Microsoft showcases how the Surface Book is the ultimate canvas for artists

Jonny Caldwell

The Surface Book is great laptop/tablet hybrid that works well for many people. Among some of the kinds of people that the Surface Book is great for are artists, and it’s easy to see why. The device has a decent screen area for artists’ creativity to begin, and it comes and a very precise Surface Pen for drawing fine lines.
Jordan Crane is a comic book artist, and a perfect example of someone who can use a Surface Book to make great pieces of art. He starts off by making quick rough sketches, then he slowly draws over them and gives them much greater detail. In an interview with Microsoft, he describes his process,

“I’ll start by writing doing a quick thumbnail. I’ll then go to the Surface and I’ll do the super rough pencils. Then I’ll go in and do a tighter version of the pencils.”

Comic book artist Jordan Crane sketching on his Surface Book.
He goes on describing how great the Surface Pen is for his drawings,

“In older digital technologies, there’s a space between the tip of your pen and where you’re actually drawing on the screen. With the Surface, when you put that pen on the screen, you’re basically touching the drawing.”

Of course, black and white drawing aren’t all he does. He also adds great color to the covers of his comic books.

” One of my joys of screen printing is mixing the colors, and you can’t get that by sending them a color guide. I have to do it. I look at the Surface, I mix the paint, then I see the interaction of the colors. And if that works, it’s perfect. So in that sense, it’s like the means to the end. It’s the tools that gets me into this final print.”

He also has some pretty nice advice for young artists.

“If you just keep doing it you will find your voice and your expression, and every’s got it. Even when they don’t feel they have something, they’ve got it. It’s just you’ve gotta keep doing it.”


The Surface Book is available now from a variety of retailers and sources. Are the Surface Book’s creative capabilities something that interest you? Let us know in the comments below.