Wacom 6D Art Pen Impressions

I'm not sure how popular the Wacom 6D Art Pen is. A hefty investment in an Intuos or Cintiq is pricy enough. Anything more seems plain indulgent. And considering how many times I've misplaced my normal pen around the room, you wonder if it's worth getting another pen... to lose somewhere under your desk again.

On face value, the only difference between the 6D and the standard grip pen is rotation. The 6D also does NOT have mouse triggers nor an eraser. Is it REALLY worth the AU$140 I paid for this? I've had this pen for about a year now but after some perseverance it has become a joy to use.

You'd probably only be remotely interested in this device if you have a certain style of art or the software you use. Zbrush for example; Utterly useless when you don't have a right mouse button. Or if your style is more vector, again I see no real point of the 6D over the grip pen. If you are abit more painterly though and require alot of 'feel' in each stroke you may want to give it a go.

Say for example you are sketching away digitally and want to get a soft taper from a broad stroke. You'd either have to have a really cultured hand or (if you're like me) you draw a line and 'chip' away back into it. Not only is this time-consuming and contrived, it begins too hurt your hand. You are literally forced to rub on the screen all day until that beautiful stroke is achieved. If at all.

Now I'm not saying you can't get a beautiful line without a 6D. In fact there seems to be alot of great digital artists out there that cope without it just fine. But I don't think it's as enjoyable. Why? Because the combination of the extra gestures the 6D is picking up together with the felt tip nib feels alot more organic. You feel free-er. Much like a filbert brush getting extra finesse instead of a 'stamped' looking brush here and there.



Just a note though, the 6D Art pen seems at home in Painter than in Photoshop. I found Photoshop (CS3) doesn't sense rotation very well and the cursor doesn't rotate nor tilt with your hand so your always second guessing yourself as to what is going to happen.

Here's a YouTube video of me inking away with a 6D Art Pen on a Cintiq 12WX just to give you guys an idea of how it can be used. Let me know if you have any questions!

Pim Verbeek at the Bald Archies 2010

So it's all good to post up now, I was a finalist at this years spoof to Australia's Archibald Prize, the Bald Archy's.

Congratulations to Judy Nadin whose hilarious painting of Bert made headlines pretty much everywhere. Happy to be part of all the brew-ha-ha really.

So, okay, he's not the most glamourous, most famous Socceroos coach ever in Australia. But in this sport loving culture we have here, I thought it would be a travesty to not have an Australian football piece in this gllllllllorious World Cup year. Way back when, I just found his head to be really funny. It's commanding but if you were down 2-0 at half time, would you really take anything that came out his mouth seriously? What about the "Something About Mary" tuft of hair waving around.

And it doesn't look like it, but this piece is big. HUUUUUUUUGE in fact. So do yourself a favour and get down to the Bald Archy exhibition touring around Australia at the moment. It's in Sydney right now till the 25th of April at the ABC Ultimo Centre. Further dates can be found here.

50 days to the World Cup!!!

Winsor Newton Artisans

Lately I'm falling in love with Winsor Newton Artisans Water soluble oils. It's a mouthful to say, and I'm not here to endorse a product, I'm just not sure if any other maker supplies such a unique paint? Let me know if you know.

And the reason I wanna talk about it is because I really can't find much information about it on the Internet. I'm not even sure what media to use it on! I'm finding on linen canvas, where ordinary oils are king, Artisans tend to slip off. Instead I'm finding paper that can hold water more exciting to use. Here is my very basic palette.



I'll be posting my thoughts on how they work for me in future. But if your looking for something with the convenience of gouache but the guts of oils, get out there and give these a try! Then come back and tell me how to use them properly!

Anyway have a great weekend.