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My tablet pen died mid-demo at a live art fair in Portland
I was showing my digital painting process at a local market booth last month, about 40 people watching me sketch this portrait on my tablet. Right as I got to the eyes, the pen just stopped responding, no battery warning at all. I froze for like 10 seconds, people were shifting around looking at each other. So I grabbed my phone, pulled up the same piece from my cloud backup, and used my finger to scribble over the rough layer while talking about how mistakes are part of the process. Then I switched back to the tablet once I swapped in a spare pen I thankfully carry in my bag. The crowd actually applauded when I finished the eye with the backup pen. Has anyone else had a live demo fail and had to wing it in front of strangers? How did you recover? I need better backup tricks.
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finley_gonzalez492mo ago
Wait, was it one of those Wacom pens that dies with zero warning every single time? I had the same thing happen at a comic convention back in 2019, mid-inking on a big crowd favorite panel, and I just started narrating my whole process like a cooking show while frantically digging in my bag for my backup stylus. The best trick I found is to keep a tiny dry erase marker in my pocket now, because if the pen dies I can just lick my finger and draw on the screen like it's a whiteboard, which honestly gets more laughs than panic. You handled the cloud backup save way smoother than I did, so I'm totally stealing that finger sketch idea for my next demo.
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