There’s only so far a conventional tablet can go—as any digital artist will tell you, a tablet is too big to carry around comfortably, can only work with a computer handy, takes a long time to use comfortably, and in the end never really has the feel of paper. <!–more–> On-the-fly, pen-on-paper artwork has always been excluded from simultaneous digital manipulation.
On August 30, 2011, Wacom— one of the world’s leading graphic tablet suppliers— announced that this would no longer have to be true, presenting their new product: the Inkling. The Inkling digital sketch pen uses a wireless receiver, a pressure-sensitive tablet pen (with even a ballpoint tip), and software to capture a digital copy of one’s strokes as they are drawn on a sketchbook or any kind of paper. Later, the work can be opened on the computer and edited on programs like Adobe Photoshop, just as if it had been drawn on the computer itself. But one doesn’t have to wait that long either—the Inkling Sketch Manager software can digitally modify the image’s properties while drawing. For example, one can add and draw on layers as well as change file formats.
The Inkling has already caused a flurry of interest within online art communities and blogs. Art amateurs, students, and professionals alike seem excited about the prospect of such a bridge between the traditional and digital aspects of drawing—the first of its kind.
The Wacom Inkling will be available in stores starting in October of this year.
