Artist review - 40 days with the Wacom Cintiq Companion - Part 1

Those who are attentive and have an interest in things technological for artists will remember that some time ago, I published this blog post, a comparative review of Windows 8 tablets that I thought might be  suitable for use by artists who want a pressure-sensitive pen solution for digital drawing and painting. Digital drawing is something which had become a bit of a mainstay of my practice, and which I've been a bit lost without since my old HP Tx2500 tablet PC died a couple of years ago.

Wacom Cintiq Companion

The object of the exercise was to decide which PC to specify in a large project grant application I was preparing for the Arts Council of Wales at the time. The clear winner in terms of functionality was the Wacom Cintiq Companion, which was about to come onto the market at the time. Sadly I didn't get the grant, and the project continues in a much reduced form. I resigned myself to carrying on using a standard non-pressure-sensitive Android tablet for the moment, and possibly getting a much cheaper Windows model like the Samsung Ativ Tab 3 later on…

Moving on a few months, and I happen to notice in passing a competition being run by Digital Arts Magazine.  The winners get a Cintiq Companion tablet (!), and the runners-up get a review unit free for 40 days in return for supplying feedback on its useability for art, with a big discount off the full price if they decide to keep it at the end of the review period. All that is required is my contact details and a link to my portfolio, so I spend 30 seconds filling them in, just entering a link to my website as the portfolio address, move on, and forget all about it. Obviously they are looking for illustrators and graphic designers to assess the product, and aren't going to be interested in a fine-artist specialising in oils and egg-tempera. Some weeks later I get an email from Digital Arts. Sorry, I wasn't one of the lucky few who won a Cintiq outright, but I AM one of the 50 who get a review unit for 40 days - yay!

So - I get my new tablet after all, for 6 weeks, with the option to purchase at a reduced price if I can raise the money in time (on top of getting together the cash for my MA course fees!).  I've just received notice that my new toy has left the manufacturers in Germany and should be here soon, and will be putting it through its paces for the next 40 days, writing about my experiences as I go. It's a timely happening, since apart from fine-art work, I have a book cover commission to do, and 2 website designs to thrash out over the next few weeks. I hope the blog posts will be useful to others who're considering what is, after all, a very expensive purchase for an independent artist (the full price is currently £1,599, so it's got to be worth about three iPads for that!).

So … here goes - a number of blog posts to come about how I get on. If you're an artist who's interested in how the Wacom Cintiq Companion performs in a day-to-day arts practice, please follow the blog (see top right for links). I promise one thing though - no crappy unboxing video!

… oh, and, expect me to try to sell you some art to pay for this thing if it turns out to be as useful as I hope!

Last chance to see ...

At the opening on May 18th. Photo by Arvid Parry-Jones for the Cambrian News

Don't forget, "Synthesis: Works on Paper by Martin Herbert" finishes at MOMA Wales in Machynlleth this Saturday 8th June! Don't miss the last chance to see the exhibition.

In the meantime, I haven't had time to prospect for other galleries to show this work, so to save it all being propped up in the corner of the studio doing nothing, anyone have a suitable space which is crying out for a ready-made exhibition of large-scale figurative drawings all framed and ready to go?

Exhibition open at MOMA!

"For the Girl Had No Clothes On!" : Ink, red chalk, gouache & pigment on Khadi handmade paper : 70 x 50 cm
Copyright © 2012 by Martin Herbert

We delivered the work for my new show at MOMA Wales on Friday and apparently it's already up on the walls, a week ahead of schedule! The exhibition is the result of my Arts Council funded project "Synthesis" which ran for 6 months last year (well, the money ran out after 6 months - the project continues!), and is of large-scale drawings in traditional media (ink, red chalk, white gouache) on handmade Khadi paper (made in India from 100% recycled cotton rag). I haven't even managed to get over there to see the results of the hanging yet, so not sure exactly how many works they managed to fit in the space, but I'm told its looking good! They will also be a video installation just as soon as I get the DVD working!

