Drawing Tablets

[Haruki-kun]

So I've recently acquired my very own new drawing tablet. Yay! I was wondering how many people here have experience with them and can offer any advice on them? It looks like it's really hard to get used to them. :smalleek:

[Thanqol]

So I've recently acquired my very own new drawing tablet. Yay! I was wondering how many people here have experience with them and can offer any advice on them? It looks like it's really hard to get used to them. :smalleek:

The initial learning curve is a complete jerk and it was like re-learning everything from scratch, but after a month or two it was smoother and far more natural than drawing on paper. What programs are you using with it?

Day 1 of having a tablet looked like this.

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/3908/day34.jpg

A month later I was throwin' out these

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/8287/day69.jpg

And another month this

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4049/day119.jpg

General tips: Ctrl-z is your friend.

Work out a grip where you're not gonna accidentally hit the clicker button

Wear a glove on your pen hand.

Practise long, smooth strokes until you can get straight lines on demand. Zoom in for detail work.

Do everything on dementedly large resolution canvasses. 2000x2000 is a great resolution size.

[Dispozition]

Tablets are pretty awesome, but completely unlike using a pencil and paper.

I find the main things are liberal use of your hotkeys, mostly for undo, changing the tool you're using in PS, and zooming and whatnot. I find if you're using Photoshop, bind space to your forward pen button so that you can move the canvas extremely easily.

For actually using it, the main thing is practice makes perfect. Find the sensitivity that suits you and learn the ratio of movement to your screen. Learn what brush sizes and sensitivities work best for what you want to do, normally through experimenting.

Mostly it just takes time to get it.

Oh and yeah, long, broad strokes, not smaller ones. Longer strokes will be smoother and more constant.

I don't agree with the glove thing though...That's personal preference. I hate using my tablet with a glove.

[dehro]

may I jump on board with a side question?
is using a tablet in any way a help for the terminally useless at drawing?
I'm seriously bad at it, which sucks.. because I have a lot of ideas that I would like to be able to put on paper...or file...
so.. if I were to buy a tablet..would it be a help, or would it just drive home the point that I might as well try to build a house of cards during a tornado?

[Thanqol]

may I jump on board with a side question?
is using a tablet in any way a help for the terminally useless at drawing?
I'm seriously bad at it, which sucks.. because I have a lot of ideas that I would like to be able to put on paper...or file...
so.. if I were to buy a tablet..would it be a help, or would it just drive home the point that I might as well try to build a house of cards during a tornado?

It will neither help nor hinder. What will help you learn to draw is practise, endless amounts of practise. The tablet won't magic wand you through it.

I'll recommend getting one because tablets are great fun and it's one of my favourite tools. But don't expect miracles.

[Trazoi]

may I jump on board with a side question?
is using a tablet in any way a help for the terminally useless at drawing?
The biggest ways it's helping me is that I can: undo stuff use virtual paints/charcoals/erasers with no mess draw over other sketches or training images without a lightbox sketch as much stuff as I want without using any paper
It's not a complete replacement for paper sketching but it's a big help with learning.

[Kasanip]

It is different to use than to draw on paper. But it is very convenient also and some skills are the same, I think. It may be fun to try to draw in different ways with tablet.

There are very good tutorial for tablet using. Maybe you can try like these tutorials (http://tech.clip-studio.com/howto/illuststudio/ninkieshi/top). Please enjoy using a pen tablet. :smallredface:

[dehro]

The biggest ways it's helping me is that I can: undo stuff use virtual paints/charcoals/erasers with no mess draw over other sketches or training images without a lightbox sketch as much stuff as I want without using any paper
It's not a complete replacement for paper sketching but it's a big help with learning.

cool..so I'll still suck terribly, but starting anew, or taking it back to somewhere I'm kinda happy with, will be easier.

mmmh..I'll wait for better times to buy a tablet, and keep describing stuff with words, for the time being.

[Dr.Epic]

So I've recently acquired my very own new drawing tablet. Yay! I was wondering how many people here have experience with them and can offer any advice on them? It looks like it's really hard to get used to them. :smalleek:

Not really. It maybe takes a day to adjust to how a pen works on tablet. At first, I thought it'd be more like a mouse.

