Small? Hardware updates! (Patreon)

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I wrote one of these longer posts about things unrelated to art but I figured this was the best time to make a small update post to tell you what's happening on my end.

Some of you might have seen me talk about it today but recently I had a pretty big upgrade on my hardware. This really takes me back to the earliest days before I planned on setting up my Patreon account. For a very long time, I strayed away from the art world to pursue other things but that all changed when I purchased a Wacom tablet on a whim around late 2018 to start drawing very casually.

That's around the same time I started posting some of my drawings on DeviantArt which to this day remains without many updates. In early 2019 I started my travels around the world and took my tablet with me but it wasn't until April 2019 when I had started my Patreon thanks to the consistent encouragement from friends.

Long story short, I traveled from country to country-hopping borders every month and kept up my Patreon activities for 2 years and 6 months until I wasn't able to continue my journeys due to Covid lockdown announcements. During all that time and until just a few days ago, I've never really thought about upgrading my old tablet to one with a screen.

The picture above best describes what I had been using as a setup for the majority of my travels, minus the mic and extra monitor. It was usually just my laptop and a tablet. The mic and extra monitor came once I started streaming on Twitch around late November last year.

Quite recently I've been noticing more and more of my peers and colleagues in the art industry had already moved onto the screen tablets and so I made the big decision to splurge a little and get myself a whooping 24" Cintiq to replace my old Wacom Intuos Pro tablet.

Upon acquiring the Cintiq, I also realized that I would require a proper stand so I've splurged again to get myself the official Wacom Ergo Stand.

Together, it's a lot more than I had hoped to spend but I think it was well worth the purchase. No doubt I'll need to practice and get used to this new setup but I'm noticing a lot of changes in my art. Massive quality of life changes ahead.

Though...I may need to acquire a new desk to accommodate the new setup as the two combined have taken up most of my desk space. While you can't see it clearly from the angle, you can see that I've bought a flex arm for the mic.

For anyone wondering what the stand looks like from behind. 

Ergo Stand weighs around 43 lb

Wacom Cintiq 24" Pro weighs around 15.43 lb

Together, these two combined becomes 58.43 lb or around 26.5 kg

It really wasn't easy moving this equipment in place. For a good hour or two, I wondered if I made a big mistake with this purchase but after getting used to it, I think I see why people use them together. 

I'm going to have to get a smaller more compact keyboard and find a way to keep it in place on top of my Cintiq. I'm still wondering where to place my iPhone too which I use as my webcam when I stream with my Live2D model. There's just a big shortage of desk space right now to do anything since the Ergo Stand and the Cintiq take up so much space. 

But yes, there you have it!

My journey from a simple laptop + tablet setup to the beast that's sitting on my desk right now. When I think back on it, the old me wouldn't have made such a big investment with upgrades like these. I think all this came about from my yearning desire to improve and produce the best art I can for you guys who accompanied me all this time and cheered me on through both my journeys across the world and as a freelance artist. 

I wouldn't have come so far without the support of so many of you, thank you for enjoying my works and my progress as an artist.