Accomplished Tablet Users: HELP!
By
CaptainScience,
Posted on: 2007-04-01 09:22 in Multi-Media Fan Creations
Yes that's absolutely normal :P
With a tablet you have to sometimes adjust the pressure sensitivitys, change brushsizes OFTEN, etc. Zooming in helps and use long broad strokes, but yeah it's generally gonna pick up your 'shakey hand' a bit more than you're used to on paper.
Try just warming up on freehand sketches, instead of trying to precisely ink over scanned pencil work. For digital inking, I am a fan of using Farlow's tutorial's method (www.farlowstudios.com), which uses the pen and path functions in Photoshop, for nice smooth lines.
I only use tablet for sketching, and when I'm coloring, doing the shading etc, when I want a more 'organic' feeling. For things that require absolute precision, mouse works better for me, setting the paths and having it trace the line.
Of course you can always ink by hand, scan it, and THEN color it digitally, give that a try : )
I was strongly considering picking up some new inking supplies later today in fact... Hex is taking Callie (our dog) in for a grooming, and there just happens to be a massive art store right across the street, and I did just get my tax return.... *evil grin*
Still, I hate admitting defeat, so I'll probably keep working with the tablet until either it or I break in the process :P
My problem thus far has definitely been the exaggeration of my shakey hand... I'll get over it somehow 
One other little snag I ran into... Photoshop CS2 doesn't seem to read the pressure at all from the Adesso Tablet. Paint Shop Pro and Corel Painter both work fine with it. It seems I may have an older version of the driver though, so I'll give updating that a shot.
I'm gonna guess that you are using Photoshop to ink, since you mention it, if you leave all the settings to normal, no special brushes, you can achieve nice smooth lines by drawing from your elbow and not flicking your wrist. example is over here: bobba fett
You can also ink with vector programs, flash is fun and easy, and pressure senstive, just use standard brush and set min and max size to get a nice varied stroke. Again, you need to use nice smooth arm movement. You'll be basically drawing, ctrl-z, drawing ctrl-z till you get that sweet line. You'll undo less and less as you get better, but rare is the first line that you throw down that works. Now you can also do this in Illustrator, double click on the brush icon, set fidelity to 0, and smoothing to around 50-60 but you can play with it. uncheck leave selected, cause that bugs. This method is less mind numbing to me than selecting and filling and you can "paint" in illustrator.
and practice, months, and months and even years of practice. It's very discouraging to pick up the tablet pen and find out that you can't do the simple things you can with a pencil and brush, but you didn't learn to do that overnight either. Good luck and keep at it.
Of course having a fast computer, lots of ram, scratch disk dedicated to Photoshop, etc, etc, will help.
I ink a lot using paths. I'll freehand some, but there is a lot of cleanup work with the eraser. When inking the only thing I have set to pressure is brush size. I turn off opacity and flow from pen pressure.
I had the same problem with my Aiptek tablet. Hex helped me out a lot in finding drivers because the default drivers don't work correctly with CS2. Aipek and Adesso are the exact same hardware in different casing. I believe Trust and Medion are the same hardware as well.
I went through quite a few drivers. I ended up going with the 3.10 from Aiptek, but I am having trouble tracking down where exactly I downloaded those from. I know that isn't much help, but I can email you them if you like or you can do a little digging on your own.
Do not be discouraged! How long did it take to get good with a pencil? No, it won't take that long - but you will need to give it a bit more time than 12 hours. It will come.
Years ago, when I began using a tablet on my machine at work (several jobs ago) - the one extra benefit was that people who snuck into my office to use my computer just COULDN'T manage to use the tablet, and thus stopped snakin' my computer.
Plus - didn't someone else post earlier that one of the problems with using an Adesso tablet was that getting the right drivers to get it to work with various programs was ...a challenge?
I'm toying with Photoshop, Corel Painter 9, and Paint Shop Pro 7 (I actually prefer 5, but it won't read pressure from the tablet)
I'm definitely going to give using paths a try. I simply can't draw from the elbow - everything I do is from the wrist or fingertips - so that rules out a lot of largescale freehand work.
