So I made a major upgrade in my hardware interface with my digital art software. I’d been using the Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch Small for the last four years. It was the least expensive drawing pad I could find at the time so I could explore digital art.  It’s served me well, but I’ve never been really happy with having to look up at the computer monitor while I “draw” on the pad.

Now I’m using a Microsoft Surface Pro with a Surface Pen.  I opted to go with this expensive option as opposed to one of the still-expensive “pen display” or crazy-expensive “pen computer” Wacom products.  Although Wacom seemed to be the “industry standard”,  the Surface Pro offered more versatile functionality for the comparative price.

The Surface Pen appears to be working just fine from an “artist” standpoint, and, of course, being able to draw/paint directly onto the screen with a pressure-sensitive pen is so much nicer than before.  The pen is considerably more responsive than what I was used to.

Downside is the screen is small.  Krita controls are tiny.  I’d face similar issues with comparable Wacom options.  I wouldn’t mind the Surface Studio with 28″ display (for a mere $1500-$2000 more… eeyah).  I will possibly try attaching the Surface Pro to my 26″ monitor and see if that helps the workflow some.