Wacom Intous users

[Camomilla]

I have an oooooold Wacom Intous 2 A3 tablet, that have been collecting dust under my desk for the last ten years or so. I bought it used, but never got comfortable using it. Now that I'm doing a larger piece I need something a tad more powerful than my Note-tablet, at least for the finishing touches. But finding a driver that would get this to work on Mac OS Yosemite was no easy feat, but I eventually found an old driver online that got the Wacom working. But really, looking somewhere else than my drawing surface is really, really hard for me. How do people get used to this? Am I perhaps too old to learn new tricks? Any tips will be greatly appreciated

[Chip Valecek]

I started off with a wacom bamboo a few years back to see if I liked working digital. I was always a pencil/ink/color pencil fan. It took a little bit to get the feel of looking up while drawing done. I found it hard to do any sketching, so i would sketch on paper and then scan in to color. After about 2 years I purchased a 19inch monoprice digital monitor. It was so much easier to draw and paint with. However it is a little buggy with random pen marks and dots show up but I have learned to deal with it till I can save money to get a wacom cintiq.

[Camomilla]

Good to know I'm not the only one finding this challenging! I'd really like to get this to work for me - of course a cintiq would be awesome, but it's just over the top pricy at this point in my life The A3 surface on my Intous is quite large, so this will give me better movement in my shoulder / arm. Working full time in front of a computer and then drawing for hours when I get home is really taking it's toll on my arms, so I'm hoping a more ergonomic setup will help with this. I could still do all my sketching on my Note-tablet, and perhaps paint on the Wacom like you suggested

[Dulcie]

@Camomilla I only started doing digital painting last year and similar to you, I dusted off an old 2008 Wacom tablet (before caving in and getting a new one once I was sure I'd stick with it!) It is a different mindset, I'm used to it now but I still have to do all actual drawing/sketching on paper before scanning in...I can't connect my brain to the computer well enough to draw like I do on paper...but I can do painting/colouring/scribbles/amendments etc...being comfortable with that just came with time & practice. So personally that's how I work. I'm sure you'll get more comfortable with time, too

[Chip Valecek]

You might want to look into a Huion or Yiynova both are cheap in price around $500. The monoprice that i have I do not think they make any longer but it is the exact same as the Huion, it actually uses the same drivers. Its just the name on it. The stand is great, you can adjust the tilt to be all the way down or up. For the price you can't go wrong and I needed the monitor to draw on vs the tablet after awhile. I will upgrade eventually but since illustration is just a hobby right now I can not justify that amount of money with my wife

[Camomilla]

@Chip-Valecek Thank you, I'll check it out Currently I don't have ANYTHING to spend on this, but I plan to put my commission-money aside for exactly this purpouse! I'm not making a ton, so it might take a while - in the meantime my Intous will have to suffice. I've seen a few reviews of non-cintiq monitor tablets, but they seem to have a lot of driver-issues. May I ask what operating system you use? I'm currently on Mac OS Yosemite

[Lynn Larson]

I have an old bamboo that i leave at work, and an Intous 3 at home. Making sure you have the right driver makes all of the difference. they are both a bit buggy, i get random huge marks, but they undo pretty quick. It does take time to get used to not looking at your hand while you are drawing, but it's what i have so i made it work. I'm going to get a surface pro 4 here shortly (yay income tax return), just waiting for it to drop back down under $800

[evilrobot]

When I first got my intos 3 it took me about a year to really get use to it. After that it became like second nature to me...but I do know people who have never gotten the hang of it and also those who can paint really well but can't draw with it. Now I have a Cintiq but I still use my old tablet when I'm out and about (and I even bought a bamboo to use at work at lunch time) it's a good product but it just takes time to get use to it. If you can't get use to it and really want to do digital you may need to bite the bullet and buy a digitizer tablet....if you keep your eyes open I have seen them for under $500.00 sometimes in the 300.00 to 400.00 range.

[Chip Valecek]

@Camomilla I am on windows 7, I tried to upgrade to windows 10 but then my brush strokes in photoshop started to lag big time. Almost a 10 to 15 second delay. I believe i need to delete drivers, upgrage and then re-install. Instead I went back to windows 7 and will stay there till i get a new PC. I am not a apple fan.

[Kevin Longueil]

@Chip-Valecek You can buy a Cintiq through Amazon - they have a store card that allows you to make payments with no interest for one year if you choose that route - so you could pay 83 dollars a month for 12 months on a 1000 dollar purchase which could be less painful than shelling out the grand all at once - one thing i will mention is that i have not touched my Cintiq since i bought the iPad pro - way better drawing experience for me - the touch features of the cintiq are pretty sad compared to iPad - but i am not a pro either - but it is so easy to draw quickly and make changes quickly with Procreate and the Apple pencil has not seemed like a stylus at all - it draws exactly where i am expecting a line to appear - anyways...just wanted to share the Amazon thing.... oops - i just read the whole thread and see that you are not an apple fan

[natiwata]

@Kevin-Longueil Me too Kevin, yesterday I had to literally wipe a thick layer of dust off my Cintiq to use it since I hadn't touched it since getting the iPad Pro and Pencil.

