Does using a tablet improve drawing skills?
I'm inclined to think yes but am interested in your thoughts. Like many I use a wacom and think its one of the best investments i've made. Since your essentially holding and moving a pencil and perform often identical movements and strokes to drawing would you say using a wacom actually improves your drawing skills/hand-eye co-ordination?
I'd say most of my time using a wacom doesn't involve fine motor movement its mainly repetitive strokes in zbrush but I do have to make some fine strokes now and then especially if i'm painting a mask. I also use it a lot for photoshop work which is mainly precise strokes and varying pressure.
So has anyone else noticed any improvement in their drawing ability which they could attribute to using a tablet?
I'd say most of my time using a wacom doesn't involve fine motor movement its mainly repetitive strokes in zbrush but I do have to make some fine strokes now and then especially if i'm painting a mask. I also use it a lot for photoshop work which is mainly precise strokes and varying pressure.
So has anyone else noticed any improvement in their drawing ability which they could attribute to using a tablet?
Replies
know that drawing can be devided in many skill points, so you will not cover all of them by simply controling your pc with a pen, but there sure are quite some points that it does
Probably just a mix of more time spent thinking visually and raw hours spent getting the hand to make precise strokes -- so it wouldn't make you a great illustrator, but the mechanics won't be as much in the way.
you can trace shit with a tablet, which may help, but if you really want to beef up your drawing skills, draw something from life at least once a day every day. drawing what you see helps you visually and mentally pick out form and depth far more than using any photograph. tracing shit and saying you drew it however is FAIL. soooooooooo yeah... that's my post for the day.
I definitely agree, to go slightly off topic i've found that since I started 3d modeling I look at everything very differently than I used to, this may sound saaad but if I have to wait or queue somewhere I often find myself looking at stuff and imagining how I would make it in 3d, where it's topology would flow etc hehe and I guess that's not a common thing to most folk.
I guess I just appreciate and analyze structure and form in the real world a lot more these days due to the fact I spend the majority of my day working on 3d objects.
There's so many little tricks built into the muscular memory of my hand that I can't seem to transfer over to a tablet.
Having a plethora of brushes, layers, and UNDO does speed up a lot of things though.
In the end I don't think it matters much. Drawing is more about observation rather than the physical act of rendering images on paper. If you do it through photoshop, or modeling, or any way, as long as you spend the time to look and understand an object, then you're learning how to draw.
I also seem to do better when im using the wacom but thats probably just because i use the wacom more in everyday "life"
when i draw on paper, im much more careful about what i do, and how i do it,
one wrong line can really damage your drawing
so by using paper, you will learn much more to focus on your strokes. (imo)
Does it make you better? Depends on the person, I think.
Because really, drawing and painting is all about how you problem solve and your mental ability to perceive and render out shapes, forms, and values. I think the physical hand eye coordination is a really small part of what makes a good artist.
So if you practice for a while, the coordination won't really be much of an issue no matter which medium you use. So, if you get better at drawing on paper it will certainly transfer over to digital and vice-versa.
If you want to get better at drawing, just come up with a plan of attack, and practice your ass of. That's the real way to do it imo.
However, I think that because working digital is a faster way to do things, it may make you grow faster as an artist as well. You can turn out more work, faster; and quite possibly improve at this faster rate. Of course, like I said, it all depends on the person.
I find everything you can do on paper, you can replicate or do better on the computer, and do it faster.
About the only thing I haven't really found a great way to replicate is the feet of sketching interior/exteriors with markers and a ruler.
You just can't beat that.
But you won't improve just because you're switching over. I felt I improved only because the computer enables me to work the way I want to.
Can't do that with pencil and paper
I wish i could do the same as with a real pencil, my wacom is not so wonderful.