Bought a small e-ink tablet a few days ago because I’ve always been curious about how it was to draw on one. Got it from Best Buy with the thought that it would be no better than sketching on an iPad and I’d return it. 5 days in and I’m absolutely in love with it.
It’s so fun to draw on. The limitations and limited color palette lets me draw without trying to be perfect or worrying about colors. I thought the remarkable Paper Pro Move size would be too small but it’s perfect.
The biggest disappointment for me so far is battery life. I thought they advertised the battery life as 2 weeks or something, but I’m barely getting 2 days if that. I’m guessing sketching and using layers just pushes the device a lot harder than someone using it to jot notes? One drawing and I’m down from 100% to around 60. I’m used to charging my devices so it’s not a big deal, but would have been nice if it was a bit better.
Here’s a few more sketches I’ve done on it:
Was a busy day so stayed up extra late to get this (one sketch a day) done before bed. 😴
A bit behind schedule again. Started to draft this sketch, but it will have to wait until tomorrow to be finished.
Okay I guess I wasn’t really done. Initially intended to have her leaning against a wall.
As a bonus, the second image is what the artwork looks like from the remarkable app. I honestly prefer the muted look on device, but still cool to see it in full color even though the colors can look pretty weird. #mastoart #art
I feel like the quality of my sketch’s are getting a bit better each time because I’m learning all the nuances of this tablet. Figuring out which pen tools work best for what I’m trying to accomplish.
Best one yet? (As far as execution of drawing on this tablet) I didn’t think it was going to come out as good based on my initial sketch.
I think what bothers me about this sketch is how I drew Derpy (the tiger's) face and how I shaded the lighting on him. Face looks a bit off and the lighting (on his face) is too flat. I love the bird and the kid inside. 😁
Can't believe this is already my 14th character sketch (in my reMarkable Paper Pro Move). To clarify, I have 3 "sketchbooks" in this tablet. One is for these full color sketches which I intentionally don't use any reference for so I can document my progress (I have 14 of these).
My second sketchbook is my anatomy/pose exercises from various art books I'm referencing. And my final notebook is just random doodles (which I haven't done much of yet).
Didn’t do any full sketches this weekend, but I did doodle a tiny bit on a single page. Was just trying out some random techniques to see if there were any better brushes for coloring and shading.
This one came out a bit weird, but hey, they are just daily sketches. Not all will be good.
This one is really different than the rest. I was watching the music video for “In another world” by Ejae and was inspired to draw her singing at the piano. But I only used her reference for a quick rough draft sketch of her head/hair and then the video was over. Finished the drawing later without any reference. Face looked a bit weird so I didn’t bother drawing the piano, etc. 😅
Felt inspired to try something different today. Used different tools and techniques to add shadows. I think it came out kind of neat.
I was getting nervous at the end when the battery % popped up. 😰
Drew this lochness monster based on a favorite stuffed animal that one of my friend's daughter had. turned it into an engraved leatherette patch (with her name on it too) to put on her backpack. And a random doodle. I started 2 more sketches, but haven't had time to finish them yet.
Didn’t like this one so never finished cleaning up lines or coloring it. But sharing because I’m still sketching! Just got a bit busy over the past week because the kids were on break from school.
This one came out interesting because I used an ink brush for everything but her skin. The ink brush has more vibrant colors, but you can’t add any shading because of the limited color pallete. I used the shader pen for her skin which lets you overlay color multiple times to get darker shades. I like the results.
Also noticed some April O’Neil vibes after I finished. 😅
Still blows me away to see what looks like a real pencil sketch on an e-ink tablet. And no graphite smudges all over my hand. 😅 And I still haven’t figured out why I’d much rather draw on this limited device over my iPad using ProCreate. I’d get much better results, endless tools, larger canvas, etc with my iPad, but drawing on this slow little device just brings so much more joy.
Mark Jardine 
Albert Westra