My First Sketch with a tablet!

[McZero]

My first sketch in photoshop with a tablet. yeah.. it's crap. But I'm open to suggestions! I can never do feet facing twords the audience, and faces. teh rest I'm good with.

also why is it so pixely? I like it.

Link

[wasb]

I wouldn't have wasted money on a tablet just yet, you still need to get better at drawing on paper. I would suggest studying human anatomy (you can find anatomy resources at places like posemaniacs). Don't use your tablet until you are comfortable drawing on paper.

[McZero]

At 8/4/08 09:35 PM, wasb wrote: I wouldn't have wasted money on a tablet just yet, you still need to get better at drawing on paper. I would suggest studying human anatomy (you can find anatomy resources at places like posemaniacs). Don't use your tablet until you are comfortable drawing on paper.

Well I recently did a sketch of a hand on a knight, and it actually turned out alright. But my sis colored it so now he's fab. and his arm is a purple blob. Also I'm quite comfortable drawing on paper. Thanks for the link, but it dosn't do anything...

[ReNaeNae]

At 8/4/08 09:35 PM, wasb wrote: Don't use your tablet until you are comfortable drawing on paper.

BOO! I think that's horrible advice! :(

McZero, Use your tablet every chance you get!!! It takes time to get used to and there's no reason why you can't learn anatomy ...or any other aspect of drawing ...while getting used to a tablet too!

[McZero]

At 8/4/08 09:42 PM, ReNaeNae wrote:

At 8/4/08 09:35 PM, wasb wrote: Don't use your tablet until you are comfortable drawing on paper.

BOO! I think that's horrible advice! :(

McZero, Use your tablet every chance you get!!! It takes time to get used to and there's no reason why you can't learn anatomy ...or any other aspect of drawing ...while getting used to a tablet too!

Ok! Thanks, all I had to work with was memory from 1 year ago in art class about how to draw pyramids, then I saw this animating book, and that's all I could remember. Have a stick figure type guy then trace over.

[wasb]

At 8/4/08 09:42 PM, ReNaeNae wrote:

At 8/4/08 09:35 PM, wasb wrote: Don't use your tablet until you are comfortable drawing on paper.

BOO! I think that's horrible advice! :(

McZero, Use your tablet every chance you get!!! It takes time to get used to and there's no reason why you can't learn anatomy ...or any other aspect of drawing ...while getting used to a tablet too!

Hey there's no reason why you can't learn to run while you are crawling...
Look, if you don't have the basics of anatomy down flat there is no way in the world you can be successful at drawing with your tablet it's hard to learn how to draw on a tablet while teaching yourself how to draw correct anatomy, I should know! I got my tablet early on before I could anatomically correct people.

It was awful, so I said to myself "I should learn anatomy first!" So a couple months later I went back to my tablet and I was very satisfied with the result of months of hard work.

[Dezimo]

At 8/4/08 09:42 PM, ReNaeNae wrote:

At 8/4/08 09:35 PM, wasb wrote: Don't use your tablet until you are comfortable drawing on paper.

BOO! I think that's horrible advice! :(

i agree with wasb

you aren't gonna go anywhere with a tablet unless you can draw well on paper first

i've been using a tablet badly for 2 months,
and earlier today i've started practicing drawing on paper again, learning anatomy and drawing techniques etc, because i realised my skills with the tablet weren't going anywhere fast

[BlackmarketKraig]

Drawing with a tablet and drawing on paper are pretty different skills, like sculpting with clay and sculpting with stone. You might wind up with a similar thing in the end but the techniques you employ are totally different. Even if you draw well on paper you pretty much need to re-learn drawing now that you have a different medium to work with.

That said the fundamentals of anatomy are universal and will help you with any aspect of objective art involving things that have anatomy (probably won't help too much with landscapes and non-objective abstraction etc.) and if your intent is to draw people, cartoon or not, it is important to learn, but there is no reason you can't learn anatomy on a tablet or even with a mouse, imo.

Regardless, the key is practice and study. Do those and you'll see marked improvement.

[fofizzle]

At 8/4/08 10:23 PM, Dezimo wrote:

At 8/4/08 09:42 PM, ReNaeNae wrote:

At 8/4/08 09:35 PM, wasb wrote: Don't use your tablet until you are comfortable drawing on paper.

