Pro tip: My tablet pen broke mid-painting and I almost gave up on digital art entirely.

Pro tip: My tablet pen broke mid-painting and I almost gave up on digital art entirely. Last Tuesday I was three hours into a portrait commission when my stylus tip just snapped off. I had this panic moment where I thought I'd have to start over because the pressure sensitivity felt completely off after that. Instead of tossing the whole thing, I grabbed a pack of replacement nibs from a local shop in Austin for $8. Turns out the issue wasn't the pen itself but that I had been using a worn down nib for months without noticing. I sketched out the rest of the piece with the new nib and it actually came out better than my earlier drafts. Has anyone else hit a creative wall from a simple gear failure that ended up improving their process?

2 comments

2 Comments

elizabeth_ramirez14d ago

Joke about blaming the hardware when it's really just you being out of practice.

white.seth13d ago

Oh man, that's rough! I feel you on this one @elizabeth_ramirez, but honestly hardware fails are real too - I've had the same panic when my pen went dead mid-sketch. It's good you found a fix that actually made the work better.