How to Create Artwork With a Graphics Tablet
While you can produce some interesting artwork using your mouse with graphics-editing software, you can produce better results more naturally with a graphics tablet. With a graphics tablet, you can actually draw the lines that make up your digital artwork and much more. Read on to learn how to create artwork with a graphics tablet.
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Instructions
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Choosing a Tablet
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Determine how much you can afford to spend for a graphics tablet. High-end tablets can cost as much as a laptop computer, while less fully featured units cost a few hundred dollars.
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Choose a tablet size that is compatible with your artistic style and sense of proportion. Get a 6-inch by 8-inch tablet if you are using a standard rectangular computer monitor and a 6-inch by 11-inch tablet if you have a cinematic (widescreen) display or need finer control.
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Note how the tablet plugs into your computer, whether via serial or USB port. If you intend to regularly swap out your mouse with your graphics tablet, get a tablet with a USB port, because you can plug and unplug it while your computer is running ("hot swapping"). If you have an older computer without USB ports, you must use a tablet that connects to your serial port.
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4
Check for compatibility issues with your operating system and graphics software. You can usually download updated drivers from the company website.
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5
Evaluate the pen/stylus that comes with the graphics tablet. Most pens are pressure-sensitive; some also come with pressure-sensitive digital erasers. Some graphic tablet pens require batteries, making them heavier and more awkward. If you frequently misplace things, buy a tablet whose pen is tethered to the tablet, but be sure you can control how it is attached.
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Look for other features that make it easy to do graphics work. Some tablets include programmable function buttons; some allow you to orient the tablet in landscape and portrait modes. Some even have clear plastic overlays you can raise and slip paper sketches underneath to trace them onto the computer screen.
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Review the software that comes bundled with the graphics tablet. Typically, there are "lite" versions of popular graphic editing programs, such as Adobe Photoshop, but many graphics tablets also include software allowing you to use the tablet like pad and paper to write emails in longhand and sign your name.
Using a Tablet
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Connect the graphics tablet to your computer. Unless your tablet connects through the USB port, you will have to do this with the computer off.
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Install the tablet software.
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Adjust the pressure sensitivity of the graphics pen to a comfortable level. You want to set it to a level where you don't have to hover the pen over the tablet to prevent the tablet from treating it like clicking your mouse, but not so that you have to stab the pen into the tablet to make it work.
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Start your graphics-editing program.
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Move the pen across the tablet surface to draw a line. Touch the pen lightly to make thin lines or heavily to make thicker ones. You also can use the pressure sensitivity to control how intensely your graphics software applies its artistic effects, such as oil brushes, chalk and dodge brushes.
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Tap the pen against the tablet surface to simulate a mouse click. Most tablets define a tap as equivalent to clicking the left mouse button once, but allow you to also replicate double-clicking the left mouse button and clicking the right mouse button.
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Tips & Warnings
If you buy a graphics tablet with a pen that requires batteries and plan to use your tablet frequently, buy rechargeable batteries and a battery charger if you don't already have them.
Spend a few hours practicing with your graphics tablet before you begin serious artistic projects.
If your computer has a serial modem and you buy a graphics tablet with a serial port connector, be aware of possible hardware conflicts.
Unless you own a high-end graphics tablet, move the pen slowly and deliberately across the tablet's surface. The sampling rate for many low-end tablets is less than for a mouse, which will cause curves to appear as a series of connected straight lines if you draw them too fast.