BOO! I think that's horrible advice! :(

i agree with wasb

you aren't gonna go anywhere with a tablet unless you can draw well on paper first

That's not at all true. the feel of drawing on a tablet and the feel of drawing on paper is not at all similar. You can be amazing at drawing on paper but you may be terrible at using a tablet. All it takes is practice and the ability to draw in the first place.

[Dezimo]

At 8/4/08 10:59 PM, fofizzle wrote:

At 8/4/08 10:23 PM, Dezimo wrote: i agree with wasb

you aren't gonna go anywhere with a tablet unless you can draw well on paper first

That's not at all true. the feel of drawing on a tablet and the feel of drawing on paper is not at all similar. You can be amazing at drawing on paper but you may be terrible at using a tablet. All it takes is practice and the ability to draw in the first place.

well of course you can be fantastic on paper, but not on the tablet
in that case it'd just be a matter of getting used to using it

but i think learning to draw well on paper first is gonna make learning t use the tablet a lot easier!
sure you can learn drawing techniques and stuff with the tablet first, but for most people it's a lot easier to start off on paper first

[PointyStuff]

Just keep practicing dude, i know exactly how hard it is to draw with a tablet. I just got mine about a week ago, and switching from paper to tablet is like learning to walk again. This is the first thing i tried to draw, nothin fancy, just a cartoonish robot (i was to lazy to add shading)http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=
k3ndix&s=4

[Dezimo]

At 8/5/08 01:50 AM, PointyStuff wrote: and switching from paper to tablet is like learning to walk again.

hmm, is it really that hard for some people :S

the first time i'd used a tablet, my drawing quality was fine
it's just like drawing on paper only i have to look at the screen instead of my hand

of course it's a little harder, but it's still easy :P

guess i'm lucky :D

[Peaceblossom]

At 8/4/08 10:57 PM, BlackmarketKraig wrote: but there is no reason you can't learn anatomy on a tablet or even with a mouse, imo.

I say fuck anatomy. I've strayed away from drawing people with my tablet because it's just plain harder than on paper.

One thing I could suggest is not to simply draw an outline an color it in, but to start layering your image at a low opacity and slowly working in colors over top to produce something free of any harsh lines or colors. You really have to have an idea of how everything will look to do this, but it gets rid of anything harsh.

[fredstermaster]

At 8/5/08 07:50 AM, Peaceblossom wrote:

At 8/4/08 10:57 PM, BlackmarketKraig wrote: but there is no reason you can't learn anatomy on a tablet or even with a mouse, imo.

I say fuck anatomy. I've strayed away from drawing people with my tablet because it's just plain harder than on paper.

One thing I could suggest is not to simply draw an outline an color it in, but to start layering your image at a low opacity and slowly working in colors over top to produce something free of any harsh lines or colors. You really have to have an idea of how everything will look to do this, but it gets rid of anything harsh.

Yeah! you just sketch and play around with some ideas with alow opacity, then go over your drawing more and more untill you have a final picture. From there.. I either go on illustrator and do a clean line trace and take it back to photoshop to colour, or just leave it in sketch style (some pictures look best this way XP)

(also... I only noticed this recently... but do you see "some account type thingy here" displayed at the bottom and top of forum pages?? CONFUSED O_O

[GoddaM]

At 8/4/08 09:27 PM, McZero wrote: I can never do feet facing twords the audience, and faces.teh rest I'm good with.

no---no you're not. work on your anatomy before you enter the digital art realm.

we must learn to crawl before we can walk and then run

[Blain-The-Pain]

You know guys, you don't need to bring up anatomy too much, he could be aiming for a more cartoony style where proportions aren't really necessary. He still needs to work on it a lot, but just saying anatomy over and over again won't help.

[Matt2k8]

At 8/4/08 09:42 PM, ReNaeNae wrote:

At 8/4/08 09:35 PM, wasb wrote: Don't use your tablet until you are comfortable drawing on paper.

BOO! I think that's horrible advice! :(

McZero, Use your tablet every chance you get!!! It takes time to get used to and there's no reason why you can't learn anatomy ...or any other aspect of drawing ...while getting used to a tablet too!

i agree im recently using my tablet and its really hard im a good draw'er on paper but the tablets takes time to get used too

[seVereo]

Tablets don't take time to get used to. Its like holding a pen. You might want to play around with its settings till you get something you like.

