Some questions

I was wondering if some of you guys could answer some of my questions,
I got a tablet today (wacom volito2) and I was hoping you could help me.

1. Do you guys use a tablet to do your lineart or a mouse and the pen tool?
2. After scanning at 600dpi, should I do the lineart at that size or revert to the wanted size first?
3. I tried doing some lineart with my tablet and some of the lines aren't as black as I wanted them, how do I temporarely turn off the pressure sensitivity (in Photoshop 7)?


This is the picture btw:


And this is it colored in with pencil:


Thanks in advance

I'll try to answer some with my personal preferences.

1. Many many years ago I used to draw and color with a mouse. My first tablet was a Wacom Graphire and I pretty much used it until it broke and after that I decided I needed a professional tablet and went for a Wacom Intuos 3 and it's my dearest baby even now.

2. I usually resize the scanned image to be about double the size of my screen or more. Not too large because it becomes slow and not too small so painting details is possible. It's up to you really but I recommend using a higher resolution than what you want the finished work to be.

3. There's a button in PS that lets you "turn off" your tablet capabilities, pressure, tilt and all that. I marked it in the screenie below in red. I still recommend using it! I don't see any harm in lineart that is not "pure" black. Variance in line thickness and pressure make the picture look richer and more interesting, unless you're going for a certain style. Try experimenting with different kinds of brushes and find out what your own favourites are. My favourites are usually the ones that allow both variating line thickness and opacity. (It's been a long time since I used PS7 but I'm guessing the tablet button is still there but if not, sorry I don't know where it is then. >.<)



Hope that helps.

I'd pretty much have to agree with Nian on all points:

1. I also use an Intuos3. I love it! Unless I'm playing a dice and paper rpg (drawing on the back of my character sheet ) I use the tablet for everything! Mouse is...okay...but tablet is the best. AND it's alot easier than trying to draw using a laptop touchpad. YIKES!

2. Keep it big so you can get into all the little detailed parts, but not massive... I wouldn't go with anything under 200. 200 is basic commercial print resolution, so you'll want slightly higher than that for a smooth look.

3. Yeah, even if you don't use PS, there should be a setting on your tablet control panel to turn off pressure sensitivity. Again, it depends on the look you're going for. I don't know if your tablet has buttons (I'm fairly sure it would) but those can be set to do different things, so you could probably set it up to toggle pressure sensitivity.

Quote:

I also experienced (notebook, bah >.<) that 300dpi + several layers of drawing and paint can overtax your computer, so that's maximum I can/would go. the rest is just patience and practice - I also got a tablet recently and at first I was really clumsy, but I've come to love it so much I would never again give it away

Thank you very much for answering my questions!

I tried coloring one of my paragon sketches and here is the result:


Feedback and criticism is always welome