Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious and adding the meaningful. ― John Maeda, The Laws of Simplicity.

I love technology, its been a key part of my life. But I only like what works and what has a purpose and recently that got me thinking.

Over the last year or so I've been doing more and more digital artwork. Over the last month or so I've been playing more and more with my Samsung tablet and creating more of my artwork using that.

My current set up is this:

I have my desktop PC (a reasonably powerful machine) going into 3 monitors. My Wacom Cintiq is the 4th screen and from this I can run the full Adobe Suite quite happily. I run Autodesk Software (Maya & Mudbox) and also use it for Video and Audio production work.

I also have a reasonably powerful Windows laptop which also runs all the same software and can run 2 additional monitors (or just 1 and my Cintiq as the 2nd). Add to this technology menagerie a Samsung Galaxy Tablet and Samsung Phone and .... well it's a lot of stuff.

I've been playing about with my tablet a lot more these past few months, using Autodesk Sketchbook primarily. And the other day I thought to myself, "Do I NEED all this?"

The answer .... well ... no .... I don't think I do.

So, I had a bit of a think about what I have and what I think I want or am going to try to do Art & Design wise, and THIS is the new plan:

 The Desktop PC is going to go ! 

(This actually gives me a ton of space as it was a huge Alienware beast of a machine).

The Samsung Tablet running a mix of android and Samsung Dex will become the weapon of choice. Courtesy of screen casting and a decent USB hub I can still work on multiple screens or my Cintiq if I choose to. Moving to this setup could give me some greater flexibility in the way I work, and I will still have the laptop to do some of the heavy lifting if I need it.

There's going to be some trial and error in wiring the office so I wont sell the Desktop juuuust yet (always good to have a plan B !) 

But I reckon it will work.

If you're interested my new setup will be: Samsung Galaxy Tab, Samsung S9 Phone, Wacom Cintiq, 1 USB hub, 3 x 1 TB SSD Hard Drives, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 & Condenser Mic, Onkyo Home Cinema System

It's not easy keeping a diary. You have to be pretty committed - Karl Pilkington

I have never been one for 'keeping a diary' but I have decided to do a few new things this year. (not dieting or jogging....no thanks!) 

So to that end I have decided to 'log' what I do creatively. I will be doing this retrospectively so this first post is a few weeks behind reality but I think that's ok as It gives me a chance to reflect and see if any of this was a good idea. I don't know if anyone will be interested in reading any of this. But it seems like a good idea, so what the hell! 

So lets go boldly where many, many people have gone before.

G Force's log, star date ... 1  .... so far so good.