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A question about drawing on a computer

Murkrow

Murkrow

Says "also" and "or something" a lot
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Anyone who frequents the grr thread knows I constantly criticise myself for not doing anything other than refreshing websites and playing games all the time, and constantly giving up when I do try something new.

Well anyway, one thing I always come back to is trying to draw. I have a question! I'd prefer to draw on the computer since that way I won't waste loads of paper. (I'd be wasting electricity instead!) But what's the best way to do that? I'd guess that drawing with the mouse isn't very precise, and using a laptop touchpad thingy wouldn't work because it's too small. I don't want to invest in a tablet until I'm somewhat decent at drawing. So what do people here who draw digitally use?

I guess I have another question while I'm at it as well. When I try other hobbies, I often find myself at a loss of what to do, for instance when I try programming, which I'm halfway decent at, I just can't think of a program to write that would be useful in any way. Unlike that though, I have tonnes of ideas of things I'd want to draw but I don't because I want to save those ideas until I'm better at it. What advice could people give there? Should I draw those things anyway to get better and redo them later, or think of other stuff to do?
 
I'd say a tablet is the way to go, because using a mouse is of course a possibility but not a very good one (at least not for your wrist).

About investing in a tablet: there are some pretty cheap and good ones out there! I have a not-very-expensive (about ~50€ iirc) tiny Wacom Bamboo tablet, and it's served me well for years. I'm sure you can get even cheaper quality tablets somewhere if you just do a little research (I remember seeing a tumblr post about cheap but apparently good tablets, the brand name was Monoprice or something).

As for the other question: draw them anyway! Even if they end up looking like shit, they'll teach you a lot. The best part is finding those old drawings later, redoing them and realizing how much you've improved. Practice is the way to go.
Good luck on your journey into the magical world of digital art! :D
 
It's very hard to do good lineart or similar things on a computer with just a mouse with any kind of ease.

I have that exact monoprice tablet that Equinoxe mentioned, it's ~$50/£30 + shipping and it works very well. They have smaller (and cheaper) ones but those are really too small to bother with, I imagine.

I draw so many things multiple times! It helps you see your progress and iron out kinks in your process. One day I filled an entire page of my sketchbook with pidgey until I learned to draw a pidgey.
 
whether you use a tablet or a mouse, you will get better by practising a lot. i used a mouse for eleven years before switching to a tablet (on new year's eve last year lol).

i find the tablet to be easier now, and a looooot quicker but using one over the other doesn't determine how good an artist you will be. like i said, practise.
Even if they end up looking like shit, they'll teach you a lot. The best part is finding those old drawings later, redoing them and realizing how much you've improved.
Click to expand...
seconding the hell out of this too!

aaaaand i use a wacom bamboo. £40 off amazon. that's about as cheap as they get really :v
 
i agree with the sentiments re: mouse vs. tablet. if you're really not keen on getting a tablet until you're sure you'll use it, you could always look at vector art, which is kinda more suited towards a mouse in my experience. :O
 
Personally, I hated trying to work with a mouse. I didn't have the patience to deal with it. Investing in a tablet, even a small little cheap one, will probably be worth it. If you really don't want to spend the money just yet, that's understandable. There is another approach, though. Draw on real paper and scan it into the computer to color it in photoshop or what-have-you. That's how I transitioned to digital. If you don't have a scanner, just take a photo centered as well as you can with LOTS of bright light on the paper. Lower quality, but it's something.

I know, then you can waste paper AND electricity. You shouldn't feel like you're wasting paper. It's a learning process, and the way I see it, the less you like your finished product, the more you've learned in the process of drawing. So the paper was well used in a learning experience.

SO, try mixing the real and the digital. That's my suggestion, for what it's worth.
 
Yeah, tablets. I got mine off of eBay for $40 and it works great. C:

Mixing as ^ said is a good idea too. :o
 
Thanks for the replies! I'll take a look at the tablets you mentioned a bit later. I do have some paper I don't mind wasting which I suppose I could use for now. I have a couple of books I got for art class in year 7 which I only used the first few pages of because the teacher always provided paper anyway.
I'll be sure to practice as well, I just need to decide what to draw first.
 
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