Wacom Intous users
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@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
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@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.
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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
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... 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!
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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 whilemy 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
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@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?
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@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 -
@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. -
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 -
@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 -
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
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@Camomilla it is true, though, I find the layout very comfortable on the desktop. I dont think I could work properly on an armchair with a note-tablet. I can set my screen at the right height and angle, I have all I need very close, I can be careful with my posture etc.
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So, I've finally rearranged my desk, gotten myself a (cheap) new monitor and started experimenting. Before trying to tackle the drawing I'm currently working on, I thought I'd start with an eye. I know I can produce a nice looking eye with tools I am comfortable with, so this is always what I draw when I test new techniques or media.
Pleasant surprises:
- So many brushes! I'm on PS CC
- Response-time (this is 3400x3400 px)
Difficulties:
- BIG surface. I'm NOT used to drawing on a large surface, and getting the circle of the eye to be round was soooo difficult!
- Looking at my pen/hand and not seeing my drawing.
I need to do this way more, and I'm looking at getting the desktop version of Artrage too. This is so exciting
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Hey man,
I feel your pain. I just went through this very same experience. I got a tablet and tried it for like a day and I HATED it! I stopped using it for like a week. Then after that, I decided I really needed to try again. I forced myself to use it for like 5 days. The first day was pretty rough: my hand felt awkward, my drawings were lame and messed up, my technique took a huge hit . . . I was pretty discouraged. BUT, I kept using it.By day 3 or so I was starting to get the hang of it. One thing that helped me, was learning how to move the canvas. So if you hold down the space bar, your cursor turns into a hand and you can move the canvas around — for some reason, just learning that little thing helped me a lot. I also watched a few youtube videos and talked to some friends.
In the end I would just say "stick with it!" Now I feel like it is such a powerful tool and it helps me to make finished art work REALLY a lot quicker than traditional media.
Good luck!
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keep at it, it will get better
I work on a very small tablet so I didn't have that problem when I first started on it. Quite the opposite: I was wondering how I could draw big things in such a small area! got used to it, but now I wish I could try my hand at a bigger surface, I feel a bit limited sometimes and I don't have much space for big arm movement lines
As for the the space short key, it's so natural for me that I haven't even thought of mentioning it in your post andrew ^_^ the ones I use the most are this one, the picker (ALT+pick a color on the screen), B and E for brush and Eraser. And another one you might find great if you dont know it already (camomilla, you do, by the look of your photo) is holding R and turning your screen. I think it only works on photoshop 5 and 6 though
Will Terry also uses the brackets [ and ] for the size of the brushes and shift + { or } for the hardness. would love to use these but I find them a bit for for my little fingers on the keyboard ^^ -
@andrewcolinbeck So nice to know others have experienced the same instant dislike - I felt pretty discouraged there for a while. I most definitely need a LOT more practice, but this time around I'm determined to make this work for me
@audrey-dowling Thank you, yes I also think it will get better. Luckily I'm very familiar with photoshop, I work as a graphic designer/typographer and use it daily at work. But not for drawing/painting, so there's still a learning curve here. Another way of quickly changing the size or opacity on your brush is to hold down alt+ctrl while clicking and dragging to the right/left and up/down. Right/left controls the size and up/down controls the opacity. I also have small hands, so the brackets shorcut doesn't work for me either.
Thank you both for tips on how to work better at drawing in Photoshop! I really need to familiarize myself with all of Photoshop's drawing tools - I find all the brushes-pallets and windows very confusing. There is one window for settings, one to pick the kind of brush, and the library, and then another kind for specific brush-settings
I tried to grasp how all this works together yesterday, but I'm not sure if I got any further. Need to watch more tutorials too, I think -
ctrl + alt duplicate and moves a layer for me
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I got pretty organized now with all the tools and menus, even though I try to keep it simple with the ones I use the most
for the tools, I keep them neatly and easily accessible there:
as for the brushes that I use the most, I have saved them into groups like this:
and then I saved the whole layout in Window -> Workspace -> New workspace(sorry if you already know all this, but it might be useful to someone else anyway
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@audrey-dowling I did not now this, thank you
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@Camomilla No problem, best of luck! Just give it time...
