How do I learn to use a Wacom tablet to make digital art?
<> Seconding both Dreamghost and wreckingball. The quality of whatever you produce using that tablet is going to reflect HEAVILY how much traditional skill you have. While I consider myself a digital painter, I couldn’t have gotten as far as I have without my training in drawing and painting. Yes, PAINTING. It may not seem obvious, but if you have even beginning training in drawing/painting, it’s going to help you a lot, especially when it comes time to color and blend. If I tried to explain it here, it would take forever, but having knowledge of color theory and basic painting practices was oh so very useful for me. Also, I HIGHLY recommend Painter instead of Photoshop if you’re going to be drawing from scratch. Yes, Photoshop is usable, but I find that Painter just plain makes for a better experience for tablet-made artwork. The interface and controls are about 80% identical, and you get a bazillion more brushes to work with (and most Photoshop plugins also work with Painter). Layers
“Learn to draw” is good advice up to a point, but it’s a bit more complicated than that in practice. Working on a tablet is completely different than working on paper or canvas. You’re focusing on the computer monitor, not on your drawing hand, which is a really disconnected way to work. I had a lot of trouble transferring my (admittedly limited) artistic skills to digital art; my real-life sketching relies on an entirely spontaneous line, which doesn’t really translate to a tablet. Yoshi Ayarane’s advice is very good: layers really are your best friend. I use dozens and dozens of layers for even simple sketches. For instance, if you’re having trouble drawing a simple shape, such as a rectangle, you can create one layer of parallel horizontal lines and another layer of vertical lines and wield your eraser at each corner. (That seems like a silly example, but often it’s the simple things that give me the most trouble.) Group your layers judiciously, so you know where everything is. Expe
