Remembering CES: Wacom Cintiq 24HD
Before we jump in, keep in mind that CES has really, really bright lighting and the tablet was facing upwards. The glare is a natural consequence of those two elements. When working on it, there was some glare, but definitely not a deal breaker in the slightest.
To put it short, the Wacom Cintiq 24HD device is amazing. There is no better tablet screen out there, period. Can most people afford it? At $2,600, no, but do I want it? Yes. A million times yes.
I played with the Wacom Cintiq 24HD for at least 4 hours (And the video is of me doing one final drawing), which was enough time to get settled into a reasonable workflow. Much like it’s 21 inch sibling, the 24HD is basically a huge Intuos4 with a screen behind it. It has the same exact functionality as a normal tablet and the skills you acquire from using a tablet translate nicely over to the Cintiq.
Personally, I don’t use the express-keys on the side, mostly because I prefer keyboard. The buttons seem a little hard to press, but since you can rest your entire arm on the side, using the buttons was surprisingly easy and pleasant. It’s a clever way to reduce fatigue and I definitely appreciate it.
One of the key issues I had with the previous Cintiq model was its size and how it is difficult to get it into a comfortable position in relation to a sitting person. The 24HD does not have this problem because of the stand, which allows the screen to extend out beyond its base and over the edge of tables. This is the feature that makes it better than everything else.
There really isn’t much more to say about it. It works, is easy to use and makes plenty standard art tasks much more tolerable.
Back down to earth. Don’t feel bad about not having one of these. When I started drawing on it, the product did not immediately fix most of my workflow problems, but everything I knew and understood about tablet drawing transferred over to the experience. You’re not wasting your time if you have a Bamboo or an Intuos. In fact, you’re probably training to get better with a Cintiq. As a hobby-artist who has seen a lot of superior illustrators work with normal tablets, having a Cintiq is not a necessity, but it is one hell of a luxury. The bottom line is that if you can’t do something on tablet, the Cintiq will not magically make your weaknesses go away, so don’t sweat it.
Playing with the Cintiq really illuminated the importance of learning your program of choice and having a strong art-understanding in general, as opposed to being shackled by hardware limitations. While, yes, that 24HD is the best thing I’ve ever played with, it doesn’t necessarily improve your skill or comfort proportionate to the cost of Wacom’s current entry-level products. For the longest time, I thought if I got a better tablet, things would improve. This was probably true back when I first played with the Graphire back in the early 2000s, but now, Wacom’s products are surprisingly close to one another in quality.
Anyway, it was a pleasure working on the Cintiq 24HD, but it’s not a necessity as a hobby-artist. I’m glad I had the opportunity to cleanse myself of my morbid art curiosity.
