Tablet Halp

[SolidSpartan]

So recently I got a Bamboo Pen & Touch, it works really well and all, but I'm having a hard time getting acquainted with use of the PS program that it came with. How exactly can I smooth the lines, so it doesn't look like strokes, and make it look more professional, and should I use a different program to color?

Here's a pencil sketch I did awhile ago:
[img]http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2 011/029/2/9/daft_punk_by_adonan-d38cbgy.
png[/img]

I really want to be be able to redo this on the tablet, learn to smoothen it, and color it.

[Daverom]

I don't understand what you're asking, can you give an example of some work you've done with your tablet?

[LotsOfEvil]

He's asking how he can draw with the tablet but have his art look better than it does when he draws it.

Four words: Go home and practice.

[SolidSpartan]

At 2/5/11 03:50 PM, LotsOfEvil wrote: He's asking how he can draw with the tablet but have his art look better than it does when he draws it.

Four words: Go home and practice.

Aww. I read this and at first I thought you understood, but then I realized that you were hopelessly lost (and also a douche at the same time.) Can't really blame you, though, I realize that I didn't word the OP very well. At the time, I was under the impression that you used a certain pen nub for outlining (sort of worrying about my wording here) the sketch once you're done with it.

Then I just watched a ustream of Mike Krahulik drawing a penny arcade strip, and then I figured that instead of using short strokes for the dark lines, it was just long strokes. I guess that the issue was in my extremely poor wording skill and, I suppose my technique as well. So, thanks, I think.

[Toast-Tony]

He gave you the only advice you need. Go home and practice is all you can do, there are no shortcuts to being good.

[SolidSpartan]

At 2/7/11 03:42 AM, Toast-Tony wrote: He gave you the only advice you need. Go home and practice is all you can do, there are no shortcuts to being good.

I'm really not asking for a shortcut to be good at drawing, I'm perfectly fine with the way I draw and the results I get (not saying that I'm good, but I'm just saying that I'm happy with how I draw). I was just looking for an answer to how, for example, Mike Krahulik fixed his sketch and made it outlined rather than strokey, and although on my part I could've just looked there before here, knowing how to do something is completely different from knowing how to do something well.

Lawd, it's like before you read my question, your first instinct was to go "Hurp he's probably whining about how to draw better"

[SolidSpartan]

At 2/7/11 03:42 AM, Toast-Tony wrote:

He gave you the only advice you need. Go home and practice is all you can do, there are no shortcuts to being good.

Well that or my OP's wording was all over the place, which it kind of was, sorry /:

[Droghead]

You could try flash or inkscape. These programs have options so your lines look better.

[SolidSpartan]

At 2/7/11 03:23 PM, Droghead wrote: You could try flash or inkscape. These programs have options so your lines look better.

yeah, for the while I had the flash demo I liked doodling in it. I'll try inkscape since I'm cheap and don't want to spend money :3

[TurkeyOnAStick]

You're going to have to post an example of your current Photoshop work, because I'm struggling to understand what you mean.

I think you're after some painting style like Vonschlippe, where the strokes of the brush aren't obvious (like under the neck, and around the collar bones). If this is the case, you should have a go at customising your brushes. In partcular:
- Lower the opacity to say 40%
- Low hardness of the brush.
- If you have a tablet, try making the brush opacity sensitive to pen pressure.
You can also try downloading some custom brushes off the internet.

... I think that's what you're after?

[Vonschlippe]

At 2/7/11 03:30 PM, TurkeyOnAStick wrote: You're going to have to post an example of your current Photoshop work, because I'm struggling to understand what you mean.

I think you're after some painting style like Vonschlippe, where the strokes of the brush aren't obvious (like under the neck, and around the collar bones). If this is the case, you should have a go at customising your brushes. In partcular:
- Lower the opacity to say 40%
- Low hardness of the brush.
- If you have a tablet, try making the brush opacity sensitive to pen pressure.
You can also try downloading some custom brushes off the internet.

