"The Resting Knight" E-ink Illustration Process

Testing out more new e-ink tablet features

Previously:

My favorite E-ink tablet finally has Stickers!

Last month Supernote dropped a lot of new fixes and features. With each update, I’m relying more and more on my e-ink tablet for my artwork. In fact, Supernote might just be THE best e-ink tablet for artists looking to create within this unique medium.

Sorry if that came off as too opinionated. I guess as an INFP, my weakness is valuing my own opinion… a little too much. I’d like to call it optimism.

Currently in Beta, the Atelier drawing app is shaping up! With the new addition of a custom canvas size feature, you can now create art in any format you want, which is a huge deal for creating more professional work.

Seeing this familiar setup on an e-ink display made me feel giddy.

I decided to draw on their A6 template (so I can test print it too). One important thing I wanted to check was whether my work would retain its 300 DPI resolution.

Before the update, the resolution of my artwork would drop to ~264 DPI, no matter what program I opened it in, even in Procreate.

The Test Drawing

The Resting Knight, A6 format

Once you selected your custom size or one of the built-in formats, a grey boundary area now appears around your canvas, just like in real drawing programs. (Yes, I like to appreciate these small details.)

Let’s use this drawing and…

Test the PSD Export

Another new feature in which I was thoroughly impressed.

Exporting in PSD format with all layers intact makes it easy to edit files in any major art softwares. And maybe it’s thanks to the new format, but the 300 DPI held up perfectly. Yay for high-quality! Well, back in my day, 200 DPI was good enough… for everything.

One minor inconvenience: If you use the white color Marker, the “white” turns transparent in the PSD export process. Not sure why… maybe because I selected Background Color to Transparent?

But saving in PNG flattens the white solid, so that’s a relief.

Layer 4 was separately drawn using the white-colored Marker to outline behind the lineart. I had to redo it in Photopea (the lesser “online” version of Photoshop).

After adding further details in Atelier, I moved the finished lineart to Procreate to finalize with coloring.

Lineart

I was mildly inspired by Pre-Raphaelite paintings (my favorite art movement) when I drew this. It’s also a “redraw” of an old piece, which I am too embarrassed to show. But the concept remains the same: a man lying down (peacefully) in the middle of the forest. The angle is also similar to my old art.

Drawn in Atelier (Supernote Manta)

Final

A knight resting among the beds of heather flowers. Fun fact: heather is actually used to treat insomnia and exhaustion… though you’re supposed to drink it as a tea, not use it as a bedding, Sir Knight!

Colored in Procreate

What do you think?

Does Supernote Atelier have the potential to become a very useful art tool for artists? Hmm, with all the latest updates, I think it’s getting there!

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