Surface 2 Pro setup for drawing

This is my setup for drawing / vector graphics / etc.

Surface 2 Pro by itself is great - full blown OS, small and light yet as powerful as my Desktop PC. Stylus support is amazing so naturally I was very excited to draw on it rather than a Wacom tablet - Finally I get to look at where I'm drawing rather than my hand drawing somewhere on the side and my eyes being glued to the screen in front of me.

But for using Illustrator or Photoshop the screen is to small. What do to do? Get a docking station. And not just any docking station - Microsoft docking station specifically for Surface. you just slide the sides in - and immediately everything connected to the station is working - no hassle.

At first I just set it up on my desk normally - but the tilt wasn't enough for me so I came up with this idea of setting it flat on the table - just like my Wacom was. It turned out to be surprisingly sturdy and convenient to use.

And when I'm doing web-development or don't need to draw with a stylus in general I just set it up normally to my left. with Type cover attached - docking station doesn't get in the way so especially when I'm not mirroring the display it's actually kind of nice to have to keyboards :)

And when I need to leave I just slide the sides out ...

And I'm good to go!

My poor PC doesn't get any action any more. It just sits there sadly with a Scorpion tattoo on its side. And the only time it gets turned on is when I'm moving more files from its hard drive to my sky drive (it's a long process - I have a lot of photos :) and want to filter out the baddies before I put it on SkyDrive.) Oh yeah and with the purchase of Surface Pro you get 200 GB SkyDrive space for 2 years.

Ah, and for people extremely loyal to the Wacom tablets - be happy - you can install the Wacom drivers on your Surface. I personally haven't done that because I just don't feel like it's something I need to do. Surface Stylus support hasn't let me down - pressure, tilt everything is perfect (for me anyway).

This is not part of my normal set up but 'it' keeps flying onto my desk and pushing keys. He is very drawn to the clacking of mechanical keyboard keys, and anything shiny...

I've got one more thing to write about which arguably isn't very related to this post. On the other hand it was the last piece of the puzzle and essential gear for having a very convenient set of tools for drawing. A light tracing pad.

I looked at a couple options and this one seemed perfect for me - it's very thin and light, has a brightness setting and is LED. It was $80 on Amazon for 8' x 12' size (it's actually slightly bigger so is perfect for both A4 and Letter which is pretty much what I draw on). There were cheaper options - Autograph had a 40$ one but it was more like a box that seemed inconvenient to use over longer periods of time and used a white light bulb - don't know how evenly it would be lit up so I figured if I am to buy such a thing I'd rather get the one I want. Really you can just build it yourself - take a picture frame and put a lamp under it :)

This makes my life a lot easier - I make a rough sketch than trace it and make necessary adjustments then scan it in - which takes out the guesswork when rebuilding in vector (guesswork as in hmmm which one of these 10 lines in the sketch is the on I'm supposed to build).

Improving drawing skills with a stylus

I can draw okay for the most part but I do feel a need to improve on that. I can pull it off better when I have a pencil in my hand. It's much easier than controlling the stylus pen in some ways. You look on the screen instead of right where your hand moves, the space is a lot more limited than when drawing on paper, etc.

So for building graphics in Illustrator I prefer placing a sketch drawn with a pencil as a template layer and building graphics with the Pen tool. You get all kinds of flexibility and precision but it definitely requires more time.

Besides, for other programs like Animate stylus drawing is the way to go for the most part - partly because it's a lot quicker... for people who are good with it.

I don't believe in such a thing as talent. For me it's all about putting time into something. Anybody can get really good at anything if they clock in hours and hours of work. The trick is not to get discouraged with bad results. Chances are when you start something you are going to be bad at it especially if it's more of a physical thing - drawing, playing an instrument, singing, martial arts etc. It's easy when we are kids because there is all kinds of spare time and no work / responsibilities. So, I came up with this little plan.

Every evening before I go to bed I draw a very small picture with a marker on a dry erase board. Then I take a picture of it with my phone. Next day when I have time to kill I place the photo on a template layer and use a stylus to trace it. Sometimes I skip it - and let those sketches pile up a bit. Since they are very small and simple it doesn't take much time to re-create it. And it's easier to work with a template rather than drawing with a stylus from the get-go. I don't try to fix any flaws of the marker scribbles - the exercise is just to train my hand. Later if I feel like it I can color it and add to it. I use the Brush tool in Illustrator, set its size to vary from 1pt up to 10pt depending on the line thickness.

It's a long shot. The improvement will come slower than if say you put in 5-6 hours into it daily. But it's a lot less demanding, and easier to stick to. It doesn't really matter what the subject matter is. You can pick a couple characters and just keep drawing those in different positions or doing different things. I usually base it on something funny that happened that day.

Another thing that might help stick to it is if you sort of do it for another family member - a spouse, a child, or a parent. That way it's easier to come up with something cute and funny every day as you have context and can make inside jokes. Also you will get feedback which is extremely important with creative work. And if it's a family member they will be happy about it, they will look forward to it. Here's a couple I did:

Oct 21

Oct 22

Oct 23 - kicked myself in the eye with my knee while doing an ax-kick. It really hurt but was very funny.

Oct 24 - I realized I needed a haircut after I continuously zipped my hair into my boots on accident for a couple days.

These were the first 4 that I made. I will post more once I color the rest. For coloring I use a blob brush and draw behind mode as it's fun to do and it's another thing stylus is really well-suited for.