As to art and the like, if your using something like photoshop, layers and opacity are things to always keep in mind. Also, tablets are pressure sensitive so the harder you push down, the thicker the stroke.

[Kaytara]

Trazoi has the right of it. The best way tablets can help you progress in your drawing skills is giving you room for creativity. Layers, hotkeys, selections, the undo button. You know that awful feeling when you're not quite satisfied with the way a certain part was drawn but are afraid that when you erase it, you won't be able to do it even that well? Or when you have a part down perfectly, if only it were half a millimeter to the right? Yeah, that's not a problem anymore.

[Haruki-kun]

The initial learning curve is a complete jerk and it was like re-learning everything from scratch, but after a month or two it was smoother and far more natural than drawing on paper. What programs are you using with it?

Day 1 of having a tablet looked like this.

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/3908/day34.jpg

A month later I was throwin' out these

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/8287/day69.jpg

And another month this

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4049/day119.jpg

General tips: Ctrl-z is your friend.

Work out a grip where you're not gonna accidentally hit the clicker button

Wear a glove on your pen hand.

Practise long, smooth strokes until you can get straight lines on demand. Zoom in for detail work.

Do everything on dementedly large resolution canvasses. 2000x2000 is a great resolution size.

Thank you, that's very helpful. As for what programs I'm using: only Photoshop and Illustrator. All I have access to right now.


It is different to use than to draw on paper. But it is very convenient also and some skills are the same, I think. It may be fun to try to draw in different ways with tablet.

There are very good tutorial for tablet using. Maybe you can try like these tutorials (http://tech.clip-studio.com/howto/illuststudio/ninkieshi/top). Please enjoy using a pen tablet. :smallredface:

Thanks, but I'm afraid my Japanese is not that good. :smallredface:


Trazoi has the right of it. The best way tablets can help you progress in your drawing skills is giving you room for creativity. Layers, hotkeys, selections, the undo button. You know that awful feeling when you're not quite satisfied with the way a certain part was drawn but are afraid that when you erase it, you won't be able to do it even that well? Or when you have a part down perfectly, if only it were half a millimeter to the right? Yeah, that's not a problem anymore.

That's pretty useful. One of my biggest problems while drawing is that I'm a messy sketcher, to the point where many of my drawings end up being ruined by too much redoing.

[Nix Nihila]

cool..so I'll still suck terribly, but starting anew, or taking it back to somewhere I'm kinda happy with, will be easier.

mmmh..I'll wait for better times to buy a tablet, and keep describing stuff with words, for the time being.

I'm certainly no authority on the subject, but I have helped teach art classes and I tend to find that giving in to the urge to constantly start anew ends up hindering artistic development rather than helping. I'm a fan of observational exercises and simply making lots of finished or semi-finished drawings.

[Mina Kobold]

Practice is the most important part, as wiser posters have mentioned, but I found that looking up tutorials or guides on digital art helped me a lot as well. A lot of things are much easier once you understand what's behind them, and tutorials will help you realise that much better than trial and error. :smallsmile:

Other than that, I don't think I have much new to add, maybe that sketching, inking and colouring are best suited for at least one layer each?

[dehro]

a glove?:smallconfused:

[Haruki-kun]

a glove?:smallconfused:

Oh, yeah, I forgot I was gonna ask about this, too. Why should I wear a glove on my pen hand? :smallconfused:

[Domochevsky]

Oh, yeah, I forgot I was gonna ask about this, too. Why should I wear a glove on my pen hand? :smallconfused:

Hm... i guess because your sweat might damage the drawing sheet in the long run. Good practice i guess, but not enough to really worry you, as these sheets can be replaced. (I don't use a glove either.) Too much effort to put one on each time i want to scribble something down too, but it can make for a good "Ima draw now" signal to yourself.. (And it decreases your tactile feeling, which is bad for detail drawing.) :smallsmile:

[Kaytara]

