New to Graphics Tablets

[GoblinGilmartin]

For Cyber Monday, I bought myself a graphics tablet, thanks to some repressed desire to become the next Egoraptor. It's a Turcom Tursion model, and I was just wondering if anyone had any tips for using a tablet, or for design/animation in general? I'm looking more for techniques than just general use.

[flyingchicken]

I think you should buy spare pens, learn to draw (harder than it sounds, but animation-centric drawing tends to focus on gesture and motion), learn to animate (I've been pointed to this book (http://www.welcometopixelton.com/downloads/Animation%20by%20Preston%20Blair.pdf) for the very basics, and ofc there's The Illusion of Life which you could get at Amazon or someplace), follow good artists and animators (personal websites, blogs, etc). Graphics tablets aren't necessary for digital art or animation, Shmorky (of the Flash Tub (http://www.somethingawful.com/flash-tub/)) uses a mouse for digital drawing and animating for instance, as do (I imagine) a few other artists. Get used to using a tablet: find a comfortable position and don't glance at the tablet or whatever (I don't know anyone who does this but people warn against it, I mean it's not like a keyboard where if you look you can see where a character is, with a tablet looking at it will tell you nothing).

Some people aren't comfortable with smooth surfaces of most cheap tablets, you can use taped-over sketchpad paper for a little bit of texture; it's just a matter of preference. If your tablet has a plastic, fold-able sheet on it (by my googling, it does--if it's stuck/not apparent you can tell when sweat/water spreads under the surface), don't put it anywhere near something that can get very hot (say, a laptop's exhaust) because it'll warp and be annoying and potentially unusable.

You want "techniques" for "design/animation", and I think best way short of taking courses is to just go out there and look for it (and I do think it's out there, just not put-together); you won't get it by asking for it, at least, I don't think it'll be enough. Here (http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-draw-learn)'s a starting point for learning to draw (which would encompass design), with books to get and links to stuff.

[GoblinGilmartin]

I think you should buy spare pens, learn to draw (harder than it sounds, but animation-centric drawing tends to focus on gesture and motion), learn to animate (I've been pointed to this book (http://www.welcometopixelton.com/downloads/Animation%20by%20Preston%20Blair.pdf) for the very basics, and ofc there's The Illusion of Life which you could get at Amazon or someplace), follow good artists and animators (personal websites, blogs, etc). Graphics tablets aren't necessary for digital art or animation, Shmorky (of the Flash Tub (http://www.somethingawful.com/flash-tub/)) uses a mouse for digital drawing and animating for instance, as do (I imagine) a few other artists. Get used to using a tablet: find a comfortable position and don't glance at the tablet or whatever (I don't know anyone who does this but people warn against it, I mean it's not like a keyboard where if you look you can see where a character is, with a tablet looking at it will tell you nothing).

Some people aren't comfortable with smooth surfaces of most cheap tablets, you can use taped-over sketchpad paper for a little bit of texture; it's just a matter of preference. If your tablet has a plastic, fold-able sheet on it (by my googling, it does--if it's stuck/not apparent you can tell when sweat/water spreads under the surface), don't put it anywhere near something that can get very hot (say, a laptop's exhaust) because it'll warp and be annoying and potentially unusable.

You want "techniques" for "design/animation", and I think best way short of taking courses is to just go out there and look for it (and I do think it's out there, just not put-together); you won't get it by asking for it, at least, I don't think it'll be enough. Here (http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-draw-learn)'s a starting point for learning to draw (which would encompass design), with books to get and links to stuff.

Thanks for the resources! I mean, I kind of already can draw. I mean, I can't do clean lines very well, but I'm on my way to a style...

as for animation, I was thinking about the different processes for producing one. I've seen some animation that seems to utilize a kind of paper-doll style, where you can move pieces around, but then I've also seen some artists that just redraw every frame in a more classic sense.

[flyingchicken]

Thanks for the resources!No problem, I like to reflect on what I've haphazardly gathered over the years anyway :) It's a painful, disheartening journey and saving someone else some grief warms my bitter heart


I'm on my way to a style...I don't know how good you are, but that's a bit of a red flag to me, chasing after "a style" is fine (after all, you want to draw what you want to see), but gunning for it is, I believe, most beginners' and long-time bad artists' big mistake; stylization comes after a basic grasp of the fundamentals, whether it be color theory (http://www.huevaluechroma.com/), values, composition, gesture, anatomy, perspective, a grasp of forms, etc. and if you have that, it won't matter if you draw "realistically" or "cartoony", with a tablet or with cheetos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXigfZGqsLM).


as for animation, I was thinking about the different processes for producing one. I've seen some animation that seems to utilize a kind of paper-doll style, where you can move pieces around, but then I've also seen some artists that just redraw every frame in a more classic sense. Well, I don't know anything about animation, but I believe it's gonna be the same, that the fundamentals "don't care" for how you make it. Take this for example:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/a7e3159e51a75e3d3362684ec6943773/tumblr_mjb8kxERc91r6625fo1_500.gif
source (http://blog.davidoreilly.com/post/44808009355/this-is-a-simple-motion-diagram-thing-i-made-when)

I think whether you just move a cut-out frame by frame or painstakingly draw every frame, it'll never look good or quite right if you just evenly tween it like in #1 or even #2 (though I imagine they're appropriate for *some* things, but a lot of animation of organic creatures/people) (this is specifically "ease and settle" I believe, and you could read more about it here (http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/2009/09/could-you-explain-animation-terms.html))

[GoblinGilmartin]

I think whether you just move a cut-out frame by frame or painstakingly draw every frame, it'll never look good or quite right if you just evenly tween it like in #1 or even #2 (though I imagine they're appropriate for *some* things, but a lot of animation of organic creatures/people) (this is specifically "ease and settle" I believe, and you could read more about it here (http://www.animationtipsandtricks.com/2009/09/could-you-explain-animation-terms.html))

O.O Shiny.....

Thanks again.