On the early beginning; tablet or paper?

[ZubiForce]

Hello,

I'm studying concept art on my own, although is more correct to say I'm studying painting and concept art is the goal.

In any case, I own an Intuos 4M tablet. I have already work on paper before since last year I went to private painting lessons, which I did all with pencil and paper. I did mostly focus on human physiology during the year. However, I should had start with the basics, apples, boxes etc in order to master perspective, shadows(Which I have previously work with, but nothing close to master it), lighting etc

Now the question is:

Shall I do this on paper or tablet? Or both?

I already master the tablet, although I m still learning the program Corel Painter Sketch Path* but have a basic medium understanding of it that allows me to use it with no complications that may endanger the work.

Thank you very much for your time.


*I tried photoshop, but the program install had too many bugs so I abandon it for the moment.

[Six Winged Angel]

In my opinion, traditional tools is the best start, because they can give you a understanding on how to paint digital (for example the style with which you will have to paint with digital "oils" is not different than the traditional methods. I'd it would be better to work on a traditional tool first (in this case pencil) until you get comfortable with it, and then you can move to full digital! However the traditional will always be the base so it's best to keep up with it from time to time

[ZubiForce]

In my opinion, traditional tools is the best start, because they can give you a understanding on how to paint digital (for example the style with which you will have to paint with digital "oils" is not different than the traditional methods. I'd it would be better to work on a traditional tool first (in this case pencil) until you get comfortable with it, and then you can move to full digital! However the traditional will always be the base so it's best to keep up with it from time to time

I expend the last year going to private painting lesson's 3 hours a week(One hour one day and 2 another day), but all I did was focus on pencil, did't even think about oils or watercolors. Lately I've been thinking of going back to the lessons, for doing 2 hours a week going one day.

But you're right, I already master the pencil and so I mater it on the tablet, how ever if I think of using any tool of the program for watercolors I don't even know what to do with it.

Yeas, I think going back those lessons for a while would be good.

Thank you very much.

[Six Winged Angel]

I'm glad if I was able to help even a little Yeah, it sounds like a good choice ^^

[fxEVo]

There is some skills that better be trained with traditional media, such as light and form, figure and sketching, the reason is you need to draw them anytime anywhere and digital is hard to do that.

[Michael@Lyme]

I think digital media is a very powerful tool. Still, I think something occurs when you work with and wrestle with traditional media. So much of Photoshop, for example, is designed to simulate traditional media. Glazing, creating textures, painting wet into wet, developing a touch with a 2B or a 6B, etc. I think the distance between the two is greater than, say, photography. In photography, film is essentially an image-capture medium. With painting, you are creating the image with your bare hands or a utensil in your hands. Digital? Awesome potential. But traditional? Forever useful.

[arenhaus]

Paper is better for learning, and better for sketching in general. Tablet adds a layer of indirection, which makes drawing more difficult than with a pencil, and you have enough hurdles as a beginner as it is. Don't add an artificial one.

[MadGrav]

Why not work with both depending on what you need? Digital media allows you to experiment with many things. You can easily color things, redo and copy. It should speed up your learning process. It also takes time to get used to.

[sone_one]

Why not work with both depending on what you need? Digital media allows you to experiment with many things. You can easily color things, redo and copy. It should speed up your learning process. It also takes time to get used to.

its easier to avoid thinking with digital (or at least thinking about the important stuff), and you want to think while studying. hence, no it does not speed up learning process, quite the opposite actually.

[QueenGwenevere]

Why not work with both depending on what you need? Digital media allows you to experiment with many things. You can easily color things, redo and copy.

This is exactly why you do NOT want to use digital media for beginning exercises. Being able to take shortcuts and instantly undo your mistakes prevents you from learning how to recognize and avoid mistakes in the first place. It also prevents you from learning how to make good decisions because you can waffle around and change your mind endlessly. Which in turn prevents you from developing a confident approach, which negatively affects your mark-making abilities and your speed.

And while you might "easily color things", without solid training in painting principles you won't "color them" well. (In fact, if you're thinking in terms of "coloring" your drawings, you're doing it wrong...)

[peterrsergen]

Corel draw might be help you to learn about painting and now I found that corel draw 12 has been launched and there is more effects which you can apply on your images or paintings. So, it seems that you are going in right direction and this things will help you to be a good artist specially in painting category.

[arenhaus]

corel draw 12 has been launched and there is more effects which you can apply on your images or paintings. So, it seems that you are going in right direction and this things will help you to be a good artist specially in painting category.

effects which you can apply to be a good artist

Spam, or just someone clueless?

[ZubiForce]

Hello,

Sorry I haven't come along for a time, I though the post was already forgotten.

Thank you for the wise advices, because I was wasting a lot of time with the tablet and program while getting little results, and as say above, it indeed made it harder.The problems describe above are exactly the ones I'm encountering.

An irony that I just got my hands on Photoshop CS6.

But I would like to make a final question on this post:

When shall I make the jump to the digital world with the tablet?

My thanks for your time.

[arenhaus]

Hello,
An irony that I just got my hands on Photoshop CS6.
When shall I make the jump to the digital world with the tablet?

Whenever you like, really, there is no set prerequisite. Personally I'd wait a bit until you can handle a pencil and a paintbrush reasonably well. The stylus feels more or less like the combination of both.

As for Photoshop - it is used by a lot of people, but it really is not the best or easiest painting program around. Try ArtRage, or SketchbookPro. Painter has been limping for an awful long time, but it's still a lot better than Photoshop for painting.

[JFierce]

As someone who's drawn mainly with the compooter for a long time. Merely for convenience and to relax as it's right there, no cleanup free medium to just simply wipe it all and just do whatever in a click. Since I'm mainly drawing as hobby.

It can hamper things quite a bit if you do it for too long. You get used to the shortcuts. You don't think as much in terms of planning ahead since once again digital, Undo, layers you can delete etc no hassle or mess with erasing.


Better to stay traditional for a good bit. Especially when your still struggling just to capture what's in front of you with some accuracy.

[ZubiForce]

Thank you for the fast responds to both of you , much appreciate it.

Well, then I'll keep with traditional painting for a while until I paint reasonably well as said above and then retake me Intuos.

As for the program goes, when I get back to the tablet I'll download the trials and see how it goes. I'll look deeper into this matter on the coming days.

Again,

Thank you