I got a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I read that =P

Anyhow, I must agree it's not immediately obvious what exactly you're trying to do. Are you asking about doing your line-art, coloring, or tools and tricks for the tablet? While it's true there is no substitute for practice when it comes to drawing, there is also a lot of practice involved in the mastery of its tools, such as a wacom pen tablet. Do you have any picture you can post of your current photoshop work, or perhaps the look you're trying to achieve?

[SolidSpartan]

At 2/7/11 04:58 PM, Vonschlippe wrote:

At 2/7/11 03:30 PM, TurkeyOnAStick wrote:

You can also try downloading some custom brushes off the internet.

I got a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I read that =P

Lol, I think so, Turkey, but not nearly to that professional degree haha

And yeah, I'm sorry, I wasn't really that sure how to word what I was looking for.

Like, here is a link to (http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/7055 /peterrobotcrpcopy.gif) an old sketch I did on my tablet, and the last penny arcade strip is attached (sorry, I don't want to advertise, but I don't have an example of my own)

Like, my drawing looks as if it'd been drawn on paper, it's all strokey, and Mike's strip is, well, not strokey, as if you had taken all the strokes and made them all go in one direction collectively. Sort of. Still not sure how to word it ):

It's not exactly skill or practice that I need, it'd still be a drawing of the same thing and all of the lines would be in the same places, they'd just not be as scattered as they are in mine.

[Dynaro]

When I first got a tablet, I thought I got ripped. It just takes lots of time.

[Aigis]

As I understand it you're asking how to make it look like your drawings have single lines for each line, rather than the scratchy, sketchy, hundreds of tiny lines style of drawing that you're currently doing.

The easy answer to that is:

Draw longer lines. Use bolder, more confident long strokes rather than chicken scratchy tiny sketchy ones.

To be able to do that well, and to repeat most of the other people here, requires practice. Also, set the size jitter of your brush to pen pressure.

Here's an example to inquire if this is indeed what you're talking about.

[Vonschlippe]

Like, my drawing looks as if it'd been drawn on paper, it's all strokey, and Mike's strip is, well, not strokey, as if you had taken all the strokes and made them all go in one direction collectively. Sort of. Still not sure how to word it ):

It's not exactly skill or practice that I need, it'd still be a drawing of the same thing and all of the lines would be in the same places, they'd just not be as scattered as they are in mine.

I think, from looking at your previous work, that it's indeed a matter of technique. Multiple pencil strokes, while they may work finely on paper, are (usually) not the way to go around when working with a tablet. The reason being that people tend to divide a long line into many, fine pencil strokes; this is often a source of frustration when using a tablet, since the same technique will rarely provide smooth lines. Although it may strain your hand and mind for a while, you will have to concentrate on creating an entire line out of a single brush stroke. This will not only look a lot finer in the end result, it also signifies you have control and efficiency when you draw. When you are a bit more comfortable, you may add a new degree of difficulty to it all by allowing for pen-pressure control on your tablet. While the results you can obtain with PPC are amazing and very natural, pen pressure absolutely REQUIRES single, fluid brush strokes as multiple lines may give a miserable result.

Practice is at the core of managing good lines and pen control. If I may suggest, have one hand draw the line while the other is resting on Ctrl+Z. You may then immediately undo the line you just made and start over... When I started I sometimes needed 20 attempts to get a single line right!

[Daverom]

At 2/7/11 05:14 PM, SolidSpartan wrote: It's not exactly skill or practice that I need, it'd still be a drawing of the same thing and all of the lines would be in the same places, they'd just not be as scattered as they are in mine.

But what you want to do does take skill and practice, the problem with what you're doing is that you are using a whole bunch of lines for thing's that could easily be portrayed with 1 single line. You need to practice and get a feel for line confidence, and do away with the short scratchy strokes and practice long quick strokes.

[SolidSpartan]

So I finally took everyone's advice into consideration and here's what came out of it. I decided to draw myself. I'm not gonna lie, I may have changed a few things, lol.

Well, considering I usually don't do a cartoony style, I'm kinda happy with how it came out. Thanks all :3 I'm gonna try to redo the guy in the suit like you did, Aigis.