Trying to draw anything with a mouse gives me wrist strain. Tablets looks like a good solution but I have never seen one in person before. Can anyone explain how using a tablet works with something like photoshop?
From what Ive heard... It's a plug and play type thing. (might need to install some software) But it works like a touchpad and you just draw with it. I myself have been looking into getting one. Im just not sure which ones are good for the price.
Same here. I can't draw anything but people tell me my sketches are ok when I try to explain something or do "concept art" X.x I have no idea but I once bookmarked this for some reason: http://danidraws.com/2007/01/22/wacom-tablets-how-to-get-started/
Wacom makes a lot of nice tablets. There are other manufacturers but the quality of them can be spotty. And some of them use repackaged Wacom components anyway. With most tablets it seems that you draw with a stylus while watching the cursor up on the screen. This sounds extremely wierd to me but I guess you would get used to it over time. Combination screen-tablets like the cintiq look pretty neat. Drawing directly on a surface seems more intuitive to me.
Yea I think it would be weird try to line up the cursor on the screen when your drawing where your keyboard would be
If you zoom in really close, it makes it easier to draw lines with a mouse. Also try turning down mouse acceleration and cursor speed, as it will be skipping frames which results in less smooth lines. Tablets are awesome though. By default, your pen tip in PS becomes your paintbrush and the other end (if your tablet allows it) is the eraser. Most tablet pens are pressure sensitive so pressing harder on the tablet usually results in a deeper/darker mark. The seperate tablets (not part of the screen) do get some time getting used to. On the Wacoms, you can set the drawing area to match up your screen 1:1 or a portion of it. With tablet screens in laptops and the Cintiqs, you write directly on the screen, so it really makes it easier. The Cintiqs are a tad expensive, so I settled on a $800 12" tablet PC, which works the same way, just not as many bells and whistles as a real Cintiq.
Actually, they're pretty intuitive and not much different to a mouse with controlling most UI stuff. For drawing with a tablet is far better. Even my old 1997 A6 Wacom tablet is a good thing to have around.
i have a wacom tablet. Basically imagine your screen on a tablet. If you touch the upper left corner you will go to the upper left corner of the screen. Its not like the mouse in the fact the mouse moves it X,Y based on its current location. This moves X,Y based on where you start on the tablet. my tablet has some obvious wear from the left side where PS has all the icons for everthing. Takes some getting used to but once you do its amazing
ive had one for a little while, but i didnt start using it till recently. i ended up getting one of the 9x12 wacom tablets for cheap off a person at school. i wouldnt recommend that size. its ok once you get used to it, but selecting tools or menus in programs like photoshop, is a real pain at that size, and i end up just using the mouse to select with. mine came with a program called Sketchbook Pro, and i like it alot for drawing. but the layer options and editing aspects arent as good as photoshop. but still, its an Alias program, so its pretty decent. Corel Painter also works really well with a tablet. we have Cintiq's at school (i go to SCAD), and they are really sweet. but the screens are really big, so its kinda funky like my 9x12 tablet. i think those are like still around 2k$ though. if you are in college, or have access to someone who is, see if they can get any kind of discounts on software. at scad, you can go through journey.ed and get a nice wacom for around 99$, with software, and a stylus. i think it even comes with corel painter. but we get that program for free anyway here. they are really handy once you get used to it. its really just like drawing with a pen or pencil. you can usually find some kinds of demo videos showing people using wacoms on youtube. jus search for wacom. but thers also places you can check out digital artists that use them, like conceptart.org, or massiveblack.com, also clayton crain's website, although its not a very well done site. but still, shows what he can do digitally. he does a lot of comic book stuff, mostly working on x-force now.
The Wacom Bamboo is a very nice inexpensive tablet, I myself have an older model which ain't half bad either. -KM
Cool, thanks for the tips. I guess I'll just keep practicing while saving up. Im getting better with detail, but perspective and scale? not so much.