Brushes with Photoshop and Tablets

steve2112

Whats up all,
I got a graphire 3 and i love it. i find it great to editing photo and shading but i am still have a hard time doing basic sketches. what are some decent brushes settigs that you guys use to sketch with. it seems that all my strokes a way to jittery and squigly

thanks

steve

Datameister · Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2005 6:44 pm Post subject:

That may simply be a problem with the tablet. Graphire tablets have lower resolution and fewer levels of pressure sensitivity, so they are less precise than, say the Intuos series.

It also could just be a problem with your technique. Perhaps you simply need to smoothen out your strokes. When you draw on paper, how does it look?

I have a very similar problem when I try to sketch digitally with my Intuos3 4x5. When I work with very small brushes, I end up with undesired squiggling. This doesn't happen when I draw on paper. Smoothing is turned on, so that's not it. Anyone have any suggestions?

stevealmighty · Posted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 12:49 pm Post subject:

Make sure that when you are drawing, that you're working with your canvas at 100% (double click the zoom tool). If you're past 100%, then your tool will start to jump between pixels. This will help. Also, you might want to turn off the "stylus" settings in the tool that you are using. That will allow you to use the pen tool, but get the same results of the mouse, no auto adjusting depending on the pressure of your pen against the tablet. Depending on the type of pen that you have, you can also use different tips or "nibs" for you pen. Check the wacom site to see if they are available for your pen and if they'll work. Different tips give you different feels, which will give you different results. Other than that, a tablet takes some time to get used to it, so try a lot of different techniques and see wich one or which combinations work for you.

Jersey Hacker · Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 3:53 pm Post subject:

I have just bought the graphire 3 studio and i love it aswell, great tablet, very useful, especially for brushing, so this advice applies to me aswell, thanks alot guys

Datameister · Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2005 6:06 pm Post subject:

I think my own technique is at fault for the undesired "squiggling", rather than the software or hardware. When I draw in pencil, I tend to use a lot of faint, sketchy lines that are mostly drawn from the wrist. I try to carry over the same principle digitally, and it just doesn't work out as well. I need to use bolder strokes, using more arm and less wrist. That will hopefully refine my strokes and produce more elegant results.

Glad to hear you're enjoying your tablet, Jersey Hacker! Aren't they amazing? Swoon...

Jersey Hacker · Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2005 2:40 am Post subject:

Thanks Data, yes they are very useful, now to learn how to put it to good use!

Datameister · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 10:28 am Post subject:

Do you draw and/or paint with traditional media? If you have trouble with that, the tablet won't make things any easier. If you are an excellent artist, you'll probably pick up the tablet very quickly.

Digital painting is a fun process, but tricky to get used to for many people.

Metomorphosis · Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 2:46 pm Post subject:

There is a very nice brush tool on Illustrator CS2, you can just save that as .psd or whatever and work on from there in PS, thats how i got the nice smooth line on my Website - sorry, under construction Big Grin

- Vinny

Datameister · Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2005 12:40 pm Post subject:

Last night, I made a large, softish brush that sort of mimics charcoal. I like it a lot; I think it will be very practical for shading and texturing. Now to put it to use...

I'm also developing a brush for laying out large areas of color. The trick is to combine precision with speed, and it's proving more difficult than I had anticipated.

For most (but not all) purposes, Photoshop's default hard and soft brushes are just fine. If you want complex texturing, designing custom brushes is the way to go.

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