...Which is why, whenever you use a glove while drawing, it makes sense to cut off the glove's fingertips. That way you protect your drawing/sheet AND keep your tactile sensitivity. :smallwink:

[Kaytara]

...Which is why, whenever you use a glove while drawing, it makes sense to cut off the glove's fingertips. That way you protect your drawing/sheet AND keep your tactile sensitivity. :smallwink:

[Thanqol]

...Which is why, whenever you use a glove while drawing, it makes sense to cut off the glove's fingertips. That way you protect your drawing/sheet AND keep your tactile sensitivity. :smallwink:

Or just kill a hobo and take his glove buy fingerless gloves. I find, if nothing else, it smooths my movements when my pen hand is resting on the tablet.

[Haruki-kun]

Or just kill a hobo and take his glove buy fingerless gloves. I find, if nothing else, it smooths my movements when my pen hand is resting on the tablet.

I have some of those, I'll try it out next time I'm drawing. :smallcool:

[Dispozition]

I honestly hate using a glove when using my tablet. I find it actually jerks my motions more since I find myself pressing my hand down harder since I have less feel of my hand on the tablet.

[dehro]

Or just kill a hobo and take his glove .

how bad is it that my first thought was "that makes sense"??

[Haruki-kun]

First tablet drawing (not finished). Unfortunately, the Tablet has not fixed my crappy drawing skills much.

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll190/Haruki-san/Non-OOTS/Screenshot2011-10-18at65225PM.png

[Domochevsky]

Needs more hands/happieness. :smallsmile:

[Haruki-kun]

Needs more hands/happieness. :smallsmile:

He's supposed to represent depression, though....

[Dispozition]

As I said before...You want to use longer, more stable strokes. You've sketched more like a pencil there with shorter strokes. You should also use a smaller brush, I normally use a size that's just a few pixels larger than the thickest portion of lining I'll need (depending on the scale of the document) and abuse that pressure like a biatch. I generally find myself being quite light with strokes and only applying ample pressure when it's needed.

[Crimmy]

http://th01.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/293/2/e/isaac_the_devil_by_devil_drawer1988-d4ddyw3.png

Look at this.
What you wanna do is draw with one stroke. Not swift, simply do it in one go. One for the head, one for each horn, etc.

If you can't do it at first, what you can do is still do small messy strokes, and when you're done, over it draw in one line, and then erase the original, messy layer.

[Haruki-kun]

As I said before...You want to use longer, more stable strokes. You've sketched more like a pencil there with shorter strokes. You should also use a smaller brush, I normally use a size that's just a few pixels larger than the thickest portion of lining I'll need (depending on the scale of the document) and abuse that pressure like a biatch. I generally find myself being quite light with strokes and only applying ample pressure when it's needed.


http://th01.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/293/2/e/isaac_the_devil_by_devil_drawer1988-d4ddyw3.png

Look at this.
What you wanna do is draw with one stroke. Not swift, simply do it in one go. One for the head, one for each horn, etc.

If you can't do it at first, what you can do is still do small messy strokes, and when you're done, over it draw in one line, and then erase the original, messy layer.

Oh, that's pretty useful, thanks! I'll put it to good use. And yeah, I'll probably start out with Messy layer -> Clean layer.

Second Tablet drawing:
http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll190/Haruki-san/Non-OOTS/Screenshot2011-10-20at14105PM.png

[Bayar]

So I've recently acquired my very own new drawing tablet. Yay! I was wondering how many people here have experience with them and can offer any advice on them? It looks like it's really hard to get used to them. :smalleek:

A pretty good advice for when you are starting out on a tablet: put a sheet of paper over your tablet. That way, it will be more like drawing on paper than on a smooth surface.

[Crimmy]

A pretty good advice for when you are starting out on a tablet: put a sheet of paper over your tablet. That way, it will be more like drawing on paper than on a smooth surface.

However, it might whittle down your pen's tip, so try at your own risk.

[Bayar]

However, it might whittle down your pen's tip, so try at your own risk.

Well, using that method the first few days to get accustomed to the tablet should not cause too much stress.