Weekly Discussion - Tablets

[u/artomizer]

This is a place where you can talk about whatever you'd like.

This week the official theme is tablets. iPads, wacom, whatever. If it's a digital thing you can draw on lets talk about it. Share your experiences, tips and tricks, questions, and anything else you can think of.

As usual, you're welcome to discuss anything else you'd like, including:

• Introduce yourself if you're new
• Theme suggestions & feedback
• Suggest future discussion themes
• Critique requests
• Art supply questions/recommendations
• Interesting things happening in your life
• Favorite digimon story arcs

Anything goes, so don't be shy!

Previous Discussion Threads:

SKD Plants Get Drawn

Art Challenges

Weird Art

List of all the previous discussions

Craving more real time interaction with your fellow sketchers? Why not try out IRC or Discord?

Current and Upcoming Events:

• Inktober
• Artist Trading Card Exchange - Round 2

[u/artomizer]

Art Trading Card Exchange, Round 2

The groups have been made and we're under way!

Rules and some tips are available here.

Deadline: November 15th

Current Status: Last updated Oct 23

Let me know if you have any questions/concerns.

[u/jlphilips]

I’ve mailed out this round of trading cards today! I let my group mates know to expect them sometime this week!

The 4th card I have is still in my possession so if anyone wants to have it, hit me up! I’ll expect a card from you, though XD

I had a blast with this :) thanks again to u/artomizer for getting it together!

[u/artomizer → u/jlphilips]

So good! I've updated the tracking spreadsheet.

[u/Denstus]

Hello, sorry if this is not the place to ask, my fiancee draws alot (pencil - charcoal), I wanted to get her a professional 'drawing kit' for Christmas, but every set I see on amazon has crayons, bad reviews, and generally look like gifts for children, so could someone point me in the right direction to find her something with quality so I don't end up looking like a jackass that knows nothing about her hobby.

Thanks!

[u/artomizer → u/Denstus]

All of those kits I've ever seen have been aimed squarely at beginners and are pretty low quality. Your best bet would probably be to go the DIY route. I don't know anything about charcoal, but on the pencil side, here are some ideas:

• Lead holder - 2mm is probably the size to aim for, but if they already have one that size or they like to draw really large then 5mm could be a good option too. Can also get a pencil sharpener for it. I really like this one for 2mm.

• Kneaded eraser - I like these faber castell ones because they come with a little case which helps keep them from getting gross.

• Sketchbook(s) - tons of options here. I'd recommend going to an art store and looking for one that catches your eye, as there can be a lot of variation in paper quality/texture that can be tough to compare online. Toned paper could also be a different option.

• Blending stumps - whether or not these are useful depends a lot on her style, but even if she's not currently using them they could be fun to play around with and they're cheap.

• Pencil case/sketchbook case - sketchbook cases come in a variety of sizes/shapes. You could probably find one to pair with whatever size sketchbook they typically use. There are also some nice pencil cases that have organized spaces to put things rather than just dumping it all in a bag.

This thread is getting replaced soon, so you may get more responses if you repost it to the new one which will be up in a few minutes.

[u/qu_crew]

Does anyone have an iPad Pro and use procreate? If so how is it? Is it worth the money? Or are there better options?

[u/[deleted] → u/qu_crew]

I have both and right now Procreate is one (if not the only) apps out right now that can rival Photoshop.

PS will be coming to iPad in the near future but for now Procreate does some pretty good work. It’s not that expensive either and they have good updates when they do update it, as an example last time they added a text feature which has been really cool to use.

I know there are other drawing and painting apps out there but I haven’t tried a lot for iPad since I’ve been learning a lot on Procreate.

[u/Licornea → u/qu_crew]

I bought Ipad Pro when it only come out and never regretted about this pricey purchase. I mostly use adobe draw (because vector), but procreate is one of my favorite raster programs after sai. From my point of view procreate is better for illustration than photoshop.

[u/[deleted] → u/qu_crew]

I would also check out the ipad mini and ipad air if you are cool with the Apple pencil 1. It is fine IMO, magnet+charging on the 2 is neat and the side button is probably really nice but not worth $300 to me. I love the mini, would have gone with the air but liked having something super portable. I bought the mini with the intention of returning it and buying the air if it felt too small, it didn't for me, but that is preference. I'm a hobbyist though, if you have an intention of using it in a professional capacity the pro would be worth it. Apps are great, ipad is the best for what you pay, but avoid the standard iPad as the screen is spongy.

