That time my tablet pen died mid-commission and I had to finish with a mouse

I was working on a portrait commission last Tuesday night for a client in Chicago, about 3 hours in, when my Wacom pen just stopped working. Battery was dead and I couldn't find my spare anywhere so I had to finish the shading with a regular mouse. It took twice as long and my hand cramped up bad, but the client actually said the final piece looked better? Has anyone else had a tool failure mid-project that ended up working out differently than you expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

dianal944d agoMost Upvoted

Had a similar thing happen with my old Intuos, the USB port broke halfway through a character design for a client. Ended up doing the lineart with a trackpad on my laptop. It forced me to slow down and be more deliberate with each stroke instead of my usual scratchy lines. The final design had this cleaner, more minimal look that the client ended up loving way more than my usual style.

dakotawood4d ago

honestly that trackpad lineart thing is actually wild to think about though @dianal94, like imagine telling a client "yeah my tablet broke so I did this with a literal laptop trackpad" and they're like "cool, love it" lmao. I had a similar moment when my stylus pen nib wore down to nothing in the middle of a commission and I had to finish everything with this blunt plastic nub scratching against the screen like nails on a chalkboard. the lines came out super shaky and rough which ironically gave this sketchy grunge vibe that the client thought was intentional. sometimes our gear breaking is the universe's way of forcing us out of our comfort zone even if it feels like a disaster at first.