So the main tablet pen finally gave out, and replacing it would cost the next couple months worth of food. In the meantime work will continue with a very sub-optimal alternative, eg. using the old Intuos pen, which is only about 1/8th as pressure sensitive, and has about 4mm of placement drift due to being calibrated for a different surface...but it works, it's only slightly less frustrating than not having a working pen.
But here's a quick warmup piece in trying to figure out all the new quirks that have to be accounted for in the workflow.