[yobarman]

I just recently got my graphire2 and i haven't done much with it until yesterday. I started doing this tutorial:

http://div.dyndns.org/EK/tutorial/lips/

After a while I got frustrated because it sucked (my drawing, not the tutorial), so i quit. but then i played around with my settings and realized I had the Wacom in Pen mode instead of Mouse Mode...Mouse mode made it SOOOO much easier to control.

So i gave the tutorial another shot, and I think it turned out well.

http://www.rit.edu/~bxf0107/lips.jpg

So, compare that with the pics in the tutorial...

Keep in mind this is the first time I've ever drawn anything with my Wacom. But my problem is why are my edges so jaggedy. I can't seem to make an even curved line with the Wacom. I learned in past drawing classes that you should have your hand above your canvas... but i had the habit of resting my hand on it, and i do the same thing with the wacom... I'm pretty much stuck to one pivot point until i raise my hand to a new spot. I don't like keeping my hand raised I guess. Is there's a proper way to hold a stylus? I'm left handed I don't know if this matters. Does this eventually go away as you get used to the stylus? or is it something I can't fix now?

[Frog]

This is a subject I've been giving quite a lot of thought to myself recently, it would seriously interesting to get people's views on this.

I've been using the tablet for several years, and do pretty much all of my drawing on it, I very rarely bother with paper now. I am therefore pretty comfortable using it, but I do still have a few reservations about them.

The first thing that really needs to be said is that tablets are not perfect, they do have some fairly serious limitations which are rarely discussed. Drawing slowly will always produce shaky lines with a Wacom tablet, no matter how steady your hand is. I've tested this by getting the tablet as far away from my monitors as the USB cord will allow to make sure that this isn't electrical interference, and compared it with traditional methods (using both brushes and pens). I can paint slowly with a brush and ink, but not a Wacom. Antoher test to try is do use a ruler and draw a straight line very slowly with your stylus, the line will not be straight - it will have little jumps in it. I have these problems both in Photoshop and Painter, Illustrator allows stronger smoothing of the lines however and therefore is more forgiving of tablet jitter. Many people say that laying a sheet of paper over the tablet helps them but personally I have found this makes no difference to this particular problem.

So the only way to get nice linework in PS or Painter with a tablet is to use quick, decisive strokes. This does work well, and is one way to work round the limitations of the hardware, just like learning any other medium you will need to practice the correct technique for using your tool of choice. Tablets take a while to get used to anyway, for the first couple of weeks you just need to get used to the feel of the stylus and to learn to look at the screen while you draw.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the stylus has a feel that is much closer to a brush than a pen, there is very little friction on the surface so if you are used to drawing with a pencil or a pen this can take some getting used to. I think that those who are already adept at brush and ink technique will find the transition to a stylus much easier.

If you are doing paintings with the tablet you probably won't even notice the problem with drawing slowly as most painting is done with fast strokes. The problem only ever becomes apparent when trying to do linework. The only solutions I can offer are to practice drawing quickly and confidently or to use illustrator for line work. Learning to draw fast takes time but is worth it, you can also combine it with negative drawing (ie erasing outer parts of your strokes to smooth out lines and vary thickness) to get nice linework. Illustrator is the easiest option because the brush tool can be configured very precisely in the way it responds to the tablet and you can set the smoothness of the lines to exactly how you like it, if I want comic book style linework nothing is as convenient or quick as using illustrator's brushes.

I am curious to hear other people's experiences though, so if anyone else has got any good insight or tips I'd love to hear them.
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[yobarman]

thanks for you imformative reply Frog...

I tried that test of dragging the stylus across the tab on a straight edge, and you're right about it having hardware limitations. the line comes out pretty crooked.

I now realize i have to get into the habit of more control over my faster strokes because i'm used to drawing with slow small strokes on paper. I've only been using this tablet for a couple days and you're right that it has to be considered as a different media. But all in all I don't know which style I'll end up being good at, whether it be painting or line drawing. But hopefully control over the stylus is something that will get better as a practice more with it.