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[Icebird]

Do you draw with traditional pencils and markers? Or are you more into digital sketching and painting? Or both? Or maybe something entirely different? I know from own experience that sometimes you come across a picture made by different methods than what you're used to/know of and it makes you wonder. So why not learn from each other?  

I looked but found no place to exchange tips and tricks, be it for traditional sketching, digital painting, doll making or whatever, so I made this. (If there is such a thread already I apologize and would like a pointer in the right direction )



Now, my own reason for this is that I just collected my new Wacom tablet today. I'm as green as they come, it's my first time using a tablet, aside for a 5 minute try out a year ago, and so I wondered if anyone has any great tips on learning how to use a tablet the best way?

For one I'm wondering about the pressure effect of the pen. I see the genius in the ability to make softer/lighter and harder/darker strokesbut then where does the actual highlights and shadows come into the picture (and how) if we talk digital painting?

Just one of my newbie questions, but no idea in overwhelming the thread already. I hope others will find use of this place too.

[Foxeye]

Now, my own reason for this is that I just collected my new Wacom tablet today.

Congratulations!   So all your coloring till now has been mouse-done?   

I wondered if anyone has any great tips on learning how to use a tablet the best way?

It's really about you exploring and getting accustomed to it at this stage.  Be sure to calibrate it if you haven't already, of course.
Otherwise any technique's I mention might get in the way of you developing your own feel for it.  You definitely want to learn the beat of your own drum first, and then start scouring deviantart and other art sites for tutorials.  

For one I'm wondering about the pressure effect of the pen. I see the genius in the ability to make softer/lighter and harder/darker strokesbut then where does the actual highlights and shadows come into the picture (and how) if we talk digital painting?

Unless you are using Painter with some very inventive configuration on a brush, pressure sensitivity is really a separate issue from lights/darks.  Whatever method you used with the mouse will work here...the pressure sensitivity just lets you be more organic and natural with it.  Many people who are starting out with digital painting like to use one layer for highlights (layer type set to screen or lighten) and a different one for shadows (layer type set to multiply), until they feel more confident with their abilities to choose the right hues for shadows and light.  I use a number of shortcuts myself if I get stumped.  But that's more the software than the tablet.

One thing I like is to be able to readily toggle the pressure sensitivity to sometimes control only pen size, or only opacity/flow...some software puts these at your fingertips as checkboxes in the UI (Open Canvas, Gimp), while others hide these settings several dialogs deep (Photoshop, Painter, etc).

[Icebird]

Congratulations!   So all your coloring till now has been mouse-done?   

Ayup! Which is why I haven't coloured anything in ages! The last colour job I did scared me off.

Be sure to calibrate it if you haven't already, of course.

Do you mean adjusting settings or simply getting used to using tablet and pen?

One thing I like is to be able to readily toggle the pressure sensitivity to sometimes control only pen size, or only opacity/flow...some software puts these at your fingertips as checkboxes in the UI (Open Canvas, Gimp), while others hide these settings several dialogs deep (Photoshop, Painter, etc).

So the pressure of the pen could be set to affect the size of the brush? *pulls forth notebook* I'm getting a hold of the pen itself, but I've no clue about the buttons on the side. I thought there'd be a chapter about it in the manual but there wasn't.

[Foxeye]

Do you mean adjusting settings or simply getting used to using tablet and pen?

Huh...y'know, maybe intuos doesn't do calibration. I was referring to the option from the wacom control panel, with the big ol' "calibrate" button. I tells you to click on the crosshairs. 

That said, maybe that's a cintiq thing, not a tablet thing. I've, ah, not used a normal tablet for some time. 

So the pressure of the pen could be set to affect the size of the brush?

Ayep.  Most graphic apps have this option. What are you using to draw in?

*pulls forth notebook* I'm getting a hold of the pen itself, but I've no clue about the buttons on the side. I thought there'd be a chapter about it in the manual but there wasn't.

Hmm...well, by default I suspect the horizontal one is set to spacebar, and the others are set to Alt, Shift, and Control. Which work fine for the time being. Alt will let you color-pick if you are using a brush tool, control will let you pan around a drawing, and the other two...have other uses that don't come to mind right now.

