The Monday my drawing tablet decided to die mid-commission

Last Monday I was about 3 hours into a digital portrait for a client in Austin. I had the eyes looking perfect and the shading on the cheek was just right. Then my Wacom tablet just stopped working. No warning, no error message, just a dead cursor. I spent the next 40 minutes trying every USB port and restarting my PC twice. Turns out the cable had frayed inside the rubber coating where I could not see it. I had to finish that piece with a mouse, which took me twice as long and looked terrible. The client was understanding but I felt like a fool. Has anyone else had a tool fail at the worst possible moment like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

spencer_owens583d ago

Stressing over a tablet seems a bit extra.

piperbailey4d ago

A frayed cable inside the rubber, you could not see that coming?

phoenixw114d ago

Wait, is that really how rubber cables work though? I mean, the fraying happens inside the insulation, sure, but you can usually feel a bump or a soft spot before it actually breaks. I've had a few cables go bad over the years and you can tell something's wrong when it gets warm or the wire feels loose at the connector. Maybe it's just me, but I always check the ends and run my fingers down the cable to feel for any weird spots. That type of fraying builds up over time from bending and twisting, so it's not like it just appears overnight. I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking it, but I feel like there are signs you can catch.