October 25th, 2013

This is how I do it

by Bill Bettwy

Can the trackpad on a Macbook Pro be used as pen tablet?  YES…and no.  I guess it depends on what exactly you are trying to accomplish.  

Myself, I am still a huge fan of the feel of a micron on Bristol.  Which I usually apply at my dining room table.  

Why the dining room table?  So, I can enjoy daylight before heading down to my desk in the corner of the basement where I scan in the inked strip using my Mustek large format scanner.

I know, I know.  Jealous right?  As nice as that setting is, I am usually only down there long enough to scan in the work before heading back upstairs.  I don’t want to get beady red eyes like rodents that live in caves.

So, now the Tinkersons are digital and ready for clean-up and finishing touches, and this is where the Macbook trackpad comes in.

Depending on what kinda mood I am in, sometimes I use my Wacom Bamboo pen tablet and set up court once again at the dining room table.  BUT, sometimes it’s nice to hit the couch, kick my feet up on the coffee table, turn on Pandora or Spotify, grab my BAMBOO STYLUS and get to work.

Would I draw a strip from scratch with this method? Absolutely not.  There is no pressure sensitivity and the pen control really takes some practice, but once you get used to it, it is a nice way to clean up a strip, put on the finishing touches, and maybe add a line or word here or there.  The stylus means a lot.  I tried a cheap 5 dollar stylus and it didn’t work. 

But I found that the BAMBOO brand stylus works very well and was only like 20 bucks at Best Buy.  

So, there you go.  Maybe you’re ALL digital already, but if you are like me and enjoy both worlds, then this is a nice little trick to allow you some freedom to move around and finish your work.

Bill