I like to map the set of buttons on the right to be undo, redo, 100% zoom, and fit-to-screen zoom.

Let me know if I'm saying anything that makes absolutely-no-sense to you. ^_^

[Icebird]

Ayep.  Most graphic apps have this option. What are you using to draw in?

Currently I'm using Gimp. My old computer took Photoshop with it to its grave though I should get my hands on Photoshopagain befor elong, hopefully.

Hmm...well, by default I suspect the horizontal one is set to spacebar, and the others are set to Alt, Shift, and Control. Which work fine for the time being. Alt will let you color-pick if you are using a brush tool, control will let you pan around a drawing, and the other two...have other uses that don't come to mind right now.

I like to map the set of buttons on the right to be undo, redo, 100% zoom, and fit-to-screen zoom.

Let me know if I'm saying anything that makes absolutely-no-sense to you. ^_^

Not totally confussing, just that the buttons sit a little differently from yours I guess. But I suppose it's mostly a question of habit and getting to use the buttons on a regular basis. All help is appreciated though. *glomps* And be aware that I'll probably be buzzing with questions for next few days.

[Foxeye]

Currently I'm using Gimp. My old computer took Photoshop with it to its grave though I should get my hands on Photoshop again befor elong, hopefully.

OK, yeah, Gimp is nice in how it treats pressure sensitivity. re-using an old screenshot from an older version of Gimp:



Those four check boxes let you toggle what properties the pressure sensitivity will effect.  I've never used the color check box, but I'd guess it adjusts the hue in a slider between your foreground and background colors based on how hard you are pressing.

Hopefully gimp hasn't changed so much that those aren't there anymore. They may have added a few more. Photoshop and Painter let you adjust all sorts of things based on pressure sensitivity.

And be aware that I'll probably be buzzing with questions for next few days.

Understandable

[Joyrider1978]

I'd guess it adjusts the hue in a slider between your foreground and background colors based on how hard you are pressing.

What, seriously?  Can you do this in Photoshop or Paintshop?  This is part of the reason I never use my darn tablet, it never really feels like drawing -- but if color intensity can be controlled by pressure somehow then maybe it's time to dust off my ancient Intuos 2!

[Foxeye]

if color intensity can be controlled by pressure somehow then maybe it's time to dust off my ancient Intuos 2!

Oh definitely.  I'd guess that if you'd had someone present who could configure a brush for you, it would have felt more like you were drawing. There's a lot you can do in these programs...the problem is learning how to configure them so you can tap into the power of it.  Whereas with the "real thing" you just pick up your tool and draw.  No fiddling and fussing to make the program behave right.

Painter (not Paintshop, but Corel Painter) is favorite of non-digital-artists because it is effective at imitating "the real thing", barring the fact that a stylus and tablet will never have the resistance of paper and brush/pencil/pen.  Problem with Painter is, well, it is so powerful that you can get lost in it.  So many brush configuration options and brush choices. They do have a lot of pre-configured ones to imitate real media - oils, watercolors, acrylics, pencils (their latest version pencils are faaaabulous), etc - but it's overwhelming even with those.

Still, if you are feeling brave some weekend, get a trial copy of Corel Painter and just spend some time goofing off with the different brushes. If it feels to you like it has potential, then you can learn more about how to configure/create brushes.  

ArtRage is a cheaper alternative to Painter.  Not as much customizability, but still has a "real" feel to it. And it has a very clean, user-friendly UI (can't say the same for Painter).

A good program if you want to imitate pencil-sketching is Autodesk Sketchbook Pro (SBP). It has a variety of "real" media brushes, though I think that most of them pale in comparison to the above two. I love it for its UI (second to none for tablet art-ing), and the pencil brush.  I use SBP for my sketching (pencil brush) and inking (pencil brush or pen brush, depending on the ink style I want).

(I personally use photoshop to color because, well, I don't want/need it to behave like real media, because I never really used those. I just want a digital app that does precisely what I tell it to, and have good performance while it does it.)

There are some others I haven't used in a while...OpenCanvas and TwistedBrush...I don't think we have anyone here who uses those, but I did like Open Canvas the one time I tried it. It just didn't have a niche that I wasn't already filling with Photoshop and Sketchbook Pro.

