well, that rearranged my brain a little.

This post is kind of making me feel like the top of my head came off, and a beam of golden sunlight shone inside, illuminating the contents. It’s not particularly revelatory— just talking about a new drawing tablet on the market, one that costs under $50. But I read it and went wait just a goddamn minute.

Tablet prices have dropped that much? Seriously? Tablet prices have dropped to the point that teenagers can get them as not-all-that-expensive birthday gifts? Tablets cost less than a pair of blue jeans from the Gap?

Well, now I know where the giant explosion in good digital fanart over the last three years or so has come from. I had been assuming that Tumblr’s emphasis on visual media just meant that I saw more fanart than I used to— and maybe that’s a factor— but if tablets are that cheap then there are definitely a hell of a lot more people using them to make fanart than there used to be. The barrier to entry for making digital art has dropped to just about knee-high.

Am I on target with this? Is this actually what’s going on? This is really exciting, if I’m correct, because it means we are in the midst of a huuuuuuuuge shift in the way people make art for the computer. Actually, maybe the shift’s already happened, and I’m just catching on now.

(no subject)

Finally bought my Capclave membership. Anyone else going?