[Camomilla]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences @kevin-longueil I'm fine with Apple, it's Chip Valecek that's not an Apple-fan I'm not that concerned with the platforms, I use a Mac at work, so it made sense to get one at home as well. But I'm also on a Citrix Windows daily, and I have an Android tablet and phone. I just want stuff that works, without causing me too much headache

I guess only practice and time will tell if my Intous is a tool I can get comfortable using. As I see it there's several pro's to this tablet -

• it's large, and I can draw all the way from my shoulder
• looking at the screen, my posture is better (not hunched over a desk)
• it's already paid for

Cons would be -

• it's not intuitive to use at all
• I can't customize performance or buttons due to old drivers
• It's only a matter of time before it's completely obsolete

I guess I'll give it more of a go when I we get back from Easter Holiday, thank you again for sharing your experiences

[Camomilla]

... and I must say you all tempt me a lot with the praise for the IPad Pro with pencil. I saw Will Terry's demo of it, and it looks like it makes gorgeous lines and shading!

[audrey dowling]

I work on an Intuos 4 A5. I found it very challenging at the start too but got used to it by practicing. that said, I rarely use it for drawing, tracing etc... just can't do it. Unless the shapes are very simple and I accidentally manage to get it right!
but mainly I have resolved myself to draw on paper, and then scan and color with the tablet. I'm getting more and more comfortable at this now
I would love a digital monitor, but budget-wise it's out of the question right now so Intuos will do for a while

my one problem with it is that I have to re-install the driver regularly. I have it on my desktop all the time now, as well as my favourite settings, to waste less time. I just click on it and it re-installs. it's annoying but Wacom was never able to help me on that

[Camomilla]

@audrey-dowling Have you had yours long? I think I gave up on my too soon when I purchased it. I got so discouraged by the fact that my hand-eye-coordination was so off, that I really dismissed the whole idea of a tablet. Ever since I started drawing again and now digitally on my Note-tablet, I've wanted a cintiq. But I would still either have to draw with my arm raised, or hunch over the tablet. One of the main benefits I think the Intous has over the Cintiq is that you can draw with your arm resting on a surface, but still keep a relaxed neck/shoulders. How do you find it works ergonomically?

[audrey dowling]

@Camomilla I've had it for about 5 years I think but stopped working for quite a long time so all in all, I haven't had to practice that long with it to get used to it. I couldn't really tell you how long, but practicing consistently is the key, I think. here and there is not good enough
I was quite discouraged at the start too but really wanted to work digitally so I kept on trying
Also, have you tried to work with your Note-tablet on a tilted surface? I think that's what I would do if I had one. dont think the wacom tablet is ideal ergonomically though. As soon as you work long hours, I think they all have their limits: I struggle at times with my upper back/neck/shoulder/arm all the way down to the wrist and fingers. That said, I had pains there before I started to draw again but it didn't help anyway. I have to take breaks and do stretching sessions regularly to avoid hurting myself
If I were you, I would give the wacom tablet another try though. It's always nice to have different options anyway and to vary the positions. try not to give up too soon, practice on lines but you might find like me that you can only manage coloring. I think Jake Parker mentioned that too in one of the videos, he just can't draw on a graphic tablet either

[Camomilla]

@audrey-dowling I have my tablet in my lap in my comfy chair, so there's a lot to be desired when it comes to ergonomics The tablet is relatively small - 10.1 inches, and I sort of treat it as a sketch-pad. But lately I've been doing some more complicated painted pictures, and my last one requires quite a high resolution, hence the need for a wacom tablet and photoshop. I think I might do some of the SVS course -assignments on my wacom, that way I get to practice both drawing and tablet-mastering. I think.

The shoulder/arm/wrist-issues will be a reoccurring problem as long as I spend 8+ hours a day in front of a computer, I think Combined with hobbies like knitting and drawing, I really put a lot of stress on those areas.

[Anda Ansheen]

Hello there ^_^
I've had an Intuos3 A4 since 2008 and still use it. The thing I love the most about using a "traditional" tablet is that I get to see the whole image while painting. A few years ago I went to a Wacom stand in a bookfair and tried the Cintiq, and it was super weird for me to have a part of the drawing covered by, well, the pen itself and my hand :))
So if you think of it that way you may actually appreciate the fact that you don't see where your hand is going. Once you draw (a lot) your brain is going to map the tablet surface, and you'll get used to it

[Camomilla]

@ansheen What a great take on it I'd never considered this, that the whole drawing is visible! To me, I think it's a matter of a lot of practice, and if I'm able to customize my work space so it is most efficient when it comes to placing the tablet, the mac, the keyboard and monitor. Hopefully I'll get a good setup that allows me to get creative

[audrey dowling]

another thing: I used to use Intuos 4 with photoshop 3 but when I changed to photoshop 6, it was like a brand new world thanks to just ONE new specificity: the rotate view tool! before that, it was a real pain to draw or paint without this tool