I’ve recently joined college and found that my art skills are far less than lack-luster, especially digitally. I’ve been forced to use pencil and paper and a printer/scanner to do all my artwork on the computer. I’m wondering if a digital medium, such as the wacom tablet will make work much better/easier on the digital end rather than scanning and moving forward from there. Any thoughts would be great.
…First time poster.
um NO. If you cant draw with pencil and paper you cannot draw with a wacom tablet. no if it is YOU CAN draw with pencil and paper and it is the selecting masking and tweaking that doesn’t work for you then YES a wacom is your soon to be new best friend
As I said my drawing skills arent that great at the moment but i hear most of that is simply practice, any thoughts on how to help with refining ones drawing skill?
Pollux710 is art your major in college? Is art something you recently decided to get into? If it is then you should already be drawing from life at least 9 hours a week in class and a few hours more outside of class. If not you’re wasting your tuition.
I’m guessing you’re not an art major since your question seems pretty obvious. Go draw, paint, get an understanding of light, form, color, composition and design and then worry about bringing all that into digital work.
Most of us using tablets to draw are actually really good with traditional tools first. There are no shortcuts. If you are serious about improving, you need to be drawing from life as much as possible. Get yourself into a life drawing class with a model. Sit in cafes or outdoors and sketch on the spot. Observe people, places, objects. You are training your brain to build up a visual vocabulary so that you can then move on to creating good work.
Just go get your skills up and don’t worry about a tablet right now. If you can’t draw with paper and pencil, a $3-400 wacom tablet is a waste of your time and money.
talent is worked on not born with.
but honestly why enter college for art if you cannot draw. college does not teach you to draw. It prepares you for a career ( and most can arguee that point) so let a kid with talent have your spot. work on your skills and truly decide if that is what you want to do as a career path ( want meaning capable of making a living )
Sorry kraal, but I really think that’s atrocious advice. When I started college I had never taken an art class in my life and was terrible at drawing. I worked my ass off for 4 years straight, met some really cool people, and along the way, won the first annual FJORG! animation contest at SIGGRAPH 2007. One of my teammates landed a job right away animating at Dreamworks, and the other interned at Pixar this summer. I’m not pointing this out to brag or boast; I don’t have any industry experience yet, and I have so much to learn it’s not even funny.
But I think it’s important to recognize that all three of us had little to no art experience before we entered college, and all three of us worked really hard and supported each other to grow as much as possible. We’re still sub par at drawing, and getting better is one of our major priorities as we feel it’s crucial to our continuing development… but to just come out and say, “Why enter college if you cannot draw?” is just silly. Not everyone is going to be an amazing art superstar – I’m certainly not – but if I can learn to draw, then I really think that most everyone with decent eyesight and a functioning nervous system can learn if they put in the hours.
To the original poster: the other advice on this thread is great. The Wacom will not make you a better artist; it is an extremely useful tool in the right hands, however. I recommend finding as many life drawing classes as you can and grinding it out. Progress will be slow, but it will come.
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