[Icebird]

Just finished my first colouring job with the tablet and it's left me pleasantly surprised enough that I might try again. The more I use this thing the more natural it feels to use. It really has some nifty possibilities!

[Afke]

I really like this idea of tools exchanging. :] But since we've already got almost a whole page of digital talk, perhaps the topic could be split into digital and traditional? Both have so many options in programs/materials, and though I may not have time for it now, I do want to be able to quickly find back these very useful explanations of programs Foxeye posted.
For example I've never been able to get pen pressure to work with my (rather cheap) tablet, though I know it's possible. I had the programs on my PC once but they always started the moment I turned on my PC while I wasn't gonna use it that day, and I really hated that so removed them again (my tablet works without all those extras, so why keep my PC cluttered with them). Can I set those pen pressure options through Photoshop as well? It's the only program I use.

[Foxeye]

But since we've already got almost a whole page of digital talk, perhaps the topic could be split into digital and traditional?

That makes sense.  I think that if we really started to get going with all our questions and knowledge-sharing, one thread wouldn't be big enough to hold it all!

Can I set those pen pressure options through Photoshop as well?

Ayup. I my experience (which has been wacom only), the pressure sensitivity never turns off insofar as the tablet driver is concerned, it's all done with the art programs themselves.  In photoshop the setting is under the individual brush. I think it is F5 to open the brush editor, then you choose the brush you want from the list of Brush Presets. Then for that preset it should have a list of categories.


 *search around the internet for a screenshot*

[img width=380 height=453 alt=]http://www.elfquestfanart.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=1597[/img]

It's the field at the top set to "Pen Pressure", under the Size Jitter slider.  (You don't want that jitter on for a basic brush, of course.) Everything that has a "Jitter" option also has the ability to have a "Control: Pen Pressure" setting.  In Painter you can not only set things based on pressure, but also on how fast you move the brush, and what the angle of the stylus is. 

The setting for opacity and flow are under the Other Dynamics section. (I don't have PS on this computer, so I can't take my own screenshots.)

[Joyrider1978]

Oh definitely.  I'd guess that if you'd had someone present who could configure a brush for you, it would have felt more like you were drawing. There's a lot you can do in these programs...the problem is learning how to configure them so you can tap into the power of it.  Whereas with the "real thing" you just pick up your tool and draw.  No fiddling and fussing to make the program behave right.

Oh I *think* I may have figured out the pressure thingy!  While I don't think I'll ever be comfortable sketching on my Wacom, coloring could be fun so long as I can wrap my old-fashioned head around it!  Have too much to do tonight, but maybe I can give it a whirl tomorrow.

I really like this idea of tools exchanging. :] But since we've already got almost a whole page of digital talk, perhaps the topic could be split into digital and traditional?

I like this idea too, being as not only am I old-fashioned when drawing, art supplies are actually my profession.  I call them toys.  Maybe we can get Windrider to give a lecture on gouache?  Seeing as I'm planning on trying it out soon and she's the Queen of Gouache? 

[mischievous_valkyrie]

Woohoo another artist help thread, and very helpful it is indeed, I'll have to keep this in mind for when I finally break my tablet out and use it  X3

[Foxeye]

Just wanted to mention a new art tool I discovered over the weekend - Paint Tool SAI. For anyone who cannot afford to buy one of the "big boys" (Photoshop or Corel Painter), but who can still afford a little bit, I strongly recommend trying it.  Heck, I recommend it even if you do have one of the big boys.

It has a 30 day trial, and then after that it is about $50 or so (depending on the exchange rate with Japan). http://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/

It's as if someone took the best features of all the various art tools, cut away the excess junk, and put them into one, lightweight little app.

My only significant gripe with it is that it does not use your monitor profile, and so you cannot do color accurate work.  But neither do most of the lighter apps out there, so that's nothing new.

I'm also not sure if you can create your own brushes, though fortunately the ones it comes with are pretty good.

another one I tried over the weekend was ArtRage Studio Pro (have only used their smaller package before). It's pretty nice. Didn't like the interface as much as I liked SAI's, but I think I may still buy it eventually.

[Icebird]

I've heard quite a bit of Paint Tool SAI and seen quite a few pictures done in this app. I've been meaning to try it out but never gotten around to do it--isn't that how it always is? Thanks for the review, it's fun to know what other artists think of a certain software, especially when you know their style/techniques.

