My top gadget is this. My office is a mouse-free zone - and that's not just because the studio assistants have been meeting their objectives, they only focus on furry rodents! This small but essential part of my desktop kit ensures no mice - electric, wired or bluetooth - are residing on my desk. Over the past few weeks I've spent long hours working on digital illustrations and without my trusty Intuos pen my fingers would have siezed up by now. This is a life saver – if you spend your working day clicking a mouse and making little accurate moves with an electric rodent – treat yourself, you're worth it.
Another tradition at this time of year is the awards ceremony, and some generous bloggers love to hand out prizes. Today Fiona, The Cottage Smallholder has handed out her True Blue Awards, and I'm thrilled to be a recipient. Thank you Fiona - your daily blog is a joy to read as I eat my breakfast porridge. Always amusing and often useful (the "last minute Christmas cake" recipe looked so delicious I baked one today!) The Cottage Smallholder is a cornucopia of information.
I'm passing on the honour to all those True Blue blogging friends who add their comments to my postings - I enjoy reading them all :-)
This looks like a great gadget, especially for illustrators. I went off and read all about it. I like the idea of not having to rely on a mouse. I'm not a big mouse fan.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that the studio assistants keep your studio rodent-free! They earn their keep.
I have a really ancient one of these that I had in my animation days and although the board is bulky it's just like using a pencil.
ReplyDeleteThe new versions are really dinky and so much cheaper. Mine was £400!
Hi Kate and Fiona
ReplyDeleteI've had my Intuos Pen for a few years now - recommended by a friend as the only way I'd be able to get through a massive digital illustration project. How right he was! I cut my right index finger on a can of tomatoes the day the work arrived - my mouse clicking finger was out of action for over a year!!!!!
The studio assistants sometimes think it fun to bring a mouse into the house so that they can get gold stars for catching it again!
I don't do animations, except with words :-), but I'm going to go click that and check it out -- sounds like something I'd love to have (besides the oodles and noodles of books I'm always wanting)!
ReplyDeleteDiane at Sand to Glass
I used to covet one of those (when they were prohibitively expensive) but I don't do much illustration these days ... it looks fun though. I used to get very frustrated trying to draw stuff with a mouse and getting weird wobbly lines everywhere. I don't mind using a mouse for other stuff though, and I use a Mac so at least it's only got one button to worry about.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your lovely comment. Yes it is always a huge dilemma trying to choose from the HSL catalogue ... so many wonderful things in it and only 6 choices. Funnily enough San Antonio is one of the ones on my shortlist too ... it's the unusual near-black leaves I'm curious about! If you want to try the Salmon-Flowered pea I'd be very happy to send you some seeds (I notice it's not in the HSL catalogue this year).