So the tablet I mentioned in the previous entry finally arrived a few days ago. A Wacom Intuous 5, medium style. It's cool and black and smelled really funny at first, but that's mostly worn off. I've been trying to figure out how to use. I knew there would be a learning curve, but wow! You really do have to relearn how to draw; looking at the screen instead of the surface you're drawing on is a huge disconnect. At the very start I was like a toddler with a crayon trying desperately to stay in the lines but, nope, they go all over the place. But I know it's do-able, other people have somehow managed it. I've been practicing and very slowly improving.
Compounding the confusion is the drawing software. I've never owned Photoshop or anything really complicated like it (I still don't, but it came with a PS Elements). Those softwares are too expensive. I do have Gimp, which is free, but it doesn't work very well with the tablet. So I'm having to learn all that as I go along... different tools and their bajillion settings, layers and masks and adjustment layers and clipping masks and multiplies and I don't know what all. I've been looking at dozens and dozens of tutorials and things, which so often skip over simple but crucial steps. But... I'll get there eventually.
Attempting to teach my muscles and mind to draw with a tablet, I've been doing a lot of tracing. It's really been helping to learn how to control the lines, how to move my hand to get what I want. Well... more or less. Still having to Undo lines umpteen times to get one that's mostly right. But hey! Here's what I've managed to do so far.
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