Tonight though, I found a few hours to sit down and start sketching a character for a book idea that I’m tentatively working on with a friend. I’m finding sketching using just my Intuos tablet quite challenging at the moment. It’s not as direct or natural as using pencil and paper, or the Cintiq I use at work. I’m getting the hang of it, but I find I’m much slower using the tablet, and can’t hack away with the stylus as I do with a pencil. But hopefully, if I persevere with it, hopefully the fluidity will return.

Here’s my first sketch. Hopefully I’ll get to add some colour soon.

Character Sketch

The Wacom drivers have come in for a lot of stick over the years on sites like Version Tracker, but personally I have never had any problems with installation or reliability; especially since Wacom added support for Fast User Switching in the previous release. The latest driver installed without a hitch, and works flawlessly. Perhaps this is because I only use the tablet when I’m working. I don’t use a mouse unless I’m playing the Unreal Tournament 2004 Demo. In that case, I have to unplug the Wacom tablet, as there seems to be a minor but irritating conflict that causes the pointer to suddenly jump across the screen every few minutes. I don’t know if it’s a driver conflict or a hardware problem, but unplugging the Intuos solves the problem and makes playing UT a little less challenging.

If you ever have trouble with the Wacom drivers, I recommend the following trouble shooting steps:

1. Use the Wacom installer to uninstall the current driver.
2. Repair permissions.
3. Restart.
4. Install the new Wacom driver.
5. Enjoy.

The problem was that my G4 was starting to it’s age a little, particularly running heavyweight applications like Creative Suite 2. So, instead of upgrading the whole thing, I decided to drop a little cash on a new video card. After 3 years, I was still using the original 32Mb nVIDIA GeForce4 MX, and my 20″ Cinema Display was stretching to the limits. I expected the 128Mb ATI Radeon 9200 to improve the performance; what I wasn’t prepared for was just how big the speed boost would be.

The new card has transformed the performance of my old workhorse. Switching between applications is almost immediate, and the speed of Exposé is a revelation; so far I haven’t managed to open enough windows to make Exposé pause noticeably. I also get the cube effect when I switch accounts, even with a lot of windows open (something the nVidia card couldn’t manage consistently) The performance improvement has certainly justified the cost of the card, and I’d recommend the ATI card to anyone who wants to squeeze a bit more performance from an older Mac.

I’m even tempted to install a game demo just to put the card through it’s 3D paces.

I tried it out briefly, and browsing the store is a doddle. The content is nicely laid out, and it is easy to search for artists, songs and albums. The links to related material and information make it easy to explore new artists and albums too. I haven’t bought any music yet, but it won’t be long until I succumb to temptation, and setting up an account is simplicity itself if (like me) you already have a .Mac account, or an Apple Store ID.

I was pleased to see that the launch made all the major news broadcasts in the UK, though some of the reports showed typical skepticism about Apple’s chances in the face of competition from Microsoft. The iTMS has been a huge success in America, but many pundits are suggesting that Apple will have a much harder time cracking the European legal download market. Time will tell, especially as the catalogue of music and features available on the iTMS grows over the coming year. Personally, i think this is great news.

As an illustrator, I appreciate the need to protect the rights of artists against piracy. Although the financial model offered by Apple doesn’t offer the rewards to artists that it could or should, it seems this is largely the fault of the major record labels short sighted views of music downloads, and the restrictive licensing deals they have forced Apple to work with. All in all, iTunes Music Store is a huge step in the right direction.

Take a look at this bad girl and tell me she is not a finely constructed motorcycle, and a bargain at £5500! Unfortunately, with zero no-claims discount after so many years out of the saddle, the insurance is a hefty £800, even for someone of my advancing years.

Still, if anyone out there wants to send me one, I’m sure I could enlarge the letterbox if you give me a few days notice.

I love iTunes, and have it playing all the time when I am working in the office. If you care, you can see the track I’m listening to by checking out my live webcam. Be warned though, if you are of a sensitive or aesthetic disposition, you may be upset by some of the awful rubbish I listen to.