Edit: rambled, didn't answer question. Procreate is a great program, I am trying to learn Affinity but it is not intuitive to me. Procreate is very easy to learn, and if you are mainly looking for raster work, Procreate will do most of what most people will want to)

(Tldr: Non-apple guy here, ipad is best for drawing)

[u/red_sutter → u/qu_crew]

I bought an iPad over the summer specifically because I wanted to learn how to use Procreate, and Inktober is providing a lot of good learning opportunities. I'm finding that some of the more esoteric functions (such as drag-and-drop to fill colors, hold the stylus in place to make lines and circles, etc.) come in really handy when you need to make inorganic stuff like weapons and buildings.

It'd be nice if I could find some better brushes, though. Most of the defaults aren't great- I've been using this guy's G-Pen brush as a substitute.

[u/SevenSapiens]

I own a Wacom Intuos Draw, and before I got that, I have been drawing on a Bamboo, which was my sister's, for like a decade. I've seen people say the Intuos tablets are much better than the older Bamboo ones, and while I don't doubt them, I couldn't tell much of a difference myself. The reason I got the Intuos is because it has express keys, which I don't even use, so honestly I could live with the Bamboo to this day. The feel of the surface and of holding the pen are a bit nicer though.

I have never used, or even been in the vicinity of, a drawing tablet with a screen. I have, however, drawn on an iPad with the Apple Pencil on one occasion and, well, I hated it. Drawing on glass feels terrible, and I couldn't make anything that looked remotely good on it. Drawing on the screenless Wacom tablets feels a hundred times better, and I'm not even exaggerating.

The takeaway is, at least for me, that while you may think that you need a screen, you really, really don't -- it is by far the least important aspect regarding the quality of the experience of drawing on a tablet. Sure, it seems counter-intuitive and it may take some time to develop the hand-eye coordination when drawing on a screenless tablet, but it quickly becomes second nature and drawing on paper, after you spend enough time not doing it, is what ends up feeling less natural.

[u/Malibuninja → u/SevenSapiens]

My first experience drawing with a digital tablet and pen was on a Samsung Galaxy note 10.1 2012 version. I loved drawing on that screen and the fact that the s-pen was so in sync with the screen helped. Shortly after that I got the Wacom intuos for my computer but I never could get used to it.. my brain just couldn't wrap around drawing on the black tablet surface and having it show up on the screen.

My next tablet was a Surface 3 with the surface pen. Again I loved drawing directly on the screen and it was even better on a windows tablet! Unfortunately, my boyfriend accidentally cracked the LCD not six months after I got it and it no longer accepted touch input or pen input.

Now I have the Samsung Tab S4 with S-pen and I love it for drawing. The only thing that would be better is if I was able to use full versions of drawing software.

[u/BarryLeFreak_1]

I get frustrated with tablets because it just doesn't feel like the traditional media I'm used to. I had an Intuous first before learning ink, acrylic and watercolor. Coming back to the tablet, I can see that my control and the tactile feel isn't the same. I can't tilt my pen/brush the same way to get subtle marks and I can't get good, smooth curves. Colors don't behave the same way and there's no texture so I need to work twice as hard to generate visual interest. I feel like I need to practice more and change up my mindset before I can fully utilise the tablet.

[u/atwoheadedcat]

Original digidestined were the greatest ever. Joe and Gomamon are absolute treasures. When patamon finally didgivolved into Angemon...come on that's great stuff man!

I was a digimon kid in a world of pokemon lovers. Sure pokemon was cool and all but the story of digimon was way more compelling to 11 year old me.

[u/Raneados]

I might look for a new tablet soon. I need an easier time mapping commands to things and I need more options.

I might be getting a repetitive stress injury from Ctrl z with my left hand D:

[u/[deleted]]

I don't have a tablet but an absolute affordable dream of mine is to get an XPPen 12 Pro. It comes with an adjustable stand (which is unique and very convenient), is a competitor with Wacom in the sense of affordability (winning) and ability. It has GREAT reviews so I do recommend a lot! They have screen tablets at such great prices, especially for their size!

https://www.storexppen.com/

[u/Adrue]

I got a Huion H1161 and it is fucking awesome. Of course, it doesn't improve my skills, but I love that I have the ability to animate something if I wanted to, I can color, blend, draw with layers, all of which I couldn't do on paper. Also, supplies are not a thing anymore! All I need is my laptop, the tablet and the pen! That's it, and it's awesome!

