Earlier this week, yet another piece of material towards global conquest arrived. I upgraded from the Intuos2 and got a brand new tablet! Not just any tablet, but a Wacom Intuos3 Special Edition. It’s all shiny and black and sexy, with two different styli and much needed function keys. I got the 6×11 model to go along with my new widescreen monitor. Take a look at this quick picture of my digital work-station here at SykoGrafix Studios.

There you see my scanner, monitor, tablet, Zboard with Photoshop keyset, and my mouse that glows 7 different colours. So far, so good. I’m not quite sure if the monitor’s colour output is as accurate as I need it to be, so I guess the next step is going to be to get a separate calibration device.

Anyway, the new tablet has thus far been a great improvement over what I had before. The feel of the surface is much easier to draw on, and I don’t feel I have to press as hard to get a steady line. The function keys and touch strip are lifesavers, as I haven’t been able to use keyboard shortcuts since moving my work space to my office, as the keyboard on this desk is tucked away inaccessible while using the tablet. Now I don’t need to use the keyboard very much at all, as all the keys I’d use, like to pan around or change brush size, are mapped right on the tablet itself. There are only two negatives that I can think of. The tablet itself is made out of a very smooth clear plastic (with the underside painted black for a very cool effect), but it’s so smooth that it feels different when you’re moving your hands around the edges. However, I have something that fixes that problem easily enough, which I’ll talk about later. The other bad thing is that I really wanted the special edition because it comes with both the standard grip pen and the extra classic pen, and it’s great having the option to switch between them because they have different feels and you can put a different nib in each of them if you want, but unfortunately, the special edition only comes with one pen stand. It’s not a big deal, but it’s something of an oversight. I’ll have to get an extra one somehow.

What I’m happiest about, though, is just the fact that it got here at all! I was looking all across the Internet for stores that carried this particular model, but it seemed like right when I went to buy it, everyone was sold out or on backorder. I eventually settled on a Canadian chain called Henry’s, and simply placed my order expecting it to ship later this month when their main warehouse was restocked. Well, they must have pulled one off the floor from one of their retail locations or something, because I got it within 6 days of placing my order. Not bad for a backordered item! So I have to put in the plug for Henry’s after this exceptional service.

So, here we go. I’ve almost got all the tools I need. Let’s see what madness I can create with them!

Sayonara.