Topic: Tablet Artists, Pure Tablet or Paper Sketch?

I've recently begun practicing with my Wacom Tablet, and I've been looking around at tutorials, and tips and the like.

One my questions for any webcomic artists out there that use tablets: Do you sketch on paper first, then scan and ink on the computer? Or are do you work purely digitally.

Also, which programs do you use primarily? Photoshop, GIMP, Illustrator, Flash, Paint, etc...

Usually, Brit will do a pencil sketch, and I'll ink it up with the tablet (okay tabletpc or Cintiq), but when she's unavailable to sketch, I just do everything digitally. Of course, I still do a digital sketch and then "ink" in a new layer.

Dave

I never could get the ink to be smooth when I would use my tablet. I resigned to using it for shading and did the inking and sketch on paper, though I still practice the fully digital idea because I have to waste so much paper:( Some of the programs out there make it easier to do inking, as far as photoshop or gimp went for me, neither of them seemed to work. But then I got a hold of autodesk sketchbook I still have some playing around to do but if you have the money I suggest picking it up, the demo will give you the right taste though.

Usually Dizzy will just do the comic entirely on his tablet. He uses pencil and paper to sketch out ideas for stuff like character and site design though. Makes it easier for me to put edits on it without ever touching a tablet.

I started off sketching and inking on paper, and then scanning it for adding shading with the tablet.

The last few strips have been completely digital. I'll sketch with the tablet and then ink/shade over that.

If I'm out somewhere using my sketchbook, that can be scanned in and then inked over with the tablet.

Software-wise, I'm using an ancient version of Corel Photo-Paint 8. It doesn't offer me layers to work with, but it does give me good pen control and options. Almost as smooth and flexible as an actual brush pen. Oh yeah, and I didn't have to pay for it. ;)

Normally I'd sketch and ink by hand, but so far with the comic pages I've found doing them 100% digitally is a little faster but I still find it tricky.

I tend to do a rough doodle, then a sketch on another layer and then ink over the top of that. Takes about the same time as doing it by hand but if I'm honest I prefer pen and ink since at the moment I can't seem to get the lines to look as good as I can with my ink pen. It does have the advantage of not destroying my sketch if I make a mistake inking mind.

Yeah, I do have trouble creating those nice bold, clean lines that I see in other comics with the cintiq and photoshop. I assume It's a brush issue, but it's not a nut I've cracked yet...

dave

I never go to leave to draw in the paper, but each day I use more and more the table to create and not only ink, this becomes the work fastest.


Sorry for my bad english! :)

Well this is a bit late but:

I use Photoshop - and my ways of working vary on how the difficult the comic might be, but I almost always sketch on paper and then scan it in for inking on Photoshop.

I have a 4-panel template that I can easily open whenever and start inking in it after pasting (and cleaning) in the sketches.

I have a "draft" layer at around 30% with all the fixes and the sketches in there, and a "inking" layer on top of that and when I'm done inking I get rid of the "draft" layer and start working from there.
I also don't have any locked layers so when you open up a new document double click the "Layer 0" or the very first layer you start on and click on "Ok".

If I want to start directly from Photoshop, I make fat blotchy lines and just narrow it down to my liking, and ink over that.

For the most part, I'm a pure tablet guy, but if I'm not around my tablet when I have an idea, I'll sketch it out, and generally like the finished product better than if it were pure tablet. wow. run on sentence much?

I usually sketch everything by hand, and then color in Photoshop. I'm still not comfortable enough on my tablet to draw pages with clean lineart.

I can do it, but I'm not as quick... so it's more of a time constraint.

I use a wacom tablet for my work and never use paper to sketch out etc..... guess im odd that way lol - Just all within Corel Draw X4 :)

I don't have a wacom tablet yet, and I don't know yet if I want one as there is a certain "guerilla" aspect to drawing Tweetics that makes me enjoy it. I sketch and ink all on a drawing tablet then scan in and adjust brightness/contrast once I get it in. Perhaps it is a bit old school, or better ways of doing it.

I have to admit that i admire anyone who inks on paper as with a tablet I have the luxury of erasing and changing content probably easier than using paper and ink.

I pretty much JUST use my tablet these days. I can draw on paper but it's quality is...less...than that of my tablet. It may be the technology age finally taking grip on me, but I just like it better.

I have a Cintiq, and it's completely replaced paper for me. So everything is digital from pencils to colour.

Manga Studio for all linework, Photoshop for comic colours, Corel Painter for digital paintings

I WAS getting into full digital work, practicing with my tablet daily, until I decided to upgrade my computer. I upgraded the RAM and replaced two IDE HDDs with a single SATA drive.

Now, for some reason, photoshop (as well as itunes) seems to skip and use up far more processor resources than it used it.

I've googled the hell out of it, but can't find a solution.

So, it's back to practicing on paper for me.

Odd re skipping, have you tried turning off file indexing?

I keep toggling back and forth between working out the pencils and ink on paper or on the tablet.
I have a cintiq and it is very efficient but maybe I am still to used to working in a traditional way. I find that I am more comfortable drawing on paper.
Coloring and lettering however are done digitally.
The software I use are Photoshop and Manga Studio ( to draw and ink it). I also have a small wacom bamboo tablet that I use with my laptop.

While I don't recall turning off file indexing, it appears to be set to manual, and not running when the skipping occurs. :(

Though that makes sense, and I will look further into that, thank you.

I started out drawing on paper and tracing the sketch on my Wacom tablet (into Photoshop Elements). As I got more comfortable using the tablet, I decided to start drawing directly to it. By skipping the paper drawing step, I save a lot of time, not to mention paper and Scotch tape.

My comic style is deliberately rough-edged, so while I'm not exactly a master of tablet drawing, I don't mind the imperfections that result from drawing on one surface while viewing the results on a computer screen.

I use an Aiptek tablet (cheap Wacom knock off) I've never had the patience to ink on computer, and so I just do a relatively simple inking my originals followed by some gray scaling to finish it out.