5 Quick Tips for new Tablet users
I bought my WACOM tablet about 8 years ago, and I remember the feeling after the first time I tried it out – something just wasn’t right. It was oddly uncomfortable and unnatural. I looked on the internet and turned to colleagues for some answers, and I found that I wasn’t alone. I’ve noticed that whether you use a WACOM Bamboo, or a Genius MousePen the first reactions for brand new users are often the same.
“It’s hard to get used to this thing.”
Don’t get discouraged! Everyone goes through a beginner stage where you have to get the hang of drawing facing forward and in proportion to the size of your screen. Its all about hand-eye co-ordination. You may have great physical skills when sketching on a pad of paper, but you totally stink when you pick up the stylus and try it on the digital canvas. Never fear – here’s 5 ways to make the transition from paper to plastic easier.
1) Adjust your tablet settings
You would be surprised how many people use the default settings for their tablets and complain that they do not work as expected. The tablet software allows you to manipulate axes and angles for maximum comfort of your hand/wrist and arm positions, sensitivity/pressure options for drawing and painting control, and position options and sensitivities for cursor control. Also, you have additional functions for other programs beyond the artistic ones you would typically use a stylus for. Experiment and find the settings best suited for your method of drawing until you are most comfortable. Make the tablet work for you – not the other way around!
2) Make your drawings a drag.
Now, when I say drag, I don’t mean it in an unpleasant sense – like you can’t enjoy what you’re doing. I mean dragging physically. The biggest knock rookie users have for tablets is the surface gloss makes it difficult to replicate the feeling of real paper and the control you have with the stylus. This increased friction is called ‘drag,’ and you can achieve this feeling easily with a tablet if your drawing area is too smooth for your liking. To do this, draw your image on a piece of paper first, one that will fit within the confines of the live area on your tablet. Tape the paper to your tablet, and trace over top of it. You’ll get used to the movements and eventually you wont have to physically trace on the tablet itself – you can scan and trace using the program instead. You can keep a clean sheet of paper on top of your tablet later on to retain the feeling of drag. Newer models of tablets actually have a rougher surface to create the drag, but there are still some models that do not.
3) Clearer control of Linework with Zoom + Resolution
Many users have the initial habit of drawing at equivalent viewing size on screen, and complain of jagged linework and lack of control. This can easily be avoided by zooming in closer and taking smaller steps and strokes while creating their work. This allows the user finer control of their strokes and eliminates jagged edges at 100% of print size. Another method of increasing the linework control is by raising the resolution of your working area. Generally for print, 300 dpi is the industry standard at full size. If you work at 72 dpi, you do not have sufficient pixel depth/data to display smoother lines. The more depth you have, the more data can be crammed in because more pixels are used to render your linework. Your file size may go up, but so will your quality. Always work big, because it will retain a good portion of your data when you resize it to something smaller, but its not the same when you work the other way, as data must be added to fill in the blanks, and the guesswork is often not so pretty.
4) Learn how to use the Pen Tool for precision
Brushes and pencils are fine for starting out or achieving a certain effect, but if you want clear control over your smooth lines, learn how to use the pen tool to make your basic linework. This will create sharp, consistent, clean looking lines and greatly reduce your filesize with less anchor points and line segments. Click here for a starter tutorial on the Pen Tool.
and finally…
5) Keep swatches on your working area
If you’re frantically painting away and are tired of going over to the colour picker, switching colors and getting back into drawing/painting, only to have to switch again, here’s an easy tip to remember. Put some blobs of color on an area of your screen you can easily reach with your cursor, and as you need to switch colors, find your key command for accessing your ‘eye-dropper’ tool (most of the time its the letter I, but it can vary from program suite to suite) click on it and select your color, then switch back to your drawing/painting tool with the key command for that. This is a basic efficiency technique as well – using shortcuts to speed up your work flow.
For you new users, try out some of the techniques until you get comfortable with the tablet. You’ll be surprised at how much easier drawing can be when you move to digital. Of course, nothing beats pencil/pen and paper, but it comes close. There are advantages and disadvantages (try doing an undo on a pencil sketch… heh!) but only you can decide which method is best for your style. I hope I was able to assist those looking to make the transition.
That’s it for now!