[Chymo]

Drawing with a Tablet is a completely different kettle of fish to drawing traditionally. It feels extremely strange at first and you have to retrain your brain, as your usually used to drawing on what your looking at. With the tablet your hands move freely from your canvas, so to speak. It takes a while but you get used to it. Also I definately recommend drawing using pencil, it will help you develop quickly. Even do Tablet drawing and some traditional drawing.

[Hogarou]

hey not to bad, this is my first tablet drawing, i bought a wacom :)

[Carnage2211]

At 10/15/08 10:29 PM, Hogarou wrote: hey not to bad, this is my first tablet drawing, i bought a wacom :)

lol i have a wacom :D

heres mine i guess

well the first .jpg or . gif one i made

lol its a klown :D don't worry man i sucked too u will get better with enough practice :D i hope i gave you motivation

[seVereo]

You all must be rich, I'm a professional designer and I don't even have a wacom. I'm using a 30 dollar genies 3 year old craplet that isnt supported in the 64bit format.

[raveninskyprime]

At 8/4/08 10:57 PM, BlackmarketKraig wrote: Drawing with a tablet and drawing on paper are pretty different skills, like sculpting with clay and sculpting with stone. You might wind up with a similar thing in the end but the techniques you employ are totally different. Even if you draw well on paper you pretty much need to re-learn drawing now that you have a different medium to work with.

That said the fundamentals of anatomy are universal and will help you with any aspect of objective art involving things that have anatomy (probably won't help too much with landscapes and non-objective abstraction etc.) and if your intent is to draw people, cartoon or not, it is important to learn, but there is no reason you can't learn anatomy on a tablet or even with a mouse, imo.

Regardless, the key is practice and study. Do those and you'll see marked improvement.

Wow, this is exactly what I had to go through when learning to use my tablet... My first reaction was simply making an image happen on the screen that's vertical rather than across a horizontal table or even an easel.

That and the simple fact that when drawing on paper one sees the image coming from the pen... When one is using a tablet, the drawing is happening in one place while the image is being formed in another.

Both require practice, it helps to already have some drawing experience under your belt... but when learning one after using the other always feels like 10 or 20 steps backwards....

practice. It works.

[gregaaron89]

At 10/16/08 01:02 AM, seVereo wrote: You all must be rich, I'm a professional designer and I don't even have a wacom. I'm using a 30 dollar genies 3 year old craplet that isnt supported in the 64bit format.

You can get one for $100. Also, I think drawing something on paper, (then inking with microns if you want) scanning it in to photoshop and coloring it with a tablet is a nice way to do it.

[WolfAkela]

Was wondering where my topic went, lol.

Anyways, one of my first try at a tablet (first time I used one, barring a tablet PC). It's a 6x8 graphire4 I borrowed from my cousin for about a week. :D

My impressions:
- Adopting isn't THAT bad/hard.
- When it comes to perfect (straight/curve) stuff, I'd prefer the mouse. But when it comes to organic/sketchy looks, using a tablet is 10x better.
- FBF animation is like a million times easier and more convenient with a tablet. :D

I'm gonna save up for a 4x5.

Higher res

[McJesus]

PROTIP: DRAW ALOT WITH YOUR TABLET

The ONLY way to get better on a tablet is to draw as often as you can! You'll get used to it and you'll get better.

[CardboardBox]

I've never been good with photoshop >.< or well...any kind of paint programs, so all or your pictures look way better than anything I've done...

[theraginginferno]

you should try the flash tutorials on how to draw faces if you can't get them to face you. try experimenting around, play a bit with the features and stuff. my tip for drawing bodies- look at yourself in the mirror- study yourself and see how your body all flows together, and you can get to draw much more realistic pics. bye :D

[Artist-Lost]

This is the first image I have made with my New Bamboo Tablet. I posted it previously however it was decided that it is best to keep the 1st images here so here is my work.

[Artist-Lost]

While it is important to spend as much time practicing with the tablet as possible I cannot stress the importance of also practicing a lot of traditional media such as oil paint, ink, and even pencil on paper. The problem with tablets is that they speed up your work so fast that most people if they start too soon and only use tablets will never do more then an hour or so's work. When you work traditionally you will train yourself to spend more time on a piece and also the different techniques you will learn help quite a lot when working on the tablet.