My first tablet was a Wacom Intuos - it was about the size of a mousepad with a smaller working area, but for a beginner, it got the job done. It also operated like a mouse - if you got to the edge, you could release your stroke and move your hand back to center and continue from where you left off. Unfortunately, it developed a lot of problems with the pen detection hopping around - so I'd end up with my on-screen pen leaping off into oblivion mid stroke. It lasted a long time, though!
I tried to upgrade to another Wacom a while later - but the way it operated was fundamentally different. It didn't have a screen, but the tracking corresponded to the PC display in the sense that top left was always top left - and if you moved your hand, the cursor would reset to wherever you put it down instead of staying where you left it. After using one that worked like a mouse for so long, I just couldn't get used to it D: I could not mentally translate where my stroke was going to land since it had no display, and I ended up getting frustrated with it very quickly. I still have it but I never use it.
I eventually upgraded to a Huion with a display screen - and so far, I absolutely love it. Only drawback is that I don't have a lot of spare room on my desk, so I haven't been able to use it much. I have plans to get a new desk, but it'll have to wait a little while since I can't make drastic changes to the layout of the room where my PC is just yet for reasons. I can't wait to make that switch, though - I haven't been able to draw anything for a long time and I'm getting antsy to get back into it!
As for programs - I mostly use Sai (also purchased many many years ago - apparently there is a Sai 2 but I haven't attempted to use it) for linework because I find the tools in it more intuitive than the tools in photoshop/illustrator. I also have Krita, which is free!
I've got a full version of Clip Studio but I haven't delved into it much. I'm, uh, not sure if they walked back their plan to switch to a subscription model - but I bought it a bit before they announced their intent to do that. If I ever lose access, I don't plan to subscribe to a program.
My first tablet was a Wacom Intuos - it was about the size of a mousepad with a smaller working area, but for a beginner, it got the job done. It also operated like a mouse - if you got to the edge, you could release your stroke and move your hand back to center and continue from where you left off. Unfortunately, it developed a lot of problems with the pen detection hopping around - so I'd end up with my on-screen pen leaping off into oblivion mid stroke. It lasted a long time, though!
I tried to upgrade to another Wacom a while later - but the way it operated was fundamentally different. It didn't have a screen, but the tracking corresponded to the PC display in the sense that top left was always top left - and if you moved your hand, the cursor would reset to wherever you put it down instead of staying where you left it. After using one that worked like a mouse for so long, I just couldn't get used to it D: I could not mentally translate where my stroke was going to land since it had no display, and I ended up getting frustrated with it very quickly. I still have it but I never use it.
I eventually upgraded to a Huion with a display screen - and so far, I absolutely love it. Only drawback is that I don't have a lot of spare room on my desk, so I haven't been able to use it much. I have plans to get a new desk, but it'll have to wait a little while since I can't make drastic changes to the layout of the room where my PC is just yet for reasons. I can't wait to make that switch, though - I haven't been able to draw anything for a long time and I'm getting antsy to get back into it!
As for programs - I mostly use Sai (also purchased many many years ago - apparently there is a Sai 2 but I haven't attempted to use it) for linework because I find the tools in it more intuitive than the tools in photoshop/illustrator. I also have Krita, which is free!
I've got a full version of Clip Studio but I haven't delved into it much. I'm, uh, not sure if they walked back their plan to switch to a subscription model - but I bought it a bit before they announced their intent to do that. If I ever lose access, I don't plan to subscribe to a program.
When I first started on digital art, I used an iPad Air 2... And I wanted to use IbisPaintX but parent said no and gave me adobe sketch. I did not like it. I mostly wanted to get into digital art because I wanted to edit gacha because I was into gacha at the time. And Sketch wasn't the best app for that.
Eventually I found out that I could make decent art with Sketch and not the gacha edits I was originally aiming for, but I had enough with it and went to search for a better app.
Turns out before settling on Sketch there was at least one other app my parent had downloaded called Autodesk Sketchbook (now just Sketchbook). I decided to redownload it, because I knew a warrior cats Multiple Animator Project thumbnail painter used it, and it was far better compared to sketch. It ended up being my main art program for years beyond even my gacha phase.
