Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[ShadowHammer]

I just got this new drawing tablet for Christmas, and it looks pretty awesome . Unfortunately, I have no idea what I'm doing, so I was hoping some of you artist folks could help me out. It's a Huion H610PRO Pen Tablet.

I've already got the drivers installed and it's working and all, so that's a start. My main question is, what program should I use? For mouse-drawing, I've always used Paint.net, but the tablet has this fancy pressure-sensitivity thingy, which doesn't seem to do anything with Paint.net. Any recommendations?

Also, since I'm too newbie to know what I don't know, as they say, general tips on using this sort of thing would be really helpful too.

Thanks!

[Shook]

krita

Definitely my go-to for tablet arting, although Gimp can work nicely as well. Both are free, so it's a matter of preference. :v
As for HOW to use it... Well, most people have their own way that works for them. All tips for drawing with a pencil apply, except that you generally can't "dig in" and draw a slow and steady line (unless you do that thing where you put a piece of paper on top). I personally get good results from quick and sweeping strokes (and a gorillion undo's), although your mileage may vary. Doing tons of small strokes might be useful if you have pressure-sensitive opacity, but generally i'd advise against doing that outside of sketching, since it tends to give a scratchy look to your lines. In short: practice.

Also, be aware that it'll probably be at least a week before you're comfortable with the tablet. It might be annoying at first, but oh dear marshmellow goodness i would never go back to mousedrawing again if i can help it.

[zombie urist]

Krita is good and free. You might have to adjust the pressure setting.

[Mesa]

IF THERE'S A SINGLE KRITA SUPPORTER HERE IT'S GONNA BE ME.

Seriously though, it's really awesome compared to stuff like Paint Tool SAI or Photoshop because you can legally get it for free (and it's open source too if you're into that), and it's really solid in general as well.

I mentioned this some time ago, but if you're coming over from a traditional pen&paper art background (no pun intended, for once), you might want to try putting some paper sheets on the tablet itself (and tape them maybe but I haven't tried that) to give yourself a feel closer to drawing on paper as opposed to on whatever material tablet surfaces are made of (well I doubt it's anything but plastic but you get the idea).

And yeah, don't be discouraged if your first few drawings suck ass even relative to what you used to make with the mouse. I made that mistake myself and for a while didn't use my tablet as much as I should have, but now I can't possibly imagine how I could make anything remotely nice-looking with the mouse.

And pressure sensitivity. Mess around with it, enable the stabilizer (in Krita) until you get it to a point where you're comfortable with the results. It might be rough at the start but it'll be worth it in the long run.

(I'm not saying anything new here, am I.)

Also, this is less tablet-help and more general art-help, but it's nonetheless super-useful.

[ShadowHammer]

Looks like the support for Krita is overwhelming. From the website, it looks pretty cool, so I'm downloading it now! Thanks for the advice all, not to mention the encouragement, because my first attempt definitely did suck .

[Trapezohedron]

There's a copy of Paint Tool SAI floating around the internets in the vast uncharted seas, if you know what I mean. However, Krita looks interesting I might try that; do they have stroke-correction as a feature?

[Darkmere]

There's a copy of Paint Tool SAI floating around the internets in the vast uncharted seas, if you know what I mean. However, Krita looks interesting I might try that; do they have stroke-correction as a feature?

Yes, among many other things.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

GIMP. GIMP is much more Photoshop-like than Krita. If you plan on getting PS somewhere down the line get GIMP.

fakeedit: I see you've managed to corrupt him to Krita, damn you Bay12. Damn you.

[Mesa]

GIMP. GIMP is much more Photoshop-like than Krita. If you plan on getting PS somewhere down the line get GIMP.

fakeedit: I see you've managed to corrupt him to Krita, damn you Bay12. Damn you.

I will admit that Krita is more suited for paintings than for image manipulation and more "technical" drawings, but it's not horribly incompetent at them either.

[Shook]

That is also my opinion, more or less. Krita is more artsy and excels at drawing and painting, while GIMP is more technical and better for editing and such. Both can be used for mostly anything image-related, but since they're free, i see no reason not to use both for what they're best at. :v (a second crucial factor being that i can't get pressure sensitivity working in GIMP)

also GIMP can make gif animations so that's another reason for me to keep it around

[Mesa]

also GIMP can make gif animations so that's another reason for me to keep it around

Krita will have support for that in the next release. :>