Drawing and Personal Dedication -

[93Aiwass]

Howdy all!

So, I have started work on my own Sonichu comic (yeah, yeah, I know) and I am so glad I go to a school with Cintiq monitors (not yet in a position to buy one of my very own but hey, better than Crayola markers). However, while trying to draw the comic page... I discovered something, I was being overcome by stress. No, not joking.

Maybe it's just because I'm concerned about this coming out well, to the point where I am second guessing some of my artistic decisions. Maybe it's the fact that I'm not particularly skilled at drawing and not really sure as to what to do (I mean, I do know a few things about perception and what not but still) and I want to make sure that this looks good. Or it could be that I have been at this Cintiq for over a hour now in Photoshop and I am flipping between Chrome and Photoshop to try to get help with drawing.

I know I was in the lab next to this one that doesn't have Cintiq monitors, it has Intuos tablets and I found the experience drawing on those kind of surreal. I felt very uncoordinated and I found it hard to draw on them. Is this common for a beginner? Is there anything I should do to combat that? I know I felt drawing on paper, I felt a lot more competent at drawing than I did with those Intuos tablets. However, with the Cintiqs, I feel just as confident at drawing (perhaps even more since I can draw things on different layers, add colour on different layers, undo, etc?) so I figure this is more my speed anyway, apart from the fact that it isn't calibrated exactly right.

Everything I'm doing is on different layers and I am making sure to practice non-destructive editing but still, I feel very incompetent. What should I be doing different? I am taking a drawing class (along with a digital illustration class) next quarter... I wonder if I will feel a lot more competent after that...?

 

[KawaiiChrisChan]

I'll give you my opinion on some things. I use an Intuos Tablet for all my art work, and for me it was a very rocky start as well. But the one thing that you have to do is remain persistent. Keep drawing on paper as you normally do, but also make time for the intuos. (But if you have access to a Cintiq, then by all means use it too.) The intuos can be just as powerful as a cintiq, but has a steeper learning curve. What I used to do, to get used to the controls, I would practice making vertical and horizontal lines, then move onto circles. Its a little disorienting having to not look at the surface you're drawing on, but once you get it its really satisfying. I've never used a Cintiq before, I would be that they feel nicer in comparison. But alas... I only have a small salary... So a used intuos is what I had to get. Any who... Its awesome you have classes. All I have are books, and more books.

Also, this post sounds like it should be geared towards the general forum.

Just saying...

 

[93Aiwass]

My bad. ^_^;;

So yeah, as a part of my degree program, I need to take several general design and art classes, some of which include a Fundamentals of Drawing class and a Digital Illustration class... Both of which I am taking next quarter (which is beginning in April). I THINK the Digital Illustration course is taking place in the Intuos lab so whether I like it or not, I am going to get some Intuos experience.

But yeah, my campus is a really supportive environment for people wanting to learn to draw. I am involved with the illustration club, we have regular figure drawing sessions and I get to mingle with people in different disciplines, even though I am a Web Design student.

 

[pickleniggo]

Digital work kills me...but probably because I use a tiny wacom tablet.

 

[93Aiwass]

Digital work kills me...but probably because I use a tiny wacom tablet.

Hmm, that would do it. I am saving up for a Cintiq 12wx of my own. Right now, I am using the Cintiqs at my school, which are quite nice. I hear there is supposed to be a new Cintiq lab opening up soon on campus. *_*

One thing that concerns me is just being satisfied with this comic and working on the next one... I mean, I care about quality but also I was reading a post on Jeph Jacques' Tumblr about how, before you go live, you should have a month's worth of content finished.

What do you think?

 

[Bugaboo]

When I first started using my tablet it was all weird and things came out shaky. But now it's like second nature and I can't imagine not having it.
It's normal for everyone to feel kind of awkward drawing on a tablet for the first time, the more you practice the more natural it'll feel.
And the same goes for drawing. It takes years of practice and study to be able to draw well just on paper, then even longer to figure out more complex digital stuff.
Like I went from this:

Spoiler

to this

Spoiler

in three years

 

[Niachu]

Drawing on tablets is definitely something you have to get used to (I love mine). Drawing programs can be really good for getting things to look JUST the way you want them to, too.