Last year, I ended up replacing the iPad air 2 with an ipad air 5, one that has access to the Apple Pencil. Working on Sketchbook was very different to the days of using the old iPad, with pressure sensitivity that wasn't present partly because I was drawing with cheap plastic styluses before that.
I was quick to upgrade to a new art program, Procreate. But I did find it hard to find my footing. Eventually I did grow into it, and with the understanding of how it works I ended up really enjoying the app and it's probably the reason my art looks the way it does now.
I still come back to Sketchbook every once in a while though, and honestly some of the features it has makes it better from Procreate in some aspects. Like, say alpha masks. That's a good feature that Procreate doesn't have. Really good for game assets like dragon skins and wildermyth (hair) sprites. The way their brushes work is also good for unique types of brushes.
As for my enjoyment of drawing, I like drawing (especially characters) but most of the time I do have a tendency to abandon working on artwork until a later date. Also my hands have been hurting lately, so I'm probably going to have a break soon. I draw whatever I feel like drawing, and I haven't experienced much artblock yet. Infact, I like drawing so much that I'd like to draw at least once every day. Which doesn't help the fact I want to have a break... but oh well, it is what it is.
When I first started on digital art, I used an iPad Air 2... And I wanted to use IbisPaintX but parent said no and gave me adobe sketch. I did not like it. I mostly wanted to get into digital art because I wanted to edit gacha because I was into gacha at the time. And Sketch wasn't the best app for that.
Eventually I found out that I could make decent art with Sketch and not the gacha edits I was originally aiming for, but I had enough with it and went to search for a better app.
Turns out before settling on Sketch there was at least one other app my parent had downloaded called Autodesk Sketchbook (now just Sketchbook). I decided to redownload it, because I knew a warrior cats Multiple Animator Project thumbnail painter used it, and it was far better compared to sketch. It ended up being my main art program for years beyond even my gacha phase.
Last year, I ended up replacing the iPad air 2 with an ipad air 5, one that has access to the Apple Pencil. Working on Sketchbook was very different to the days of using the old iPad, with pressure sensitivity that wasn't present partly because I was drawing with cheap plastic styluses before that.
I was quick to upgrade to a new art program, Procreate. But I did find it hard to find my footing. Eventually I did grow into it, and with the understanding of how it works I ended up really enjoying the app and it's probably the reason my art looks the way it does now.
I still come back to Sketchbook every once in a while though, and honestly some of the features it has makes it better from Procreate in some aspects. Like, say alpha masks. That's a good feature that Procreate doesn't have. Really good for game assets like dragon skins and wildermyth (hair) sprites. The way their brushes work is also good for unique types of brushes.
As for my enjoyment of drawing, I like drawing (especially characters) but most of the time I do have a tendency to abandon working on artwork until a later date. Also my hands have been hurting lately, so I'm probably going to have a break soon. I draw whatever I feel like drawing, and I haven't experienced much artblock yet. Infact, I like drawing so much that I'd like to draw at least once every day. Which doesn't help the fact I want to have a break... but oh well, it is what it is.
|
wip sig pls bear with i'm new to this stuff
|
@
DragonsOfLegend real, I've got such bad executive dysfunction it's the source of all my problems. I may have tried Krita at some point, it sounds familiar...
@
sedge122 I did try to switch to drawing FR dragons because it's worked for me in the past but not even that worked this time, that's how I knew I was in trouble lol. I had no idea FireAlpaca had animation, it must have gone through a lot of updates since I last used it.
So many people mentioning finger drawing, it made me try to do a doodle on my current phone and it's actually not that bad, it's just as expressive as using a pen but I think the problem would arise if I tried to do clean lineart! I also doodle with a mouse sometimes it helps with rough sketching, but again I would never be able to do clean lineart with it. Not in my pen dependent art style.
@
Senya My current tablet works like the second tablet you got, the idea of your first tablet kind of horrifies me lol but I can understand that it's what you got used to, and it's quite hard to unlearn the method that you start with.