There will be a Private View at midday on Saturday 18th May 2013, to which you are all most welcome. Two other exhibitions will be opening at the same time in the upstairs galleries so there'll be a lot to see.

Many thanks go to Ruth Lambert and all at MOMA, who are not only hosting the exhibition, but whose help in securing funding for the project in the first place was absolutely invaluable!

Here's a more comprehensive description of the work (scroll down for the Welsh version), and I'll be putting up images in an online gallery page on this blog as soon as I can find the time!

Hope to see you all on the 18th!

Project ”Synthesis” - Introduction:
Prosiect  “Synthesis” – Cyflwyniad:

This project has two distinct strands with one theme in common - they both concern the reconciliation between digital 'new media' and traditional drawing and painting techniques.  My goal is to explore ways in which computers and the internet can be used to source material which inspires illustrations and innovative new work to be carried out using traditional materials and techniques.

The first strand concerns the production of new organisms, machines and organic constructs using 3D computer modelling technology, which I then use as inspiration for new drawings done using the earthiest and most organic of materials - sepia ink, clay pencils, earth pigments etc.

The second strand involves sourcing written material from the internet - I am using these texts as the basis for new illustrated editions of neglected or beloved books which have now passed into the public domain through expiry of copyright and are now available to anyone who cares to download them from web archives.  The illustrated editions will then be uploaded back to the internet as e-books, completing the cycle.  The first book to receive this treatment is Irish author James Stephen's 'fairy tale for grown-ups', The Crock of Gold. The illustrations are a work in progress, leading up to publication of a new illustrated edition in 2013.


Mae dwy elfen bendant i’r prosiect hwn gydag un peth yn gyffredin - mae’r ddau’n ymwneud â chysoni’r ‘cyfryngau newydd’ digidol a thechnegau arlunio a phaentio traddodiadol. Fy nod yw edrych ar ffyrdd y gellir defnyddio cyfrifiaduron a’r rhyngrwyd i gael hyd i ddeunyddiau sy’n ysbrydoli darluniau a gwaith arloesol newydd sy’n defnyddio deunyddiau a thechnegau traddodiadol.

Mae’r elfen gyntaf yn ymwneud â chynhyrchu organeddau, peiriannau a lluniadau organig newydd gan ddefnyddio technoleg modelu cyfrifiadurol 3D y byddaf wedyn yn eu defnyddio fel ysbrydoliaeth am arluniau newydd a wneir gan ddefnyddio’r deunyddiau mwyaf priddlyd ac organig – inc sepia, penseli clai, priddliwiau ac yn y blaen.

Mae’r ail elfen yn ymwneud â chael hyd i ddeunydd ysgrifenedig o’r rhyngrwyd – dw i’n defnyddio’r testunau hyn fel sail i argraffiadau darluniedig newydd o lyfrau hoff neu anghofiedig, sydd bellach wedi mynd yn eiddo i’r cyhoedd wrth i’r hawlfraint ddod i ben ac sydd ar gael i unrhyw un sydd am eu lawrlwytho o archifau’r we.  Bydd yr argraffiadau darluniedig yna’n cael eu lanlwytho i’r rhyngrwyd, gan gyfannu’r cylch.  Mae’r llyfr cyntaf i dderbyn y driniaeth hon yw’r ‘stori tylwyth teg i oedolion’ gan yr awdur o Iwerddon James Stephens, The Crock of Gold. Gwaith ar y gweill yw’r darluniau, sy’n arwain at gyhoeddi argraffiad darluniedig newydd yn 2013.


Project Synthesis has been made possible with the support of:

Mae Prosiect Synthesis wedi’i wneud yn bosibl â chymorth:

What's happening in artist land?

Long gap, no writing. Been busy putting together the blog for wowlookwhatigot.com, which has taken over my morning tea-drinking time. This seems like the first morning for a long time when I haven't felt I need to get up and start work right away. The promo video being almost done, we're dangerously close to being ready to launch the business... At the same time I'm applying for an  actual job (you know, the weird sort of thing where you do stuff and other people pay you money for it - strange concept). The sum effect being that life may be about to change drastically, or things may be about to stay absolutely the same, with the exception of my having wasted the last few months fruitlessly trying to develop a new business concept which no one is interested in and applying for a job I have no chance of getting. One hopes it is the former, of course.

