Going Vertical

One big advantage of owning a display like the HP ZR24w is that it supports both landscape and portrait modes. While I’ve been using my display almost exclusively in landscape mode since I first purchased it, curiosity about the idea of “going vertical” got the best of me, so I went ahead and flipped the display over to portrait mode.

Portrait mode is fantastic for making comic pages. Instead of only seeing a portion of the full image, I can see the entire comic page in one go. To fully use the display for illustration in this mode, I had to adjust my Wacom tablet driver settings to match the orientation of my new display. No biggie. Once the settings were adjusted, my tablet worked like a charm!

Having used this setup all weekend, I’m starting to prefer portrait mode over landscape. I’m curious to know if other digital artists work with portrait mode, and what they think of using a display in this fashion. Share your thoughts in the comments below.

-Krishna

Update: One week in, I’m positively sold on the portrait display. I’ve never been more productive.

Krishna May 20, 2012 desktop setup, display, HP displays, Mac, optimizing your workspace