Wacom Tablets

[tooned]

they are fantastic Hans.But not cheap,for me worth the investment

[chrislee8]

since I just bought a tablet not long ago.

I think I like to share my experience.

I think tablet is very very hard to control.

toonMom mentioned tablets can draw everything but straight line. But isn't it straight line is IMPORTANT? If I can't draw a straight line, how do i draw more?

When I learn drawing from school, teacher always teach to practise line first, maybe not perfect straight lines, but drawing lines are very important. I still remember I drew those shading lines.

But now with the tablet, I can't barely draw consistant lines. Say I draw many horizontal and vertical lines on paper, I can draw them consistantly, but on a tablet, they are not line, they slipped, they are curves, not lines.

How do u get around those ?

Thanks

[Draw4You]

Chrislee8

I understand what you say, yet I see people drawing a straigh line with these tablets, so I will learn. Just today on another board I have seen some nice tablet work. I shared how I put a sheet of paper over mine to help. I even use a thin foam sheet, I am looking for maybe a thin rubber sheet. I am looking for ways to help this out.

But with practice and the help with aids, I plan on keeping on.

Mike

[sweetleaf]

hi, one thing I do to achieve a straight line is to 'scribble' a line into place in rough, then I use the eraser to eat into the sides leaving a straight line..

[chrislee8]

Draw4You said:

Chrislee8

I understand what you say, yet I see people drawing a straigh line with these tablets, so I will learn. Just today on another board I have seen some nice tablet work. I shared how I put a sheet of paper over mine to help. I even use a thin foam sheet, I am looking for maybe a thin rubber sheet. I am looking for ways to help this out.

But with practice and the help with aids, I plan on keeping on.

Mike

couple questions:

1. can u share the url of that board?
2. what type of sheet of paper you put over it? I guess it must be very nice but has nice grip/drawing paper feel, but again, stylus pen is not a real pencil, so picking the right paper could be tricky.

thanks for the advice tho.

[chrislee8]

sweetleaf said:

hi, one thing I do to achieve a straight line is to 'scribble' a line into place in rough, then I use the eraser to eat into the sides leaving a straight line..

Don't u think that would be too much work for drawing a straight line?

[Draw4You]

Hey Hans

Do you have an 'Office Depot' (big office super store) over their? Here in the states if you bring your empty printer ink cartridge in, they will give you a free pack of paper. So I make use of this.

Mike


Chrislee8
I will get you the info in a little bit, on the link. As for the paper I put over my tablet I do not tape it on anymore, just lay it on and I use a thick sheet of watercolor paper. Just something not so smooth.

I have another idea I am working on I will tell you after I try it.

[Mark]

hi Mike,
I tried your tip with the paper over the tablet... it makes a huge difference.. much better feel
thanks
Mark

[Draw4You]

Ok Mark

Now take it up one level.
Take some 60 grit sand paper and sand a sheet of paper, something as thick as card stock. This helps even more!


Mike

[sweetleaf]

chrislee8 said:

Don't u think that would be too much work for drawing a straight line?

Depends on how straight you want your line, if you want it to show at the end and also it only takes a half second more than the actual drawing of a line with a ruler. Its not like theres a whole lot of work involved in creating lines in this way, I even use the eraser as a tool to lighten areas quickly or to smooth out other lines, circle edges etc..

[Courtius]

Having a good balance of straights and curves is essential for a strong drawing. As with many effects in Photoshop, there are at least a couple different ways to draw perfectly straight lines. What I usually do, though, is just pull my stroke on the Wacom as quickly as I can. It is not mathematically perfect, but we're not doing architecture here. It's the same when you are inking. It is easier to pull a straight line the faster you move your hand.

But to really get a straight line try this. When you are using the paintbrush or pencil tool, press and hold the Shift key at the same time you draw the line with your stylus. Shift + any key constrains the movement of the cursor to straight side to side or up/down. Unfortunately you can't do any other directions with that.

For perfectly straight lines in any direction, use the Line tool (The line tool is on the same expandable button on the toolbar as the rectangle, circle, elipse, etc tool. And it is directly beneath the Text Tool on the bar). When the line tool is selected, under the line tool options (at the top of the screen in PS6 and above) choose a pixel width of the line. You can, of course also choose a custom color for the line.

These last two options don't exactly contribute to a fluid drawing style, which is why I just usually quickly freehand my straights. But sometimes you might want the solidity and structure of a perfect straight.

Also, when rendering digitally, don't forget the visual power of a crisp edge, rather than a perfect straight one. So much of the digitally colored work I see suffers from too much overblending so that everything is soft and diffuse. Just as a drawing needs a good balance of straights and curves, it needs a good blend of crisp and soft edges.

This is a caricature I did entirely in Painter, from drawing to finish. The values aren't that strong and the colors are a little dead, but I was working from a video still as my reference. And it is even a little too blended for my personal tastes. But the edges are crisp and defined where I absolutely need them, like around the eyes, making them more of a focal point.

[Caricature Shop]

Court-
Thanks for sharing that insight. There are many considerations in a drawing but value and contrast can be your best friends when used properly.
As far as the overblending, I have definitely been guilty of that in the past.

Thanks for sharing!

Rob

[Draw4You]

An Up-date

Well I have down loaded the 30 Day trials on both Illustrator and Corel Painter 8. I found that it is easyer to draw a straight line in these programs then it is in Photoshop.

I like the two programs but the way Illustrator works I have not found a good way to use the eraser tool like it would be used normally.

Has anyone found this out as I have or maybe some input to share?

Mike

[ebethalan]

Okay, so I'm looking at all the caricatures and stuff, and keep seeing these "digital" caricatures. Keep in mind that I'm new to the scene of caricaturing, and that I'm close to computer illiterate (we've had our computer for about 2 months now, and my husband had to explain to me how a forum works) I mostly want to stick to paper for now, but would love to have a graphic tablet to play around with and maybe try to get used to. It took me close to an hour to figure out that that's how people were doing digital pictures) I did a search, but there are LOTS. Different sizes, with different software, yada, yada. Can anyone give me some advice? Is there an inexpensive one that I can get started with? Thanks!! Ebeth

[Draw4You]

Hi ebethalan
You reopen an old thread here. My last post was in Sept-04. As for some input I would say stay strong with you using paper for now. If you must try a tablet, a small one really works very well, and a good way to start for the price. These small tablets hold their own quite well and your not getting much more of an edge by going to a larger tablet. You will be happy with a small Wacom maybe around a 6X6 inch.

But your skills grow on paper if you want to take things on the road!

Mike N.