@
2Blue2BTrue I think you're confusing iPad Airs and iPad Minis? iPad Air 5 was released in 2022 and is still a fancy higher end piece of hardware today. My friend was confused about this distinction as well, we were joking about how it feels like you need a degree in order to understand the iPad series of products. I'm very envious of your art enthusiasm, I haven't felt like that in over a decade ;-;
@
DragonsOfLegend real, I've got such bad executive dysfunction it's the source of all my problems. I may have tried Krita at some point, it sounds familiar...
@
sedge122 I did try to switch to drawing FR dragons because it's worked for me in the past but not even that worked this time, that's how I knew I was in trouble lol. I had no idea FireAlpaca had animation, it must have gone through a lot of updates since I last used it.
So many people mentioning finger drawing, it made me try to do a doodle on my current phone and it's actually not that bad, it's just as expressive as using a pen but I think the problem would arise if I tried to do clean lineart! I also doodle with a mouse sometimes it helps with rough sketching, but again I would never be able to do clean lineart with it. Not in my pen dependent art style.
@
Senya My current tablet works like the second tablet you got, the idea of your first tablet kind of horrifies me lol but I can understand that it's what you got used to, and it's quite hard to unlearn the method that you start with.
@
2Blue2BTrue I think you're confusing iPad Airs and iPad Minis? iPad Air 5 was released in 2022 and is still a fancy higher end piece of hardware today. My friend was confused about this distinction as well, we were joking about how it feels like you need a degree in order to understand the iPad series of products. I'm very envious of your art enthusiasm, I haven't felt like that in over a decade ;-;
@
Mangrit
I got it mixed up - the old one an ipad air 2. The new one is the 5. Updated the original post.
I wasn't confusing Airs with Minis. Just Airs with Airs.
My first drawing tablet was a small Wacom Intuos creative pen and touch tablet. It was one of those where you drew as you looked up at the screen and it took me a while to get used to that and then even longer to un-learn it when I finally got a new tablet years later.
My first drawing programs were FireAlpaca and Krita, both free to use programs which I had used for a very very long time as I didn't pay for my first art program until midway through high school.
I got into digital art because I had always watched those speedpaints on youtube allll the time and I wanted to do something like that one day. I also followed a lot of MLP and animation meme animators and that made me want to pursue animation bc I was like "Hey, I have ocs I want to make move!" (now im an animation major)
Now I have a XP-pen 15 (way better than wacom and waayyy cheaper) and a surface pro. My XP-Pen is for everything not adobe related as my surface pro is really only for adobe stuff (and so I don't have to lug my big tablet and laptop to my animation classes). I Use Clip Studio for everything except animation, as I use adobe animate for that!! As for drawing I feel like its definitely improved ever since switching to a screen tablet all those years ago, but a of right now im slowly getting into a bit of an art block, but still working on some personal projects when I can.
My first drawing tablet was a small Wacom Intuos creative pen and touch tablet. It was one of those where you drew as you looked up at the screen and it took me a while to get used to that and then even longer to un-learn it when I finally got a new tablet years later.
My first drawing programs were FireAlpaca and Krita, both free to use programs which I had used for a very very long time as I didn't pay for my first art program until midway through high school.
I got into digital art because I had always watched those speedpaints on youtube allll the time and I wanted to do something like that one day. I also followed a lot of MLP and animation meme animators and that made me want to pursue animation bc I was like "Hey, I have ocs I want to make move!" (now im an animation major)
Now I have a XP-pen 15 (way better than wacom and waayyy cheaper) and a surface pro. My XP-Pen is for everything not adobe related as my surface pro is really only for adobe stuff (and so I don't have to lug my big tablet and laptop to my animation classes). I Use Clip Studio for everything except animation, as I use adobe animate for that!! As for drawing I feel like its definitely improved ever since switching to a screen tablet all those years ago, but a of right now im slowly getting into a bit of an art block, but still working on some personal projects when I can.
omg i have used traditional art for so long... when i do digital art, i use my cell phone. usually, i sketch it out on paper and finalise it via ibispaint. i've been trying 100% digital art, and these are the finished products:
[img]https://i.ibb.co/V9T9g6d/Untitled378-20240419230845.png[/img]
[img]https://i.ibb.co/vsMFgBm/Untitled381-20240421184311.png[/img]
some that started out traditional:
[img]https://i.ibb.co/51gvSXJ/Untitled201-20231027181151.png[/img]
[img]https://file.garden/ZfcXxA_uZRgXD28z/Untitled369_20240309194419.png[/img]
Oooh congrats on the iPad! Hopefully that'll throw the artblock you're experiencing into a ditch somewhere :D
I've been using a Wacom Intuos for.... I don't even know how long, tbh lol. I think 2016? I did go through a period of purely doing mouse art at one point (and I do, on occasion, do silly little mouse art sketches like the one below if I'm feeling artsy but also lazy) that I got for my birthday or Christmas,, sometime in that 2 month time period, and it's been serving me really well!
