote in previous articles, updating your Surface Pro to Windows 8.1 will delete the Wacom Feel IT drivers. 

For most users, simply installing the latest set published by Wacom on October 7 will restore pressure sensitivity in Photoshop, etc.  And for applications like Manga Studio or ArtRage 4, the native pen drivers may be all you need.

However, we're starting to hear from several users who say the update has killed pen control altogether. 

The problem appears to be related to having a keyboard cover attached while updating. I use a bluetooth keyboard with my Surface Pro, so I haven't experienced the issue. 

Here is the trouble thread from the Microsoft community http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro-surfupdate/surface-pro-windows-81-final-update-pen-doesnt/5e0cee89-c243-4afa-bbca-55a3ad471a2c 

If you have experienced this issue or have found a solution, please leave a comment below. 

UPDATE: Before updating to Windows 8.1, it may be beneficial to completely remove the Wacom drivers from your Surface Pro. This link contains useful information for how to thoroughly delete any files from your system: http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php?t=7926 

UPDATE 2:  Working with Facebook friend Paulo Dekkers this morning, we were able to get Windows 8.1 updated with pen support working.

Paulo made sure to delete the Wacom preferences file and then uninstalled the drivers (as described in step 1, here).  

The remaining steps were performed with the keyboard cover disconnected! 

It's probably not necessary for most users, but Paulo reverted to Windows 8 using his original backup media. He then confirmed that the pen worked correctly with the native drivers. 

Paulo then ran the Windows 8.1 update and the native drivers work fine with both the keyboard cover off or connected. 

I haven't heard whether he intends to reinstall the Wacom drivers, but it shouldn't be a problem. 

This procedure is similar to one performed by Twitter follower @JohnSlaughter, so there definitely seems to be some issue that is a combination of the Wacom drivers not being deleted entirely and the keyboard cover being connected during the Windows update.  

Let us know if this resolves your issue or you spot any other issues with your update.

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So Windows 8.1 is officially available...

...But you're a tech enthusiast and already knew that, right? 

I'm keeping a low profile today waiting for the dust to settle. And if you're on a deadline, it's probably a good idea to wait for the furor to die down before attempting to update your production machines. 

I've updated four systems so far: my Surface Pro (from Windows 8.1 RTM), my Surface RT (from 8.1 Preview), a Dell desktop (from Windows 8.1 RTM) and a custom-built desktop (from Windows 8). No problems whatsoever to report, except that the latter system required almost two hours to update. 

If you're moving from Windows 8 to 8.1, remember that the installation will remove your Wacom Feel IT drivers, so you will need to reinstall those. 

Intel has yet to update its HD Graphics 4000 driver to Windows 8.1, so we can assume that what installs with the OS is the latest and greatest. Programs like Mischief 1.08 which previously required a separate graphics driver update run fine under Windows 8.1.

Celsys today released a Windows 8.1 patch for Clip Studio Paint, Clip Studio Action and Clip Studio Coordinate. This is for the Japanese versions only. The English language site does not mention version 1.2.8, but I'll report back as soon as it becomes available. We can only assume that Manga Studio will be updated shortly thereafter. 

If you absolutely must have the latest, greatest version now, a fan-made English translation of CSP 1.2.8 is already available here. 

If you spot any issues after you update your Surface Pro or other Windows 8 system, please report it in the comments section below and we'll do our best to verify and find a fix. 

Happy updating!