Anyway, I'm rearranging my desk a little to improve my workspace... maybe I'll have something presentable later :P
And I honestly can't remember how *long* I took to become good at sketching by pencil.. it's one of those things that sort of fades into the obscurity of childhood
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Plus - didn't someone else post earlier that one of the problems with using an Adesso tablet was that getting the right drivers to get it to work with various programs was ...a challenge?
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Not a challenge at all. The drivers I have work just fine in our programs. For whatever reason, the same program on Ducks computer (and I mean exactly the same) isn't reading pressure from the pen, but on mine works fine.
And starting to think Duck ended up with a different driver version then the one I have. *giggles*
(p.s. Everyone tell duck not to break my tablet!)
�Alas, regardless of their doom, the little victims play!� - Thomas Gray
Don't break the tablet! Appearantly the pen is free game however.
Dont break her tablet, Duck!
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Don't break the tablet! Appearantly the pen is free game however.
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Well I was going with the tablet mouse and pen as a whole when I said 'tablet' but the pen is like $3 to replace, so if something broke I'd rather it be it.
�Alas, regardless of their doom, the little victims play!� - Thomas Gray
That happens to me some times, at least it did on my work computer, where Photoshop/Painter/anythign just wouldn't read the pressure from the tablet, so I had to restart the program, or restart the compy. Kinda pesky. :P
I use an Intuos II tablet myself and Photoshop CS.
Photoshop has lots of ways to mess with your pressure settings so if you're using it you'll have to make sure you're doing it properly.
Also changing brushes will change the pressure settings too.
Keep at it buddy. Just remember to be patient with whatever you're workin on and you'll be fine. Also poke around in your settings to keep on top of everything.
This thing took like a couple of weeks and a lot of layers.
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j2...iaRevealed.jpg
Good luck.
"Super Hyper Mecha Plucky Power Armor GO!" -Plucky Sidekick: 50 Inv/EM Tank
"Do not confuse my disguise with your own evolutionary missteps." -Malevol-Ant: 50 EM/Nin Stalker
Oh don't worry, I'm sticking with it. And I did have the pressure settings on correctly - I actually got a small caution window in Photoshop CS that read "In order to use Pressure, you must have a pressure sensitive tablet installed."... the very same tablet working fine in 2 other programs on the same boot, with the same drivers :P
Ok, I've got the Pen Pressure solved... moved from 3.04 to 3.09 drivers and it's working great in that department now. Back to practice
Oooh, I'm a digital inker of sorts.
My key advice is simple:
Don't treat the inks as "LINES" but rather "AREAS" and you'll have more success...or at least, that's how it was for me. I spent the first 3 years of having a tablet not being able to ink digitally...as I was fumbling around trying to get that straight line, too. In the end, just lower the brush size (3 or 5), and make small strokes. With enough strokes, it'll become a line. Cheers and good luck! =)
Daos... I think you just hit the nail on the head. Repetative short strokes is exactly how I use a pencil, and trying to work otherwise is probably why my first hours with the tablet felt so... unnatural.
Let's see how that goes
Well the good news is.. my Photoshop skills are improving. The bad news is, my arm cramped up like hell trying to use the Tablet, so I've put it aside for a while and I'm using the mouse again.
Anyway, here's the recent fruit of my labour:
The Before Shot: Hex - Pencil Sketch
The After Shot: Hex - Outlined
I've been playing with varying the brush width, etc... I realize the large head doesn't look like it belongs with the full body shot as-is.
EDIT: Had links reversed.
Under normal circumstances, I like to consider myself a fairly accomplished artist. While not professional grade, my pencil sketches and 3D work generally draw a few compliments.
Then I decided to borrow Hex's Tablet and start learning the process of Digital Inking.
12 hours of practice and many online tutorials later, my pen strokes look like I drew them with my offhand while heavily intoxicated. I've tried working with different programs. I've tried working in different resolutions, and at varying zoom levels. I've tried taping paper to the Tablet to give it a little surface friction. I've tried the tablet on my lap, on the desk, and sitting at an angle.
I understand there's a learning curve, but right now the tablet makes me feel like I've never drawn a decent line in my life.
Is this normal?! Am I completely missing something?