Silly mouse art I did on clip shortly after the boa release
I used to use the program Medibang Paint Pro, but sometime in 2019 or the early 2020s I swapped over to Clip Studio Paint and have been loving it. Afaik it's basically photoshop with 3d reference models built in and you can buy the software instead of needing a subscription (although if you want access to new feature updates you have to buy a subscription or upgrade your licence with each major version drop :/)
Currently I am going through. pretty sucky artblock :'') but it does seem to be getting better! Went back through some
really old art (2017-18 old), found a few old characters I liked and am currently redesigning one of them! Feeling a lot of passion starting to return so hopefully my own artblock is on the way out! And if it's not, the thing that might be causing (gotta love adhd lol) it will be medicated at some point mid-year so either way it should be gone eventually.
Oooh congrats on the iPad! Hopefully that'll throw the artblock you're experiencing into a ditch somewhere :D
I've been using a Wacom Intuos for.... I don't even know how long, tbh lol. I think 2016? I did go through a period of purely doing mouse art at one point (and I do, on occasion, do silly little mouse art sketches like the one below if I'm feeling artsy but also lazy) that I got for my birthday or Christmas,, sometime in that 2 month time period, and it's been serving me really well!
Silly mouse art I did on clip shortly after the boa release
I used to use the program Medibang Paint Pro, but sometime in 2019 or the early 2020s I swapped over to Clip Studio Paint and have been loving it. Afaik it's basically photoshop with 3d reference models built in and you can buy the software instead of needing a subscription (although if you want access to new feature updates you have to buy a subscription or upgrade your licence with each major version drop :/)
Currently I am going through. pretty sucky artblock :'') but it does seem to be getting better! Went back through some
really old art (2017-18 old), found a few old characters I liked and am currently redesigning one of them! Feeling a lot of passion starting to return so hopefully my own artblock is on the way out! And if it's not, the thing that might be causing (gotta love adhd lol) it will be medicated at some point mid-year so either way it should be gone eventually.
I don't use a tablet, I use a regular ol' optical mouse!
I've worn through so many it's not even funny, but I don't think I'd ever want to switch to something fancier. It has been my tool of choice for over 20 years!
My preferred art program is... well, not an art program at all - it's Flash MX. XD Which I don't recommend to anyone, because of how not-an-art-program it is. So many limitations (colour blending? layer effects? I wish!)
But old habits die hard and anything else is such a hard switch to make due to how nothing quite feels as nice as Flash's vector based tools, plus decades of files being incompatible with any other program. X'D
@
Zenzic If Flash's vector tools are anything like the vector tools in SAI then I can imagine why you've never needed to get a tablet, in SAI using the vectors feels exactly the same whether I am using a pen or a mouse.
@
Amieg Thank you! My friends use Clip Studio Paint, but when I hear about 3d models my eyes glaze over. I fear I'd be
like this person.
@
2Blue2BTrue That makes more sense lol, no worries
My iPad arrived earlier than I expected! I've never owned an Apple product before and the UI is kind of doing my head in, I also forgot how to hostile they were to other products (can't receive Bluetooth files from my android phone). But Procreate is everything I imagined it would be, it's simple and friendly but has advanced functions when you look for them. I've only had the iPad for one day but I spent a lot of time drawing. I love it for lineart but I haven't figured out a way to colour on it that I like yet, but I could always export the lines and finish colour on the PC like normal if I wanted to. So far drawing on a screen is great, it eliminates some of the frustration I had with having to draw and undo lines over and over because I have more accuracy and hand eye coordination. But also, buying the iPad didn't magically make me a better artist~ We will see how it goes.
