laura_seabrook | Tablet Protection Kit

I realised that with Bobby wanting to jump into my lap every five minutes, and Ebony and Gabby stalking each other (or jumping in front of the monitor) that I wasn't going to get a lot of work done in the study this Winter. Now this has come at a point when I realise that i need to learn how to use Illustrator and Flash, especially with a graphics tablet.

That being the case, I took my tablet and stylus off to uni yesterday to see if it would work on the terminals there. The result was that there were only minor problems with the Macs, but that the PCs would read the device at all. This is probably because the PCs all run XP and are geared towards only running software the uni wants you to run. With the Macs it seems there's a built-in driver. And as there's at least two rooms of Macs in the Photomedia building all with Photoshop. Illustrator, Fireworks and Flash, and four Macs in the Post-Grad froom in the Huxley library, it means I can experiment and use my tablet at uni! Important if I'm to learn how to use it with these programs before I start the graphic novels.

The only snag is that graphics tablets are not really indestructible or robust, and I could imagine without protection that I'd break my cheap ALDI model pretty quickly travelling to and fro uni with it. So I went off to Officeworks to see what I could get to help. I rejected laptop bags as being either too large or too expensive, but put together a "tablet protection kit" from odds and ends.

I bought: a wide/short clipboard; a cardboard "eurobox", and a cardboard document holder. The clipboard is reversed and wraps around the tablet. The eurobox is supposed to be folded into a box but if I leave it flat to folds over the whole tablet and the elastic keeps it shut. The document box (with an extra crease) encases all of that. I put the tablet stylus in a cheap pencil case I had (prevents it from falling out) and the lot goes in a tote bag. Not bad, and it seems pretty tough, and can be carried around fairly easily.

I discovered that I can export swatches from Photoshop in ASE format and read them in Illustrator and Fireworks (but apparently not Flash) which means the colouring I set up in Photoshop can now be re-used. I'll make an effort playing around in Illustrator for the comic Trope World. Haven't done much with that lately, mostly because I've been sick. Another page out soon.