Learning to Draw (In regards to a method)Follow

Do you think practicing with a Wacom Tablet would hinder my abilities as an Artist, or anything?

I think that most anyone can be good with a computer program when it comes to drawing, although it still takes a bit of talent and a steady hand.

Unfortunately, when drawing by hand, it's my opinion that you either have it, or you don't (skill). I've seen a lot of people try to improve their drawing and it just doesn't seem to work very well.

In regards to the above poster...

Are you implying that one cannot learn to draw, even if they practice at it?

I say that is a crock of ****. It isn't true.

Don't impose your opinion on such things, when people are aspiring to be something later on in life, more than what you are... Someone who has nothing better to do that take unnecessary cracks at people. So, I'd appreciate it for you to leave your rude, half-assed comments to yourself, you trolling cumquat.

Hobo fight!

Quite the oposite. If you are a computer artist doing more traditional work such as portraiture or even more on the commercail side of graphic arts, a Wacom tablet would be a good investment in my understanding.

I am a fine artist employing the old school tools: oil paint, graphite, charcoal, water colors. I do not know what your back ground in art is, but no artist, no matter what medium they choose cannot progress without a solid foundation in the basic understanding of value, form, edges, perspective, and color (this one is a variable, ie, greyscale).

Many artists choose one medium and stick with it, and many choose to experiment with various media to get a braoder sense of aethetics. I for one, choose the latter, but you may not. Whichever path you choose, you can never faulter or be "hindered" by NOT practicing your craft with chosen tools. In other words, if you are going to use a wacom tablet, by all means, go for it, but, use it professionaly and with sincerity and you will continue to improve at it's usage, thus enabeling you to progress as an artist.

Like others have mentioned, it's simply another art tool/technique. I have a Wacom Tablet and used it when I was working on a webcomic. Now that I'm kind of entering a burn-out phase in computer gaming, I'm starting to focus on art again.

I compare using a Wacom tablet to when I took life drawing classes (i.e., nekkid people) - the art instructor tells you to keep your eyes on the model (not too hard if they are attractive nekkid people, quite difficult if they are unattractive nekkid people) for the most part except when you need to figure perspective or do proportion measurements.

What I mean to say is when using your Wacom tablet, you have to get used to looking at the monitor screen as opposed to the actual tablet (where you have nothing to look at). It takes some getting used to, but it's really not hard once you get used to it.

Most webcartoonists usually draw their strips on paper first and scan them in. Then use photoshop, some other art program, or Flash to clean up the art once it's scanned into the computer.

I started out that way with my old webcomic, but with work and other time constraints, I wanted to reduce my cartoon art process time by simply doing everything in Photoshop with the Wacom tablet. I think it would have worked fine if I preferred to do the art with more of a loose feel. But, I was trying to do the line work as cleanly as possible, and frankly, I wasn't really happy with the results. But overall, it was a good learning process. Wallop

When I work on my new webcomic idea, I'm forcing myself to traditionally draw on paper first (which is really more interesting and fun for me, anyhoo), and then do the clean-up work with the Wacom tablet and Photoshop after I scan my drawings into the computer. I'm also going to try to keep things simplified, as when I get bogged down in details, I feel my work turns into a train wreck. Then again, I have that whole artistic self-loathing criticism working for me.