Fujitsu Lifebook offers convenience at a low price

November 2, 2012 in Reviews, Technology | No comments

A pair of Fujitsu Tablet PCs. Photo by Media Commons.

By Jeremy Kahn

Owning a Cintiq can be a nightmare for the artist on the go. It’s large, bulky and comes with so many wires that you might as well just carry a desk around with you. It’s not going to win any awards for portability any time soon. What would you say if I told you there was an alternative device that solves these issues and doesn’t dig into your wallet as much?

I’m crazy, right? How about if I say you could have this alternative for below $300? Nuts, right? Well, I can assure you I’m neither.

Many companies offer tablets that have the same function as a regular Cintiq. Fujitsu, Lenovo and Acer are just a few examples. Of these, Fujitsu’s Lifebook is arguably the best deal. In fact, I got mine for $175 off lease. The Lifebook doubles as a regular notebook as well as a drawing tablet. An attached stylus pen lets you draw right on the flip down monitor.

Still craving that Cintiq experience? Another neat feature is the monitor rotates 180 degrees so that you can lay it down on top of the keyboard and use the device just like a tablet. No need to deal with the keyboard if you don’t want to.

Making use of Wacom’s Penabled technology and Intel’s Core 2 Duo, this notebook is no slouch in the art department. Buttons on the side of the monitor allow you to map commands making working with Adobe Photoshop that much easier. The ability to change the screen orientation allows one to work from any angle. A SD and Pro memory card slot opens up the ability to manipulate photographs straight from your camera’s memory card.

You heard right, this little machine is able to run Photoshop. Granted, you might be better off using a regular laptop or desktop for intensive projects (everything has its limits) but for projects on the go, it works very well. There’s barely any lag, and the sensitivity of the touch screen is good enough to handle detail work without feeling like any small move will somehow close your work.

A vent on the side does let off some heat, but the underside stays at a good temperature. A weird design forces you to chose between an optical drive or an extra battery. If you’re planning a long trip, I’d stick with the extra battery. An LCD below the monitor shows the computer’s current status, from the battery levels to the status of the CPU. Some features aren’t exactly useful though.

Despite how cool it sounds, you’d be hard-pressed to really find a need for the finger print security scanner. Unless you have top secret government papers stored somewhere. But at that point, you’d have to be more worried about being a bad secret agent.

With the power to run Windows and the ability of a drawing tablet, this laptop is perfect for the artist on the go. And, at a price that no college student could argue with, why not look into getting one yourself.

Wayne Enterprises This Ain’t: A student startup at NYC Comic Con

October 31, 2012 in Careers, Reports From the Field, Sequential Art | 1 comment

By Carlos Serrano

Word of advice: If you’re going to use a convention as a practice run for your startup business, don’t make it Comic Con. It’s large, busy, and so full of big name companies that it might be hard to get your message out.

Better word of advice: Ignore what you just read and just go for it. It might just be the best time ever.

Some background information – a few months ago I was contracted by a friend of mine to write a 20-page comic book script. This would be the first issue of a series that would go up on my friends new startup, On Target Network. My friend, knowing the best way way to a freelancers heart, offered to pay me for my services. The rest, as they say, is history. My comic, about a Mexican luchador that battles supernatural foes, was eventually done and posted on the site.

An enterprising young man, my friend would later come up to with a proposal. He wanted more exposure and connections with artists and writers in order to get more comics on his website/company. He figured the best way to do that would be to go to a convention where there would be a ton of potential creative folks. New York City Comic Con ended up being the most likely candidate. He ended up inviting me and the three other writers/artists he had already contracted both to help him at his booth and just as a form of thanks. It was a nice gesture, one that was very much appreciated, but the trip still had a few road blocks that serve to illustrate the kinds of things one should keep in mind as a small student-run startup.

First, you’ll be doing quite a bit of penny pinching. Passes for conventions can get pretty pricey nowadays, not to mention the costs of getting a booth and other miscellaneous expenses. This means you’ll have to find ways to cut back on other expenses. For us, that meant driving instead of flying and staying at a hotel with, well, not exactly the prettiest view.

The view from our hotel room was almost stereotypical New York.

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Making connections at NYC Comic Con

October 29, 2012 in Reports From the Field, Sequential Art, Student Life | No comments

So many potential connections, so little time. Photo by Carlos Serrano

By Jeremy Kahn

NY Comic Con, one of the biggest conventions, other than its San Diego counterpart. Dozens of publishers from the comic realm come to entertain the masses and show off their wares.

Also, companies from the world of video-games, TV and other entertainment make appearances. And let’s not forget the multitude of people in costumes.

To be fair, some of them make it hard to forget them.

With so much to see, do and buy, where should your priorities lie?

As a SCAD student, conventions are a great place to make contacts. Before heading out make a list of possible companies to visit during the convention (this will save time later on). Be sure to make a good amount of handouts and business cards with your contact info. Don’t dress too fancy or too sloppy. It’s Comic Con, even the editors and artists you’ll meet are there to have fun. Finally, get your pass and head to the showroom floor.

During the convention I visited a number of publishers, both large and small. I would first ask if they were giving portfolio reviews during the convention. Remember, while not advertised, some publishers will gladly review your work if asked and if they have time.

I managed to get lucky and land an review with Archie Comics. After showing them my work they asked for me to email them later on with a PDF file with higher resolution images of my work. While not guaranteeing a job, they said they’d keep me in mind. Sometimes in this line of work, that’s the first step to a future career.

