Table comparing iPad Pro, Surface Pro 3 & 4, Cintiq Companion 2, Galaxy Note Pro 12.2

This table is for artists looking for a portable drawing device.

Main thing to note is the OS, because that will determine the software you can run on it. The OS will also determine productivity. And it will come in the form of file management. How fast can you attach a picture or two to an email? Upload an artwork to DeviantArt or even your own blog? What do you do for work? Or will you just be using the tablet more for leisure?

Model Apple iPad Pro Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Wacom Cintiq Companion 2 Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2
Dimensions 30.5 x 22 x 0.69 cm / 12 x 8.69 x 0.27 in 29.2 x 20.1 x 0.84 cm / 11.50 x 7.93 x .33 in 29 x 20.1 x 0.91 cm / 11.5 x 7.93 x 0.36 in 37.4 x 24.8 x 1.5 cm / 14.7 x 9.8 x 0.6 in 29.5 x 20.4 x 0.795 cm / 11.64 x 8 x 0.31 in
Weight 713 g / 1.59 lbs i5/i7: 1.73lbs (786g), m3: 1.69lbs (766g) 800 g / 1.76 lbs 1.7 kg / 3.75 lbs 750g / 1.65lbs
Resolution 2732 x 2048 2736 x 1824, IPS 2160 x 1440, IPS 2560 x 1440, IPS 2560 x 1600, WQXGA TFT
OS iOS Windows Windows Windows Android
Processor A9X 6th Gen Intel Core M3, i5 to i7 Intel Core i3 to i7 (1.5 - 3.3 GHz) Intel Core i3 to i7 (1.7 - 3.1 GHz) 1.3 - 1.9Ghz octa-core, 2.3Ghz quad core
RAM ??? 4-16gb 4 - 8 GB 4 - 16 GB 3 GB
Storage 32 or 128 GB flash memory 128 GB - 1 TB SSD 64 - 512 GB SSD 64 - 512 GB SSD 32 - 64 GB flash memory
Removable storage None MicroSD MicroSD SDHC, MicroSD MicroSD
USB port None One One Three None
Stylus Optional Apple Pencil (USD $100) with pressure and tilt sensitivity Surface Pen with 1024 levels of pressure N-trig stylus with 256 levels of pressure Wacom stylus with 2048 pressure & tilt sensitivity S Pen with 1024 pressure
Wireless WiFi + Cellular WiFi WiFi WiFi WiFi + Cellular
Camera 8MP 5MP front, 5MP back 5MP front, 8MP back 2MP front, 8MP back 2MP front, 8MP back
Battery life 10 hrs 9 hrs 9 hrs 4.5 hrs 9 hrs
Retail Price USD $799 - $1079 $899 - $2199 $799 - $1949 $1299 - $2499 $650 - $750

Selfie Official Artbook (Kickstarter)

Dreamslandia Studio just contacted me to let me know of their upcoming artbook that's on selfie art. They are challenging the notion that you don't have to be famous to appear in an artbook. It looks like it's going to be a portrait artbook but I do see chibi style drawings that's usually not associated with portraits.

Check out the campaign at https://kck.st/1VCzzzF

It ends 6 Nov 2015.

Four stories of the heart

Field artist and visual journalist Richard Johnson has put up a wonderful piece of visual journalism at Washington Post on the patients at Children’s National Medical Center. It's powerful and moving. His sketches really captures the mood in a way photographs cannot.

From his own words:

As I sketched this scene of the young family saying goodbye to their dying baby I felt enormous pressure to capture the moment for them. It was an incredibly sad time and I remember quite clearly having to force myself to concentrate on the drawing and not on the emotions of the moment. The internal battle was waged throughout the sketch. Afterwards I closed my sketchbook feeling that my slavishness for detail had drowned out the very emotion I had sought to capture. I felt like I had failed. A few days later though I looked at it again. I realized that my slavishness had captured the moment after all, and then I cried for them. Ballpoint. Probably 40 minutes. Hardest drawing I have ever done.

Watercolor Mixing - Creating Green, Gray, and Violet

Dale Laitinen shares his colour recipes for mixing greens, grays and violets in this video.

Mixing greens
Phthalo Blue + Quinacridone Gold
Cobalt Blue + New Gamboge
New Gamboge + Phthalo Green

Mixing grays
French Ultramarine + Burnt Orange/Burnt Sienna
Phthalo Green + Permanent Alizarin Crimson
Cobalt Blue + Quinacridone Red + Quinacridone Gold

Mixing violets
Cobalt Blue + Quinacridone Red
French Ultramarine + Permanent Alizarin Crimson
French Ultramarine + Cadmium Red