Wonders of Tablet Drawing

My Inspiration

A photo I took when I was visiting New York this summer.

I recently got a drawing tablet. No, that's a lie.  I've had a tablet (Wacom Intuos 4) for awhile, I just recently started using it.  When I first began, I started tracing circles.  For those who haven't used a graphics tablet before, I must say this: drawing by hand on paper is one thing, but having the control with a tablet is another.

For starters, I could not directly look at my hand while drawing.  I had to focus on what was on my screen.  So that was tricky.  Secondly, depending on the brush I was using, the pen was quite sensitive, so sometimes thickness of the brush varied in areas where I did not want it to.  Lastly, I have a shaky hand naturally.  Getting over that was just something I had to work on.

Needless to say, I was not tracing circles like a boss.  But then, after a lot of practice (and boredom of drawing the same thing over and over) I moved on to tracing images that I found online.  This was fun!  Not portfolio worthy just yet, but I was starting to get the hang of it.

My Illustration

A work that I'm proud of (finally!) based on the photo I took.
Drawn in Photoshop CS5.

However, now that it has been a month or so, I've somewhat got a grasp on the tablet thing (as well as my steady hand).  It has taken me much practice, time and patience, as well as additional coaching from a friend (at work we have nicknamed him the "Wizard of Photoshop") but I am able to draw pictures on my own.  That's a definite bonus!

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working."

— Pablo Picasso