gcextreme

Drawing Pad-pen

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Who uses a drawing pad with pen to draw on their computers in a program like photoshop or Illustrator?

Something like this maybe

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003ZZXXLK/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?SubscriptionId=14H876SFAKFS0EHBYQ02&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B003ZZXXLK&linkCode=xm2&tag=hubpages-20

Not sure if that link will work.

Looking for advice on purchasing something like this...

Thx

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I have a tablet and tried to get to like it but I have spent too much time with the mouse I think

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But one must be pretty advanced in a drawing program to utilize one of these. They do not make you a better artist at all. Just improve your workflow and add another tool at your disposal. For me the 10 button mouse is still faster and more efficient. I have the 21UX and really use it rarely.  

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Thanks...im just trying to add more tools to help me be creative...im a good artist with a pencil..just thought i would try this tool.

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I use(at times) a " CyberTablet 12000", bought it off Tiger Direct 3-5yrs ago, use a pressure pen or mouse, Adobe PS , Illustrator, Corel. Work area measures 12 x 10...Think I gave 200.00 for it back then...But like others a mouse is the tool of choice BUT for tracing something to PS or Corel I cant deny it comes in handy...

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I recently bought a used HP Elitebook 2730p tablet to work on when I'm away from my design or cutting PC.  It has a built in digitizer (a Wacom, I believe) that lets it function similar to the Cintiq - I use the stylus directly on the screen.

 

It is not nearly as intuitive as you would think and I find that I'm moving my hand around much more with the stylus than I do with a mouse.  When I move my mouse pointer from one side of a 27" monitor to the other, I move my mouse hand around 4" - to move my mouse pointer on a 14" tablet from one side to the other, I move my stylus hand 10"+.  I admit that doesn't sound like a big deal (Woo! He had to move his hand an extra 6"!!!!), but over the course of a decent design, it starts adding up.  Also, when working directly on a small screen, the little triangles in the toolbox in Corel are itty-bitty and it can be a pain sometimes to get the fly-out menus to open when I want them to, but if I plug a mouse and use it, I don't seem to have the same issue - no idea why.

 

I've been a GUI user since long before most people - I owned a Commodore Amiga 1000 PC back in 1986 and have become very accustomed to using a mouse over the (mumble mumble mumble) years since then, and I find that I'm more accurate with it than I am with a stylus.  I am also not an artist who can draw with a pencil or paint with a brush, so I don't have the muscle memory for those actions - your mileage may vary if you do.

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Gooey(GUI) has been my mentor since the daze of Atari and C-64, NOT using the mouse is like driving without eyes and hands...And like OWJONES was sayin about hand movement-I had to train myself to not touch my pad unless I was drawing or tracing as the closer the stylus the more un-needed lines and marks appeared, pain to clean every time I would make a incorrect line or smudge and so on since it was so sensitive to touch.

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Follow your style. If your art would be more efficiently built as vectors, you must use Illustrator. If it's better executed as pixels, you must use Photoshop.

Use Photoshop for pixel manipulation, photo retouching, and digital painting. Imagine it as a canvas. You can draw and make all kinds of great images with it, including cartoons. You can use a a drawing pad like XP-Pen Deco 02 which I have in photoshop , and you're all set.

And there is a wide swath of art that works best if you use both Photoshop and Illustrator, making components in one program and mixing them into the other.

For example, it might turn out that your comic art is best started in Illustrator for the ease of shape and pen stroke manipulation when laying down the basic drawing, but finished in Photoshop for best control over shading, painting, effects, and other finishing.

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