Sorry I haven't been replying to everyone but I love all your responses <3 I have kind of fallen out of artist spaces in the past 5+ years and it's nice to hear about everyone's experiences, I should try and spend more time in artist spaces because it makes me think more about my own creative process and might help keep me motivated.
@
Zenzic If Flash's vector tools are anything like the vector tools in SAI then I can imagine why you've never needed to get a tablet, in SAI using the vectors feels exactly the same whether I am using a pen or a mouse.
@
Amieg Thank you! My friends use Clip Studio Paint, but when I hear about 3d models my eyes glaze over. I fear I'd be
like this person.
@
2Blue2BTrue That makes more sense lol, no worries
My iPad arrived earlier than I expected! I've never owned an Apple product before and the UI is kind of doing my head in, I also forgot how to hostile they were to other products (can't receive Bluetooth files from my android phone). But Procreate is everything I imagined it would be, it's simple and friendly but has advanced functions when you look for them. I've only had the iPad for one day but I spent a lot of time drawing. I love it for lineart but I haven't figured out a way to colour on it that I like yet, but I could always export the lines and finish colour on the PC like normal if I wanted to. So far drawing on a screen is great, it eliminates some of the frustration I had with having to draw and undo lines over and over because I have more accuracy and hand eye coordination. But also, buying the iPad didn't magically make me a better artist~ We will see how it goes.
Sorry I haven't been replying to everyone but I love all your responses <3 I have kind of fallen out of artist spaces in the past 5+ years and it's nice to hear about everyone's experiences, I should try and spend more time in artist spaces because it makes me think more about my own creative process and might help keep me motivated.
[quote]My question for you is, what tablet and drawing software do you use? What's the pen like, what do you like about it, how much did it cost? How has your creative experience been, are you drawing happily or are you in crippling artblock right now? Whatever you feel like sharing.[/quote]
- I have a drawing tablet, but I rarely use it and I forgot what it's called. I prefer drawing with my finger on ibispaintx [emoji=skull size=1]
- I got the drawing tablet for Christmas a few years ago, but I forgot how much it costed. It was fine to use, just not something I prefer using since I couldn't draw comfortably wherever I wanted to like on my bed or something
- I am drawing VERY happily!!!! currently I've been drawing human versions of my warrior cat ocs a lot. below I wanna share a ref of one of my kitty ocs I've been obsessed with recently,,,her name is eclipse :3
[img]https://i.ibb.co/K6BMpWR/Untitled8021-20240514171748.png[/img]
I would share some human drawings but I don't have them on me rn
edit: also if any fellow ibis users want the qr code for the brushes I use lmk...
I use all custom brushes. for lines, I use a brush I found called "queer" and it looks very texture-y and I like it a lot,,,for sketching I use a brush I called "rendering" (and made myself) to block out shapes for the most part. to shade I either just use the lasso fill tool and blend or use a really nice blending brush called "sussy painting" (which I found in the same place I found the queer brush)
Quote:
My question for you is, what tablet and drawing software do you use? What's the pen like, what do you like about it, how much did it cost? How has your creative experience been, are you drawing happily or are you in crippling artblock right now? Whatever you feel like sharing.
- I have a drawing tablet, but I rarely use it and I forgot what it's called. I prefer drawing with my finger on ibispaintx
- I got the drawing tablet for Christmas a few years ago, but I forgot how much it costed. It was fine to use, just not something I prefer using since I couldn't draw comfortably wherever I wanted to like on my bed or something
- I am drawing VERY happily!!!! currently I've been drawing human versions of my warrior cat ocs a lot. below I wanna share a ref of one of my kitty ocs I've been obsessed with recently,,,her name is eclipse :3
I would share some human drawings but I don't have them on me rn
edit: also if any fellow ibis users want the qr code for the brushes I use lmk...
I use all custom brushes. for lines, I use a brush I found called "queer" and it looks very texture-y and I like it a lot,,,for sketching I use a brush I called "rendering" (and made myself) to block out shapes for the most part. to shade I either just use the lasso fill tool and blend or use a really nice blending brush called "sussy painting" (which I found in the same place I found the queer brush)