[Afke]

It's the field at the top set to "Pen Pressure", under the Size Jitter slider.  (You don't want that jitter on for a basic brush, of course.) Everything that has a "Jitter" option also has the ability to have a "Control: Pen Pressure" setting.  In Painter you can not only set things based on pressure, but also on how fast you move the brush, and what the angle of the stylus is. 

The setting for opacity and flow are under the Other Dynamics section. (I don't have PS on this computer, so I can't take my own screenshots.)

Help, I just tried this, but it doesn't change anything about my line. Any settings I sould also check if they're on/off in that window?

[Foxeye]

Hmmm...which version of Photoshop are you using? I know CS5 has extra places where you can turn sensitivity on/off.

Do I understand correctly that the line that shows up in the dialog (like the one above) does not taper, or is it just that you don't see sensitivity when you use a brush?

And I presume you have the latest wacom tablet drivers?

[Afke]

I don't see either change. I have CS3. I don't have a wacom.

[Foxeye]

Do you use a tablet other than wacom?  If yes, do you know for sure it has pressure sensitivity?  If you don't have a tablet with pressure sensitivity at all, then the pen pressure settings won't do anything.  And if you have a non-wacom tablet, it's possible that it doesn't work with photoshop, though I don't know any specifics about why that might be.

[Afke]

Yes, I have a different tablet. Don't have the box at hand, but I think it's called Medion. I know it does have pressure sensitivity options, but it'll probably mean I'll have to install this seperately.

[Foxeye]

Just wanted to mention a new art tool I discovered over the weekend - Paint Tool SAI. For anyone who cannot afford to buy one of the "big boys" (Photoshop or Corel Painter), but who can still afford a little bit, I strongly recommend trying it.  Heck, I recommend it even if you do have one of the big boys.

It has a 30 day trial, and then after that it is about $50 or so (depending on the exchange rate with Japan). http://www.systemax.jp/en/sai/

It's as if someone took the best features of all the various art tools, cut away the excess junk, and put them into one, lightweight little app.

My only significant gripe with it is that it does not use your monitor profile, and so you cannot do color accurate work.  But neither do most of the lighter apps out there, so that's nothing new.

I'm also not sure if you can create your own brushes, though fortunately the ones it comes with are pretty good.

another one I tried over the weekend was ArtRage Studio Pro (have only used their smaller package before). It's pretty nice. Didn't like the interface as much as I liked SAI's, but I think I may still buy it eventually.

Gotta reply to myself and gush some more about this app. As you may know if you've read some of my other threads, I have started to use a tablet PC (Asus EP121) for art, and SAI has turned out to be THE BOMB on that. My old favorite sketching/inking app, Sketchbook Pro, is getting booted to the curb, for a number of reasons.  Smooth, auto correcting inks is one reason.  With SBP I have to zoom to 200% when I ink to make sure the line isn't shaky. With SAI I can ink at 33% and the link is straight. WAH! Another reason is that SAI puts all the essential tools, and brush configuration options, right there in the UI.  So instead of keyboardless zoom being click-drag-dragsomemore of SBP, or click-click-click-click of Photoshop, it's just click or click-click.  In other words, if you have a tablet without any buttons, which is what most tablet pcs are these days, it's not a big deal with SAI.

And even on my Cintiq I'm start to prefer it over photoshop.  I'm pretty sure I"ll still use photoshop to completely polish off a drawing, but if I couldn't afford PS, I'd be OK with just SAI.

Now if only I could replace PS with Gimp I'd be free of the tyranny of Adobe.   Their adjustment layers still have me hooked, though.

[Faerydae]

You know ... the best thing about going back to school and going for a degree in graphic design is ... getting software and art supplies at a student rate!

I keep eying the cintiqs .... but that's going to have to wait a couple of semesters I think ... next semester I'm going to grab the latest adobe cs master suite .... student price is only 600 bucks!

All I have right now is an old wacom ... and I keep thinking hmmm I bet they've improved a lot over the past 7 years ... lol.

[silentleaf]

WOW foxie I downloaded SAI and its pretty great! i  need to play with it more but wow  loving it so far