"The next step was to start using Wacoms for storyboarding, which is exactly where the Cintiq shines here at Cartoon Network," Gonella continues. "The impact has been significantly measurable, because storyboards are mechanically intensive. Not only did the Cintiq significantly speed up the process, it also freed up a lot of the artists' time to make creative decisions."

As soon as the Cintiq 21UX interactive pen display was released, the studio ordered them for all the artists. This also started a migration of design-oriented staff in other divisions of the studio to Cintiqs as well, Gonella notes. "Now our Cartoonstitute development group, a marketing division called Cartoon Network Enterprises, and Creative Services staff are all using Wacom Cintiqs."

Gonella says new users usually have a revelatory second after playing with a Cintiq for a while and seeing what it can do.

"There's a moment with the artists when they say 'aha' and they let go and let it become all it can be, realizing the potential of their computer," he says. "For instance, all of our assets are tracked in databases, and we give the artists access to those databases. Using the Cintiq, they can look up reference rolls very quickly. The storyboard people can just take a production background and drop it into their panels, which helps across the board, because it is on-model and far more accurate."

But the ultimate compliment is the number of Cartoon Network artists who've bought their own personal Cintiq. "The artists get exposed to it here, because we provide it for them," Gonella says. "Then they go home and realize they can't work efficiently, so they end up buying one for home, too. I see it happen all the time."

More Information at www.wacom.com. Image and Video Courtesy of Wacom.