picture courtesy of Amazon.co.uk

I’ve been eyeing up Wacom tablets for a while, but I didn’t really see how I could justify buying one, because I have never considered myself a graphic artist and until last week I had never really used a good one or seen someone who knew what to do with it give a demo. I did know that being an illustrator I really needed to add it to my repertoire but I didn’t want something that would turn into an expensive paper weight through lack of use.

But while I was away a friend brought her Wacom and Mac with her and showed me how you can use it as a normal sketch artist in a similar way to drawing on paper, then how to use it for manipulation in Photoshop. I tried it out a bit for myself but felt a bit under pressure drawing in public and it felt very weird, but I liked it. So when I go home I ordered the Wacom Bamboo A5 Pen & Touch from the company account and started to play. Most of what I know so far is from my friend and her partner, but I can give a personal beginners-eye view of it.

As a complete beginner on tablets (I’ve totalled about 3 hours playing with them over the years) I have to say it takes some getting used to. The pad on the table represents the screen you’re looking at or the canvas you’re drawing on and it feels weird having to scale your movements. If you’re a bit heavy handed you might do better with a bigger version. If you like to draw at a slant then you can turn your canvas to match how you hold the tablet which is handy, but skews your perspective. You have to be used to drawing at and angle to get it right.

Fine details are easy, you just zoom in and use tiny movements, it’s the larger gestures I find difficult. The pen on the tablet feels a lot different to a pen on paper as there’s no ‘grab. On paper, with a nib pen I can draw an almost perfect circle. On the tablet that’ll  need a bit more practice to say the least. It’s a whole new way of drawing but it does come to you. I struggled with pressing the buttons on the pen because I tend to turn my pen when I’m using it, but after a while I stopped doing that. Working in layers is natural to me as I’ve worked with a mouse for years, but if you’re not familiar with layers you need to be.

Overall I’m pretty pleased with it so far and I think for the price I paid it’s a bargain. It’s a steep learning curve but I’m glad I got it as I can definitely see the benefits of using this over a mouse, even with my limited skills. Even if I only ever use f for cleaning up my scans it’s worth the price. It really isn’t one of those things you’ll just throw in the corner and forget about after a week. It’s too intriguing. Plus it’s a nice change of position for those of us with the beginnings of RSI.

I will keep practicing and I am looking out for any online tutorials for tablets, so if you know of any good ones please let me know. I’ll let you know how I get on at a later date.