If you can take a drawing class, by all means do so. You need to have a foundation to work off of. If you don't have a solid foundation in classical art, digital art won't magically make you better. If you try to shade/highlight/lineart/whatever in a digital program then all the options on how to do it will just drive you nuts more than anything.

That all being said, I don't recommend photoshop for drawing. It's nice for coloring and effects but it's horrid for lineart. I recommend OpenCanvas or SAI. Opencanvas is free, but SAI has more features and offers a more photoshop-esque approach to coloring.

 

[93Aiwass]

Interesting... Once I get my own Cintiq, I will also get SAI for my laptop. Right now though, I am just using the computers on campus and I am pretty sure they would frown upon me installing new software.

 

[The Hunter]

Yeah, SAI's the bomb. I've been using it since I was 15. I still have the same crappy tablet from back then as well, but my brother still uses it. I wish I could keep it because I loved drawing with it, but I'd probably need to readjust, and neither of us feel like getting a new one.

 

[93Aiwass]

Just researched OpenCanvas and SAI and unfortunately, they are both Windows only... Do you know of any good programs for the Mac?

 

[The Hunter]

Just researched OpenCanvas and SAI and unfortunately, they are both Windows only... Do you know of any good programs for the Mac?

The only program I know is Toss That Thing Out The Window and Buy a PC and Install SAI, but I don't think you have the cash for that.

I think my uncle would know. He uses Macs a lot, so I think he'd have some ideas.

 

[93Aiwass]

Just researched OpenCanvas and SAI and unfortunately, they are both Windows only... Do you know of any good programs for the Mac?

The only program I know is Toss That Thing Out The Window and Buy a PC and Install SAI, but I don't think you have the cash for that.

I think my uncle would know. He uses Macs a lot, so I think he'd have some ideas.

This is karma for me berating Mac users before becoming one myself. ;-P

 

[mendoza]

Just researched OpenCanvas and SAI and unfortunately, they are both Windows only... Do you know of any good programs for the Mac?

Boot Camp

 

[93Aiwass]

Just researched OpenCanvas and SAI and unfortunately, they are both Windows only... Do you know of any good programs for the Mac?

Boot Camp

I REALLY don't want to use Windows, even through Boot Camp or Parallels.

 

[KawaiiChrisChan]

Just researched OpenCanvas and SAI and unfortunately, they are both Windows only... Do you know of any good programs for the Mac?

Boot Camp

I REALLY don't want to use Windows, even through Boot Camp or Parallels.

Why not? Its good because you get the best of both worlds. Right? :?

 

[Smokedaddy]

I've had a Wacom tablet on my desk since the early '90s. I'm left-handed, sort of (I write with my left hand) but use a right-handed mouse, so with the tablet on the left and mouse on the right I am TWO-FISTED COMPUTER MAN.

Also, I am led to understand that the new Cintiq 13 is lighter and groovier than the 12, and (cue Chairman Kaga) if memory serves me correctly it's somewhat cheaper.

Although it's pretty pleasant to use with a tablet, Photoshop is not a paint program. I've had copies of Painter over the years, and it's a lot of fun. It used to be made by someone called "Fractal Design", then Kai Krause's outfit Metatools published it for a few years before selling out to (ugh) Corel. It's not what you'd call cheap, but oh boy is it fun. An artist buddy of mine whose mother is what he describes as an "old hippie" (seriously -- he goes by "Steve," and it was years before we found out his first name is really "Dove", ha ha) turned said Mom onto it. She'd never used a computer and was completely baffled by mice and windows and menus and things, but painted expertly with the Painter watercolor brushes her first try.

