Should I spend 50% of the income I made with my 2nd job (Illustration & Comics) this year on the cintiq tablet I've wanted for 16 years?
more context:
my current drawing setup uses a 5 year old ipad and a 70$ annual subscription to software that pairs it with my mac to let me draw directly on the screen. I chose this setup because it was as close as I could get to a cintiq without having a cintiq.
In the last year I've realized that the screen resolution on the ipad is so small/poor that I'm unable to see flaws in my work that I could otherwise fix. Even when I project it onto my 24" monitor... my monitor is also too cheap to really show enough detail.
So a third, cheaper option could be buying a better secondary monitor, but that feels like a stop-gap solution at 1/3 the price of the cintiq.
An annoying feature of the ipad is that it heats up after about half an hour and I have to give it breaks.
Financially, buying a cintiq could also save me 50% on my freelance taxes.
No, I don't want a Huion. I tried one of their tablets last year and it broke within 3 months.
No, I don't think buying a used/older model is the best investment with tech.
Uh... I'm also considering buying a house next year, if I can find one cheap enough, so I may actually need my money for that. Or not! Life is chaos, I roll with the punches.
As a millennial I have a hard time believing in 'savings' because, let's be real, money exists to be extorted from you and even if you hold on to it, it doesn't hold value. I turn a profit selling shit I bought on marketplace for the same price I bought it for 2 years earlier.
Should I...
Save up. Tough it out. Build client list to warrant the tech upgrade.
Cintiq time. Spend that money while you can. "Build and they will come"?
Just buy the nice monitor ig. Nice middle ground.
art samples: drawing just on the ipad (no monitor) - good for quick doodles
everyday - ipad + low res monitor setup - thought I was cooking with this, but on a high res screen it looks unfinished ☹️
main job setup that I'm not supposed to use for personal work 😬 - wacom intuos (m) + high res monitor (the intuos gives me hand cramps because of the extra control it takes to draw off screen)
ps - the last two are available as full size wallpapers on my patreon