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SCAD offers free CS6 download

October 5, 2012 in Briefs, Graphic Design, News, Student Life, Technology | No comments

By Carlos Serrano

It began not with a bang, but with a whisper. One seemingly innocent Twitter post thanking SCAD for a free download of some sort, followed by another one asking how to actually download the program. Pretty soon it seemed everyone had heard the news. SCAD was offering a free download of Adobe CS6 for all current students, as well as incoming freshmen and transfer students.

Photography major Jessicla Clickner is one such student. “I was ecstatic when I got the email about the CS6 download.” She says, “I had almost paid the $250 student rate to get Photoshop alone.”

It’s not just about saving money of course. The opportunity to use CS6 should help students be better prepared for schoolwork, and hopefully make things easier for them as well.

As with most new things, there were a few hiccups. Freshmen had to wait until the start of the new school year to receive their download code, which caused some confusion among the newest students. There was also the unfortunate reality of slowdowns and downed websites.

Of course, that was all to be expected, after all, with so many students vying for the same link, it would have been naive to think there would be no bumps. Thankfully for everyone involved, things settled down, and students began to download CS6 in earnest, just in time for a fresh new quarter.

If you haven’t yet taken the time to download your free copy, yo should. It’s an easy process, made even easier by the fact that at this point in the quarter, you’ll have beaten the initial rush of students. Various SCAD-affiliated social media pages have already shared the steps to take in order to download the software, but because sharing is caring, you can also find them in this article:

To request your free copy of CS6, just log into MySCAD, hit up the Resources tab and click on SCAD Deals. If all goes well, you should be designing like a pro in no time flat.

Asked about what she thought of SCAD’s decision to offer this download, Clckner had this to add, “To get the free CS6 software was not something I was expecting, and this school continues to surprise me.”

With surprises like this one, it seems like everyone wins.

 

Tech for Artists: Tablet PCs

October 1, 2012 in Technology | No comments

A pair of Fujitsu Tablet PCs. Photo by Media Commons.

By Jeremy Kahn

Nowadays many business men and women can be seen traveling with notebooks and tablets working during their morning and noon commute. Every now and again, you might see someone with a tablet PC. By allowing users to draw or write straight on the monitor, as well as having the ease of use and familiarity of a keyboard, the tablet PC is a piece of hardware that combines the best of both worlds.

A month ago I was looking for an alternative to my Wacom Cintiq. Since I use my Cintiq for most of my work, having a backup seemed like an obvious choice. Of course, I didn’t want to spend the large amount needed for a new Cintiq, so I went about looking for an alternative. While I found some drawing tablets in the low three and two hundred range, I just didn’t feel what I found would work for what I wanted.

As anyone with a Cintiq can tell you they require a decent amount of space to set up due to all the wires. It’s not a very easy set-up for anyone who travels often. While I take my laptop with me when I travel, I can’t do the same easily with my Cintiq. So my first priority was getting an alternative that was travel sized and could easily be attached to my laptop.

Through my search I eventually came across a few tablet notebooks. While not a new technology, this seemed like a good alternative to look into. Researching further I found out these notebooks could be bought for anywhere between one hundred and two hundred dollars and still satisfy my needs.

I went on to buy a Fujitsu T4215 which is a model that is no longer supported. This, in addition to the seller selling it off lease, helped keep the cost down. What this offers me is the ability to run XP Mobile Edition or even Windows 7 (which is what I settled with) without any problems. With the OS installed I could now use Photoshop and any Windows application I needed. With the ability to draw straight on the monitor, this has become my go to tablet instead of my Cintiq. All for $190.

Tablet PCs make great alternatives to drawing tablets, especially to those who are constantly on the move. I’ll dive into my Fujitsu, reviewing it’s features so you can get a better idea of what these tablets offer in a later article.

For now though, as a fellow student on a budget, you can’t go wrong with a tablet notebook.

Off-Campus Experience: Jeremy Kahn in NYC

September 24, 2012 in Careers, Reports From the Field, Sequential Art | No comments

by Jeremy Kahn

Reporting from SCAD’s NYC Sequential Arts off-campus trip in June of this year

The program ran from Sunday to Saturday, with visits to artists, publishers, museums and a comic store or two. Kicking things off Monday, our group headed downtown to Kickstarter’s base of operations. After introducing ourselves on the second floor, we were shuffled upstairs. There, we saw a few shelves lined with items received from previous Kickstarter projects. It was a great trophy wall filled with the rewards from previous successful Kickstarter campaigns. Among the many items, there were a few from SCAD-founded projects.

After a brief tour, we got a chance to sit down and talk with two lead figures. The resulting conversation was an eye-opener. From the company’s history to how exactly they get involved with projects that interest them as a company, there was a lot of insight into the way Kickstarter works. Not only was it a fun talk, it gave everyone a deeper understanding of what it takes to create a good self-funded project and how to work Kickstarter into it.

In time, we found ourselves speaking not about self-funded projects, but about being fully-funded artists. We met comic book artist Paolo Rivera after leaving the Kickstarter offices. The rest of the day was spent talking with him about his work and getting some advice about the industry. Not to mention ogling his workstation. It consists of a desk with a swivel that allows his monitor to swing out, another swivel for the keyboard, a magnetic drawing board, a printer, scanner, paints right at hand, and a wacom tablet. He mentioned that the total cost of all this was at least a good grand or so. His secret? “Don’t have kids,” he said.

The day ended with a trip to Utrecht and Forbidden Planet accompanied by Rivera. It was another great, fun educational experience.

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