[hunch]

i just joined and i wanted to ask a few questions
firstly, what software do you guys use, iv got photoshop 7 and i recently started coloring some of my drawings, then i see how you get those drawings that look painted. is there a special program or can this be achieved in photoshop?
the second thing is, do most of you have those pads to do digital drawings and if yes how important are they for achieving those kind of effects? Could you do that without them?
I think thats enough

thx
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YAAAA

[Snakebyte]

Photoshop or Corel's Painter is most commonly used app here in the forums. As for the pad's, yes, wacom is about the best there is and it is very important when trying to achieve the painted look.
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Kevin Moore
www.darkesthorizons.com

[Tinusch]

Theoretically, anything that you paint with a tablet can be painted with a mouse, but the tablet makes it a lot easier and a LOT faster. Things like opacity and brush size can of course be changes manually, but the tablet's pressure sensitivity allows you to vary them in a single stroke. It makes you strokes look more lively and "painterly."

To make your images look "painted," take advantage of PS7's custom brushes. Otherwise, try Painter, which is basically a real-life tool simulator.

[hunch]

so im guessing i should look into buying a pad then
but any advice on which one?
how does it compare to actual drawing?
is it weird at first? does it react well to have a big screen with a small pad?

dont wanna go jumping in to anything

o i almost forgot, what kinda price range is there?
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YAAAA

[Impaler]

Get a Wacom brand, they are the most reliable.

There are two main models that you should look into, the Graphire, and the Intuos.

The Graphire doesn't read the tilt of your pen, and it has lower resolution (lines per inch). It costs about 100 bucks, and it's 4 x 5".

The Intuos is the higher-end model, it features pretty much everything that the Graphire doesn't. It ranges from 4 x 5" to 9 x 12". The smallest costs about $220, the largest costs $700.

Run a search on this forum for wacom. There are enough threads to blanket Luxemborg.
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QED, sort of.

[Tinusch]

I have a Graphire2, as do many people here. I like it, I haven't had any trouble with it, and I don't feel like I'm really missing anything by not having emptied my bank account for an enormous Intuos. The small pad size really doesn't take long to adjust to. I can't tell you what you'd be missing with the lack of tilt-sensitivity, as I've never used an Intuos (I'm sure it's pretty damn hard to go back to a Graphire after using one, though), but I don't see it as a necessity. If you've got the cash, go ahead and grab an Intuos, but don't feel like you're missing out or getting a piece of junk with the Graphire, because it's still a damn nice tablet.

[Mari]

Painter 7 is downloadable, but if you want easy water colouring (like me...) Painter 6 is better. I dunno about Painter 8 though... But it's really what kind of colouring you wanna do.

Personally I enjoy using Painter for colouring and Photoshop for modifying my pictures or manipulating photos or images.

I also have Open Canvas, which is free to download from the site (http://www.opencanvas.com/) but my tablet doesn't react very well to that one. It keeps zooming in and out cause my tablet's not a wacom... Hee hee. Anyway, Open Canvas imitates pens, pencils, airbrushes and water colours - to a certain degree. I always thought that both Photoshop and Open Canvas give pretty artificial looks, but it is possible to get realistic stuff with Open Canvas if you think you have enough skill. Your choice

For the rest there's Paint Shop Pro but I don't think that's very good for painting purposes.

And that's how I view those programs. Yay!

My art's not a good example though. I'm a kiddie ^_^

[hunch]

what exactly is do you mean by tilt sensitivity?
does it change the thickness of the lines?
and in that case does pressure make any difference?
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YAAAA

[SilentBrain]

I think they are talking more about the angle the pen is held at, ie if you have a rectangular brush then you can control at what angle it is drawn.
[edit] Actually, I just took a look at the photoshop 7 brush settings and found that you can connect the pressure and tilt sensitivities to any number of brush functions, including opacity and size. (for me it'd be a little wierd to have opacity set to the pen tilt, but I guess if someone wanted to...) I'm guessing painter already has pen tilt support, but I cannot find options for it on opencanvas.[/edit]

I personally have never used the pen tilt feature, and actually wish I'd known about graphire back when I'd bought the intuos as I still don't use the capabilities of the intuos to the max in any way. I'm sure you could gain quite a bit of power by being able to turn your brush at any angle you choose though.

Also fyi, getting used to any size tablet interface will take time since you are not looking where you are drawing. You will have to get to know the boundaries of your tablet and how moving the pen on the tablet moves the cursor on the screen. But it's a small price to pay for the ability to multiple undo and quicksave, imho. :D

[hunch]

so i finally decided on the graphire pad according to my budget, but oh the humanity!!! there is graphire 2 and graphire 3!!!
they are both about A6 (inches?)
I reckon im gonna go for the latter one, but if u want to see for yourself here are the links:
Graphire 2
Graphire 3
I also found another thing that i was intreaged by on ebay
Some pad by wacom
Can anyone tell me more bout that pad. Seems abit dodgy to me but for 25 quid who knows...
thx
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YAAAA

[Tinusch]

I wouldn't bother with an ArtPad or ArtZ tablet, especially not if they're used. As far as I know, they don't have replaceable overlays, so if it gets scratched (which it may already be), you're screwed. I bought a used ArtZ II off of eBay a few years ago, and the surface had a pretty sizeable scratch right across it, and it wore my pen nibs out very quickly.

[SilentBrain]

Tinusch, if you are looking for overlay replacements then Wacom does sell them here> wacomdirect
They also have the replacement pad which may fit that artpad but...

Since I can't find any info on that ebay item I'm kind of suspicious. Also note that it connects to your serial port, and not your usb port, and requires a power plug. A usb connection feeds power from the computer so you do not have to use a power plug, and you can also plug/unplug it whenever you wish. (it also has a higher data throughput but with a 4x5 pad like that, I guess that's not really an issue)

Well, if you are okay with that, it sounds like a deal. ArtZII was my first wacom, and now my artschoolmate's wacom, so don't think those old pads can't still kick some butt. :)

[Mari]

There's also the Wacom Volito...

I just ordered 2 last night - one for me and one for my friend.

They're much cheaper than the Graphire and the only difference is there's no eraser in the end, and the Volito is black. But barely anyone uses the eraser anyway, if they even have one, so I think a Volito is a good replacement.

Good luck!

[Capt. Fred]

Can I get OpenCanvas for mac?
I would check but the internet is behaving verrry strangely for me at the moment.

[Mari]

I think there's downloads for both...

[-tai-]

[Impaler]

I had a dream where I went to some computer store and saw new Cintiq-style monitors. Except, they were the size of big plasma TV's.

I can't remember if I was disgusted or delighted.
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QED, sort of.

[Smurf]