Outside the comfort zone

Computers have minds of their own. They have a way of doing something completely unexpected with the brush of a finger or a slightly misplaced mouse click. When you're under pressure but still expected to deliver high quality work you rely on the familiarity you have with your tools to get you through.

Imagine how my heart sank when I turned up to work on an exhibition stand to draw digital caricatures for three days and was told, 'You can't use that PC tablet! We're Apple dealers!' I was handed an iPad Pro with Procreate. I had half an hour to familiarise myself with an alien computer and a new application.

On the outside calm and collected but inside was truly panicking. The feel of the pen on the screen totally different, couldn't find my way around the menus with a queue of people waiting. If you've ever tried to use someone else's computer you'll know what I mean. Drawing 30 odd colour caricatures under pressure was a sure fire way of getting to know the computer. At the end of the day the client was very happy and especially considering the position they had put me in. A baptism of fire but it opened up new avenues for me.

I had been very dismissive of the iPad Pro as a professional piece of kit but it surprised me and I quickly learned that is has many advantages over my usual tablet. I had become so used to my Wacom Companion tablet that I really didn't even notice it's faults. I was suffering from RSI due to it's weight. The application I was using was over complicated which involved many more menu selections than necessary. As a PC my tablet was prone to freezing and slow to restart.

My persistance paid off. One of the stand visitors that day, 2 years ago, impressed by my work, hired me to work on his company stand and also insisted I use an iPad for the same reason. 'No problem!' I was able to say and this time there was no panic.