New drawing set up, life update + Teaser...?

Hey guys! Usually something like this would go on the pinned post but I consider this a bit more substantial, enough that it merits its own post.

I haven't addressed my issues with my last drawing set up, at least not in full detail. I just said I've had a lot of problems with it. As you may know, during the launch of my Patreon I started campaigning towards switching over to digital again. I already explained my initial problem as to why I had to stick to traditional at the time, so I'll do a recap. The pen that I used with my laptop was a bit too expensive to maintain, so I looked for alternatives.

As time went on I also started to have problems with my laptop overall and since I had no other device to truly test where the source of the problem was coming from, I just concluded that the solution would be a new pen. The problems my laptop faced would range from my screen suffering from severe burn-in after doing a graphically intensive task like working on Clip Studio or playing a game. Even something as simple as adjusting the screen brightness or setting your computer to sleep after having it on for a while would trigger this. If you want an example of how bad this burn in is, (I later found that this is a problem with the model I have) look for "hp spectre x360 burn in" on google images for some examples. It makes everything in the screen, including your cursor's position indiscernible.

I'm not sure if the source of this next problem was the tactile functions of the screen or any other component of the laptop but it had a lot of issues tracking the pen, creating this sort of stuttering effect. This right here overall was what made drawing insufferable and something more of a gamble with every line you drew. The best way I can describe it is, you drew a line and every so often the contact between the pen and screen would just not register so the result would be a dotted line.

Alas, even getting a new pen it was fine for a while and the stuttering problem wasn't as bad, but as time went on it got worse. So this is why I resorted to just completely buying new hardware, and this is where the XP-PEN 15.6 Pro (and you guys!) came in to save my life. The best way I can express how liberated I felt when I started to draw on this thing was thanks to a question a buddy of mine had made that I will directly quote.

"Do you feel more in control?"

Yes. It feels like I finally have control over what I do once again and it feels. Fucking. Great. As you can see the picture I provided is what my set up looks like now. Thankfully, I'm glad I thought about the adjustable table a bit more carefully and avoided spending any unnecessary money. The 15.6 Pro came with an adjustable stand that already did wonders for my sitting position but I went a step further and I just leveled it with two books. Now I can sit completely straight with minor needs to lean or hunch over. 

On my old harware, something as simple as a rough sketch would usually take me around 2 days or so to complete before I moved on to any refinements and finally do the linework. The rough you see displayed on the tablet was something I was able to complete in under 24 hours, on and off during the course of the day.

I'm happy to be able to ditch the old problematic machine of mine and I've repurposed it for my college work, which is a perfect segue into the next topic.

As I've stated on my bio, I am currently a college student. My trimester started around last week and this is around the time where projects are starting to come in. I'm taking 2 courses currently. So right now my time is split between, Patreon, work and college studies. Now, I'm not here to say that I'm going to stop the Patreon content. Thankfully it seems like the page is still growing and I'm really grateful for that, so it is in my interest to keep putting out drawings for you guys regardless. All I want to ask is for a bit more patience and be conscious of my time schedule.

There were a few problems I had with the enrollment, so I got access to my classes a bit late. After I was done with the rough I started catching up with my class assignments, thankfully there isn't a whole lot of work to do. I expect to be done with my assignments once I come back from work today. And then I'll continue work on the next drawing, specifically the refinement stage, which btw I will be streaming on our discord server.

If you still haven't joined, make sure that you first have a discord account. Then link discord to Patreon under the app section of your user settings. Overall, to keep the Patreon page from getting cluttered with too many sketch posts and what not, (especially prevent from misleading new patrons) It's more common for me to share my progress step by step on the discord server. So if you want to see more activity overall I REALLY encourage you to join.

Alright, that's all I had to say. Thank you so much for reading!.