Do you need a Wacom Tablet or similar for creating art?

witnessmenow

Hey Guys,

I'm a programmer by trade, and not the most artistic. But I think I will from time to time need to make my own art for different bits and bobs.

I came across this on bargain alerts: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wacom-Intuos4-PTK-540-WL-Wireless-Tablet/dp/B003AM8F8O/ref=cm_cr_pr_pb_t

And I'm basically wondering would it be any use to me? I would be making only 2d art.

If anyone has any advice/links on what would be needed for creating artwork I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

Kilgore__Trout

Hello witnessmenow,

A tablet probably isn't going to be a huge amount of benefit unless you have an underlying talent for art, or would be interested in investing the time to cultivate your ability.

Art is hard to source, and even decent quality art can be very costly, so being able to produce it yourself would be useful. Are you thinking along the lines of a pet project, or a commercial game? What sort of assets would you be looking for?


Here's a link that might be useful. Shows you how to draw a number of useful object in Inkscape:

http://2dgameartforprogrammers.blogspot.ie/


Also, some good information here on pre-rendered 3d, which looks like a good call for spritesheets:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056984733

TPD

If you're good at drawing anyway, you could always draw your sprites on paper and photograph them. If you get the lighting consistent, by taking all the photos in one batch for example, you can just fire them into a photoshop filter to adjust colours and levels to your liking then remove any whitespace. It may give a nice aesthetic to the game too.

Axwell

If you havent got much ability in the way of art/drawing then this will be a huge waste of money for you to be honest. Tablets take getting used to even for those who can draw and are used to using Photoshop (or whatever you prefer) etc. Getting used to the pen and tablet and looking at the screen as opposed to looking at paper as you draw, the different shortcuts and brushes in photoshop etc. Then getting used to the different techniques in Photoshop itself. A tablet is only a tool to help, you still need the ability to begin with and depending on your ability you could start at different points in terms of bettering your ability but I would avoid the tablet for now.

Retr0gamer

How about just doing pixel art. Windows 7 paint is great for this as long as you have photoshop to add transparency. You could also try graphicsgale.

witnessmenow

I have been using Paint.net up to this, its pretty nice.

But just comparing my output to an artists the difference is crazy!

Thanks guys, I'll just stick to what i know at the moment!

Retr0gamer

Maybe it's because I'm not used to it but I find paint.net hard to use compared to ms paint and graphicsgale (which is amazing for pixel art).

Jonny Blaze

Tablets are deadly!

They are fun to use and after a while become as natural as wielding a pen.

They allow a much finer control of the line weight and stroke in your art via pressure sensitivity and if you eventually graduate onto 3d art, a tablet is essential for sculpting i-res models in packages like zbrush.

I'll agree that, like anything, it requires practice to get the most out of drawing, but having the right tool makes the job all the easier. I am a programmer too but I have been using a tablet for about 5 years now and I wouldn't be separated from it.

As long as you are prepared to put the required effort into learning how to draw, it will be worth it in the long run.

I started off with a Wacom bamboo with 512 levels of pressure sensitivity and it served me well for three and a half years until I upgraded. The new models of bamboo have 1024 pressure levels and are about half the price of the intuos you linked to.

For a beginner I would recommend easing in, but if you are committed and you have the cash then why not!

Also, it is only really worth it if you use software which can take advantage of the pressure sensitivity on the tablet. Not 100% sure ms paint has that capability. Would recommend photoshop ideally or GIMP failing that.

megaten

A graphics tablet is only useful if you can draw normally

Jonny Blaze

You can learn to draw just as well with a tablet as you can a pencil.

Save you money on materials too.

And what about digital sculpting?

Done mostly with a tablet..

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc-top-row-gallery.php

Also this guy explicitly says he's no good at drawing and still manages to produce excellent work..

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?172868-Polysketchs

megaten wrote: »

A graphics tablet is only useful if you can draw normally

megaten

Jonny Blaze wrote: »

And what about digital sculpting?

Sculpting is not the same skill as drawing, though one can help the other in terms of understanding

Axwell

The OP is only looking to do 2d art anyways so digital sculpting wouldnt be an issue for him.

Jonny Blaze

I don't doubt it. Nothing will replace your core drawing skills.

However I for one, and certainly others besides me, have managed to produce good work, or at least to explore and expand their artistic horizons through using tools and processes that may not be traditionally deemed appropriate for the the work that they are doing.

A tablet is a tool like any other, and is only bound by the talent and imagination of the user.

All i'm saying is that I wouldn't discourage a beginner from exploring a new tool to create art than I would anyone from picking up a pencil and going to life drawing classes.

It seems unnecessary to me to belittle or otherwise impinge someones's aspirations.

I know that I have been able to achieve more in digital sculpting than I could have hoped for in 2D drawing.

There are many different workflows, some suit traditional artists more than others.

All im saying is that you would be a fool to dismiss an unproven workflow merely because it doesn't agree with your sensibilities.

Torakx

Since the OP'er is a programmer I'm guessing you dont have a lot of practise with free hand drawing.
The tablet would be a waste if just using it for 2D sprite work which requires you a lot of the time, to work with single pixels anyway.

I will say in favour of the tablet, that it makes creating good art so much easier and I have a lot of fun with it.
So much so that I would feel its pointless to do any drawing now without one on my pc.
Its also helping me with my hand drawing skills.When I switch to paper I have seen that I improved.
The only question is whether you are interested in drawing/art.
If you are and use it a lot to practise (youtube vids help) you will really enjoy it im sure.

gizmo

You could always get a Wacom Bamboo and see if you like it before upgrading to an Intuos later on, witnessmenow?