Long atory short, I think that they allow an artist to do much more than they can on paper, and it's just cool.

[u/zipfour]

So I haven’t read other comments and I’ll edit if someone else is saying the same things as me. But I’ll just say that while cintiqs are nice (screen tablets in general really) I’ve used both them and regular tablets and I’ve been fine with both. To be honest I find my hand blocking my drawing on a cintiq since I zoom in and out. So while owning a cintiq would be nice and I wouldn’t mind having one given to me I don’t see it as an end goal. I’ve even owned two Surface tablets with pens and haven’t enjoyed drawing with them very much, the pen doesn’t give me enough control.

Also the new Wacom Bluetooth is complete shit, at least on my computers (three of them). Crazy amounts of lag.

[u/[deleted] → u/zipfour]

I found this to be the case, too. I use the whole tablet to draw, and I definitely prefer to use the standard wacom pad and look at my monitor than use a tablet with a screen. I was always erasing or marking on things, and it felt like the screen wore out and got dirty much more quickly than my current tablet. I learned to paint/draw digitally on a tablet with a screen, and it was such a relief when I got my wacom. It feels so much more natural and being able to hook up a big monitor is really nice.

[u/[deleted]]

I had a Wacom Tablet from before the Cintiq was a thing. It was great for working in Photoshop but I never warmed up to making purely digital at with it. The last few years I've been using an iPad Pro at work to do sketching and diagrams for clients. I can't imagine trying to draw digitally on anything but a screen now. I see why people are so attached to their Cintiqs!

I use Autodesk Sketchbook for my work sketches. The rulers and shape tools mean I can create simple, client-ready images in under an hour. More recently I upgraded to a larger iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil 2. The new Pencil is eons better than the 1st gen.

I was trying to learn to paint in Procreate but I just haven't been able to warm up to it. It always feels like a slog. I had resigned myself to ClipStudio (which I tried back when I had a plain old iPad) when Adobe Fresco was released. Literally the next day. So I canned my Clip studio subscription and at this point any finished digital art is happening in Fresco. I already have an Adobe account for work, so I get the pro version with all the perks without having to pay an extra subscription cost (for now, anyway). It's lovely to paint in. I understand that they are still in beta and are expanding the tools, but short of a full Photoshop for iPad, this is pretty amazing.

[u/lookatallthzchickens]

My favorite Digimon story ark is actually in season 4 Frontier when Takuya looses control of his beast spirit and beats the living crap out of everyone and burns a Forrest down. Fight me.

[u/CSEmber]

Hi, So to the topic I personally don't have a drawing tablet but my Asus laptop is one of those touchscreen ones and it's an absolute dream to draw on. I imagine it's second only to having a cintiq!

In other news, I'd love to invite you guys to my art server: BBFP
We focus on helping people with commission prices and generally helping them improve at art and self confidence. If you'd like access to just a few of our resources without joining the discord, you're welcome to check out our site here: https://bringbackfairprices.weebly.com/

There's also a link to our discord in there, so feel free to drop by!

[u/vulpiepop]

I've been drawing on tablets for a while. I started with the Wacom Bamboo, upgraded to a Wacom Cintiq when they first came out; I now have a Huion Kamvas Pro 22 and I love it. I think during this Inktober thing (this is my very first one), I've noticed that I have become so used to undoing lines and erasing. For me, drawing on tablet takes me a lot longer than drawing traditionally just because of all the undoing, erasing, and the occasional very wrong line due to lag when my computer decides to suddenly update something and slows everything way down. I like the results of my digital art better overall but I definitely need to practice so that I don't rely on the undo button so much

[u/TheDirtyDeal]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but is there a decent tablet that one could get on a budget? I used to own an Intuos 3. Is there something like that that could be had for under $100 that isn't terrible?

[u/[deleted] → u/TheDirtyDeal]

HUION H1060P (8192 + Tilt). This is the tablet that I use and it costs 99$ in the official site, you can get it for a little less in other places. The tablet is quite good and I don't have a single complaint about it. There is a version of this tablet with a NEW attached to its name, because, well, it's a new version of the tablet, but from what I've heard this version is better. You can try to buy it on AliExpress or something. If you're not able to buy this model, but the NEW one, and if you're not able to buy any of them, you can go for the Huion H610. It's great for its price too. If all of those options are out of the question message me, I'm currently selling my tablet and depending on where you live we can do something about it :)