OK, all that aside:

Speaking as a Senior Game Production Professional-Type Dude with (gulp) twenty-one years in the bidness, what I look for in an artist is someone who can draw. With a pencil, on paper. I wouldn't hire anyone who only knew how to drive pixels. The best game artists I've ever known always seemed to have a sketchbook on them. A lot of the ideas for the art that ended up in my magnum opus (it got me a Game Of The Year from GCD, kiddies) was concocted in a pizza joint in West L.A. Sure, you have to know your Photoshop and all, but the art doesn't come from the technology.

 

[KawaiiChrisChan]

I've had a Wacom tablet on my desk since the early '90s. I'm left-handed, sort of (I write with my left hand) but use a right-handed mouse, so with the tablet on the left and mouse on the right I am TWO-FISTED COMPUTER MAN.

Also, I am led to understand that the new Cintiq 13 is lighter and groovier than the 12, and (cue Chairman Kaga) if memory serves me correctly it's somewhat cheaper.

Although it's pretty pleasant to use with a tablet, Photoshop is not a paint program. I've had copies of Painter over the years, and it's a lot of fun. It used to be made by someone called "Fractal Design", then Kai Krause's outfit Metatools published it for a few years before selling out to (ugh) Corel. It's not what you'd call cheap, but oh boy is it fun. An artist buddy of mine whose mother is what he describes as an "old hippie" (seriously -- he goes by "Steve," and it was years before we found out his first name is really "Dove", ha ha) turned said Mom onto it. She'd never used a computer and was completely baffled by mice and windows and menus and things, but painted expertly with the Painter watercolor brushes her first try.

OK, all that aside:

Speaking as a Senior Game Production Professional-Type Dude with (gulp) twenty-one years in the bidness, what I look for in an artist is someone who can draw. With a pencil, on paper. I wouldn't hire anyone who only knew how to drive pixels. The best game artists I've ever known always seemed to have a sketchbook on them. A lot of the ideas for the art that ended up in my magnum opus (it got me a Game Of The Year from GCD, kiddies) was concocted in a pizza joint in West L.A. Sure, you have to know your Photoshop and all, but the art doesn't come from the technology.

Wow, which game was it that won?

 

[regularjohn]

Man, I even have trouble switching tablets because of how much i just get used to the feel of the old one. Maybe the new one doesnt track as well, maybe it tracks better. What if the tablet cant be put in my lap? How am I supposed to do good work like that?

 

[Kartoffel]

(...), it has Intuos tablets and I found the experience drawing on those kind of surreal.

That's because you've got years of training in writing and drawing with physical artifacts that involved looking at what you draw 99% of the time. With a classic tablet you have to disconnect with this, and draw semi-blind. Of course it feels surreal because you could not build habituation yet. This needs time.

Everything I'm doing is on different layers and I am making sure to practice non-destructive editing but still, I feel very incompetent. What should I be doing different? I am taking a drawing class (along with a digital illustration class) next quarter... I wonder if I will feel a lot more competent after that...?

Something that could probably help you a lot would be switching to drawing with vectors (the Adobe suite has Illustrator for that; personally I prefer the free program Inkscape). With vectors you have much more control how your lines flow because you can edit them afterwards as much as you want. You won't have the eye-hand-coordination-missmatch-feeling because when using a mouse you use an artifact that you are used to using without looking at your hand.
(And as a protip: if you don't want your lines to have a common thickness, try to see the lines as shapes; if you draw the outline of your outlines you can create a nice lively look. But that takes admittedly a lot of work.)
Of course shading feels like it takes a lot more work with vectors, but there is nothing wrong with making your linework in vectors and then importing it into photoshop to color it. The linework is most often the thing were your need for fine control is the highest.

Working with vectors is a useful skill, because you can scale the grafics as much you want without Moirré-effects and the like. If you have to learn to draw it's really worth it to learn this style as well; as an artist versality is triumph. And vectors drawings can be recycled much more easily...

 

[LikeicareKF]