Tips for noob tablet users?

[azureXtwilight]

I'm ordering a wacom tablet and next week it'll be delivered. I'm used to drawing and doing shading etc. with mouse. Any tips for a noob tablet user like me? And can you tell me about pressure?

[LVUER]

Well, the most important thing is practice. I've told you all the pro and cons about using tablet to you via PM at that time, so practice is the most important thing to do.

You don't have to worry about pressure, it's done automatically. Pressure means the thickness of your brush (or whatever tools you use) changes depending on how hard you press the nib/pen. Of course the sensitivity could be changed via the tablet properties.

And the pressure features is not always working. It depends on the software and the tool you use. Newer photoshop should support that. Corel Painter also support pressure sensitivity (I've tried it), while Flash have only limited support (as far as I know, only brush and eraser) on that.

[Jake]

Well, the most important thing is practice.

I completely agree - this is the main thing.

A lot of people find that they have more trouble with a tablet than a pen/pencil when they first start using one, and start to wonder whether they made a mistake in buying one. You need to practice to get used to the idea of the disconnect between hand position and drawing position, the way the tablet responds to pressure, the probably-different angle of drawing and so on.

Also, I would seriously advise that you go into the tablet's control panel options and make sure 'force aspect ratio' is turned on. Otherwise it'll map your entire tablet area to your entire monitor area, and if the tablet doesn't have the same aspect ratio (e.g. 16:9 monitor and 4:3 tablet) you'll end up in a position where you draw a perfect circle on your tablet and it comes out as a squashed/stretched ellipse on your monitor... which can seriously impede the learning and acclimatisation process.

Another setting you should probably play with is the pressure response, which is IIRC usually presented as a slider from 'Hard' through 'Medium' to 'Soft'. If you have a light touch when you're drawing, you'll probably do better with the softer end, where you don't have to press so hard to get a larger response (wider line); if you tend to press fairly hard, then go for the harder end, so you don't get a huge line all the time and can still exert some control over it without changing too much from your usual drawing habits.

(Also, depending on your tools, pressure may not always directly correspond to the thickness of the line you paint; often, you can set it to vary other properties like opacity, or both opacity and pressure... again, it's worth trying all the options, see what you get on with.)

[IceD]

Another setting you should probably play with is the pressure response, which is IIRC usually presented as a slider from 'Hard' through 'Medium' to 'Soft'

I'd also like to point that this may impact greatly on the technique you will propably obtain in the near future, so try to find the best settings which will fit your needs. Different drawing technques come also from properly configured tablets - for eg. if you'd like to see your works as lightly cell-shaded you might try lower settings, making it easier to learn, more expressive tehniques require more control over the flow.

[dstarsboy]

Practice. Practice. Practice.

[Ren]

And then find someone to paint chat with! Paint chatting is fun, and it means someone else can show you what they do and explain it in real time. :3
Back in the days, I loved pchatting with people, and I gave and received a lot of useful tips.

[azureXtwilight]

Thanks for the tips, guys! Practice makes perfect! Anything else important?

@Ren: Paint Chat? What is that?

[IceD]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint_chat

You might also try some Oekaki drawing somewhere - it's on similiar theme, though works like a forum/BB, where users post their responses in art (for example, someone begins saying to draw some "drunken gentleman terrans and protoss dancing on the backs of fierce looking see lions" and everyone tries at their attempt to do this as best they can ). It's a really good way to improve your skills, and it's a lot of fun, too

Oekaki image boards are exceedingly popular in japan among digital artists

[Ren]

Yup, you can also consider using Opencanvas, which is free and rather small, and paint with your friends or people you invite.
I used to draw on it with it almost every day, and some of the nicest things I did at the time were collaborations made with it.

[Sin]

Just know that your first drawing with a tablet will look like crap. It will be something new and strange, but it's a short-lived feeling.
The tablet is only the interface, you still need to be good at whatever software you're using. Start with something you're already comfortable with and you should adapt much faster.

[blankd]

Make sure the drivers are installed and the orientation is correct (not sure what's your dominant hand). Also do the basics before tackling any of the adjustments.

Practice and don't be put off if you digital works look different or "feel" different from your traditional ones.

[linkdragon0]

That my problem. I don't draw much on my tablet because my digital stuff looks so different than my traditional stuff.

[Jake]

I don't draw much on my tablet because my digital stuff looks so different than my traditional stuff.

You have it the wrong way around - your digital stuff looks so different to your traditional stuff because you don't draw on your tablet much. :P

[linkdragon0]

I've been trying to draw more but I just can get the feel for it.

It's not like I'm gonna stop I just wish the progress happened a bit faster.

[LVUER]

Well, it depends on you. The more time you spent on training, the faster you'll see the result.