The photo in question ... Are the branches on the left 3D ? Or is it just me ?
"Pond" by Helen Sear ... exhibition at Oriel Davies, Newtown, Powys

The other significant thing that seems to be happening - my vision seems to be changing  somehow. Which is to say, not my actual sight, thank goodness, but the way I'm seeing things. It's as if I've always known in an 'academic' sort of way that lighter areas aver shadowed areas (for instance I noticed this yesterday in a much enlarged photo of some leaves on a tree) are supposed to 'pop out' creating the illusion of depth. I use it all the time in my own paintings and indeed I've been told on several occasions that my paintings "really pop", and nodded appreciatively while not being able to see it myself. In fact I've assumed that I can't really see it myself because when it's my painting I've already spent hours behind it and am 'jaded'. On a few occasions over the last few weeks, though I've actually looked at some photos and paintings and noticed a real '3D' effect- as if I was actually looking at a stereogram, or watching a movie with 3D glasses (not that I've ever actually done that).

Now this raises a number of questions: is that actually the way everyone else sees, and I've been missing out all these years? Is it something which is peculiar to me, and I'm the odd one out? Am I in some way weird for being able to see this effect, or in some way weird for not having seen it for the last 50 years? Discuss!

Still finding art ....

I'm still finding odd bits of art around the studio to sell off ...

The latest is a small pile of little giclée prints from the 'unlikely realms' series of digital abstract paintings.

"Oh, That Old Thing? I've Had it for Years!" : Digital painting
Copyright © 2005 by Martin Herbert

These are normally only done as large (60cm) prints through the unlikely realms website, but some time in the dim and distant past, I made some small versions to use in catalogues for galleries ... there's still one floating around in Dubai somewhere as far as I recall - not that it generated any sales!

"Juxtaposition (2)" : Digital painting
Copyright © 2005 by Martin Herbert

So - there are a couple of copies of some of the prints, all signed and dated, up for sale in the etsy.com shop.  These are shipping directly from me in the UK so no problem getting gifts in time for Christmas :-)  Please go take a browse ....

"Introspect" : Digital painting
Copyright © 2005 by Martin Herbert

Last minute preparations ... phew !!

The last drawing for the exhibition in Llandrindod Wells rolled off the drawing board this morning and into a frame ready for hanging ...

"Crocodiles, Hens, Beetles, Armadillos & Fish (do not evince any remarkable partiality for man)" : 90cm x 70 cm :
Ink, pencil, gouache & transfer print on Khadi handmade paper : Copyright © 2012 by Martin Herbert

Last few prints just wrapped and ready for delivery.  The curator at the Radnorshire Museum, Will Adams, has been busy hanging things for the last 2 days, and (fingers crossed), everything is ready for tomorrow night's opening ... after which I will be taking a very well deserved week off before starting up the new business! (Of which more later, etc. etc. etc..... :-)

So remember - private view of the Project Synthesis exhibition at the Radnorshire Museum, Temple Street, Llandrindod Wells, Wales, LD1 5DL at 6:30PM tomorrow, Thursday 1st November!  Fourteen new large-scale works on paper, plus some of the older work which formed the original starting point for the project, and a video installation ....  All work is for sale.

If you can't make the opening, the exhibition continues until Sat. 12th Jan.  For a map and opening hours, especially over the holiday period, please check out the Radnorshire Museum website.

More information about the project, and link to a preview of the video, here:
http://artedstates.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/project-synthesis-exhibition-starts.html

"The Heart is the Fountain of Wisdom" : 90 cm x 70 cm : Ink, pencil, gouache & transfer print on handmade Khadi paper.
Copyright © 2012 by Martin Herbert

With the assistance of the Arts Council for Wales, and all these lovely people: