- [Aaron] I'm professional
artist, Aaron Rutten,
and in this video, I'm going
to show you how to draw
on a graphics tablet.
(bright electronic music)
For you beginners, I'll
cover some of the basics
of how a tablet works.
And for you more experienced
artists out there,
I'll share some tips that will show you
how to make the most of your tablet.
I'll demonstrate drawing
on three different kinds of tablets.
A basic drawing tablet without a screen
like the Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch here,
a large tablet with a built-in screen
such as the Cintiq 27 QHD Touch,
and finally, an all-in-one drawing tablet
with a built-in computer,
such as the Wacom MobileStudio Pro.
Now I am aware that not everyone
has a Wacom brand drawing
tablet, and that's okay.
Many of these tips are going to be useful
regardless of which kind
of tablet you're using.
Before we get started, I'll assume
that you've already
installed your tablet drivers
before plugging the
tablet into your computer.
If you need help installing the drivers
or if your tablet isn't
recognizing your pen,
then you may need to troubleshoot.
See my help videos in the
video description down below
if you still need help, or
contact the manufacturer
of your tablet for tech support.
I'll also assume that you've
installed an art application
on your computer that can
recognize pen pressure.
For a list of recommended
free and paid art apps,
look in the description of this video.
So I'm going to start
with this basic tablet,
the one without the screen
that plugs in through USB
to your laptop or your desktop computer.
This is the Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch.
It's a previous generation model,
but it still has similar functions
to the more current Intuos tablets.
This type of tablet does
not have a built-in screen,
so you have to look up
at your computer monitor
to see what you are drawing.
A lot of people think
that sounds difficult,
but you don't look down at
your hand while using a mouse
and you do just fine, right?
It will take a few weeks or
a few months of practice,
but most people are able to
adjust to drawing on a tablet
while looking up at a screen.
If you're using a tablet with a screen,
many of the tips I'm about to share
will still apply to you, too.
You just have the added
benefit of having a screen
to draw directly onto.
So let's talk about
navigating with the pen.
The pen moves your mouse cursor,
but it does not push the cursor around
like your mouse would.
Instead, you're pointing to
the location on your tablet
where you want your cursor
to point to on your screen.
Your cursor is the tip of your pen
and the tablet surface is your screen.
So if I want my cursor in the
top-left corner of my screen,
I move the tip of my pen to
the top-left of my tablet.
If your tablet is smaller
or narrower than your computer monitor,
which it very likely is, that's okay.
With practice, you'll quickly
adjust to the difference
in scale or aspect ratio.
So I'm going to do a little
bit of basic navigation here.
I'm going to hover pen
slightly above the surface
of the tablet until cursor begins to move.
I can tap pen tip down onto the tablet
to perform a mouse click,
or I can tap and hold the
pen to the tablet surface,
and I can drag windows
or move files around.
That's a sustained mouse click.
Now if you're using multiple monitors,
you may be having an
issue where your tablet
is working on the wrong monitor.
You'll want to go into
your tablet properties,
in this case, I'm using a Wacom tablet,
and that's in the Wacom Tablet Properties,
and I want to change the Mapping
so I'm using the correct monitor.
Let's go ahead and test
our pen pressure now.
We want to test the pen pressure
in an art application using a brush.
I'm using Corel Painter.
Try to find a brush that
can sense pen pressure
to control the brush size.
Ink pens usually do the trick.
Press very lightly and
then use firmer pressure
until you see a change.
You may need to calibrate your pen
to respond to the amount
of pressure you use
in the Wacom Tablet Properties.
To find this, look in your Control Panel
or search your computer for
"Wacom Tablet Properties".
If you're using a non-Wacom tablet,
you should have a tablet
control panel, too
with very similar options.
I press hard with my pen while drawing,
so I set mine a notch towards Firm.
You can test the pressure
in this control panel
or jump back to your art application
and try some more test strokes.
You may also be able to
control the sensitivity
of the pen in your art
application as well.
The setting in the Wacom
Tablet Properties is global
and it affects all applications,
while calibrating pen pressure
within an application only
affects that application.
Personally, I find the global
setting is good enough,
but there are a few brushes
I use in Corel Painter
that require some fine
tuning of the pressure.
I can do this in Corel
Painter by going to General
and Brush Calibration,
enabling Brush Calibration
and then calibrating by clicking
on the bottom-right icon
and then drawing the kind
of pressure that I want.
You'll get different results
depending on whether you
press firmly, lightly,
or use a mixture of both.
It may take some back and forth,
but try to find a pen pressure setting
that feels the most natural.
It will take some time to get
used to drawing with the pen,
so you can always come
back to this setting later
and fine tune it.
You might also test a
soft semi-opaque brush
such as an airbrush
because the pen pressure
can also control the opacity of the paint,
as well the flow of paint
in some art applications.
You might also notice that
there are buttons on your pen.
Typically, most pens have two buttons.
You can customize these buttons
to do a number of things.
I like to set mine to do a right-click
and to resize my brush in Corel Painter.
Now please forgive me
for not painting anything
other than these amazing scribbles
during this demonstration.
I have many other videos you can check out
that show complete digital
paintings I've done.
Now let's talk about gestures.
Drawing naturally on a
tablet takes practice,
but it also relies heavily
on using proper technique.
I have a few videos you can
watch that go into more detail,
but let me say that
the size of your tablet
is going to affect the kinds of gestures
you can make with your pen.
Many of the techniques that artists use
to freehand draw straight
lines and smooth circles
require a large area to gesture on.
If I'm using a small tablet
like the Intuos here,
I can only move my arm so much
before I run off the tablet surface.
So it's better to have a larger tablet,
but you can still make great
art on a small tablet as well.
It just means you'll have to learn to draw
using smaller gestures.
Now I want to say a few
words about positioning.
Positioning is also very important
for drawing naturally on a tablet.
There are artists out there
who will disagree with me on this,
but in my opinion, it's
best to have your tablet
and your body aligned
horizontally with your monitor.
Meaning the tablet is
not rotated at an angle
and neither are you.
It's also good to have
the tablet right in front
of your monitor rather
than off to the side,
but in some desk setups,
that's not possible.
So let me say that it is
possible to adapt to drawing
on a tablet that's not at
the same angle as your screen
and is positioned off to one
side, but it takes more effort
for your brain to make that adjustment.
I feel it's better to get the
tablet to match the screen
as closely as possible and
then you won't have to worry
about the additional strain
on your hand-eye coordination.
I have a keyboard tray which
I can use to set my tablet on.
However, the tablet's rather small,
so it could feel more comfortable
to have it off to the side just a bit.
That's going to throw off my brain,
but I've learned to adapt to it.
You'll have to try some
different positions
until you find one that
works the best for you.
You can rest your hand on the tablet.
Only the pen tip can make a mark.
Your fingers can rub against the tablet,
and you can draw on it just
like you would on paper.
Some tablets can sense touch input
which can be used to
zoom into your painting
or perform other types of commands.
If you're worried about the
touch going off accidentally,
you can toggle it on and off
with either an express key,
or a switch on your tablet,
or within the Wacom Tablet Properties.
Now let's talk about
customizing your tablet.
Many tablets are ambidextrous
and can be used by left-handed artists.
If we look in Options in
the Wacom Tablet Properties,
we can adjust the pen pressure levels,
we can turn Windows Ink on and off,
and we can also customize
a lot of other features.
As you can see, I'm able to customize
each tablet and pen on my system.
So those are the basics
of working on a tablet
without a built-in screen.
Next I'm going to talk
about drawing on tablet
with a built-in screen,
but even if your tablet
doesn't have a screen,
stay tuned because I'll
be sharing some more tips
that apply to all kinds of tablets.
This is the Wacom Cintiq 27 QHD Touch.
It's a drawing tablet
with a built-in screen.
While you have the advantage
of not having to look
at a separate screen while painting,
you may find that there
are some disadvantages
to working on a screen, like fatigue
from holding your arm up
as opposed to resting it
on the tablet surface, and
your hand blocking your view
of what you're drawing.
Aside from that, drawing
on a screen should feel
as natural as drawing on paper.
Again, as with the
tablet without a screen,
you can rest your hand on the screen
and if the tablet supports touch
and you want to disable it,
that's easy to do.
There's actually a button
on many of the Cintiqs
up at the top that can
turn touch on and off.
First, I need to calibrate the position
of my pen on the screen.
This is different than
calibrating pen pressure.
Calibration makes sure
the mouse cursor aligns
with the tip of your pen.
Some screen tablets have parallax,
so you'll never be able to get the cursor
and the pen tip perfectly
aligned, but you can get it close.
Don't worry because
you'll probably be looking
at your brush cursor while
painting more than your pen tip.
Just get it as close as possible.
You can set the Calibration in
the Wacom Tablet Properties.
Make sure that you're sitting
centered to your screen,
and keep your pen upright or perpendicular
to the flat surface of your screen
to avoid offsetting the pen.
Now let's do some test
strokes on our screen tablet.
Cintiqs are often larger
as drawing tablets go,
so you'll be able to make
bigger broader gestures
while drawing.
I can't speak for other brands of tablets,
but a Wacom Cintiq does not
need a screen protector.
You can easily wipe off
any fingerprints or dust,
and I have a video with
some tips about that
that you can watch.
These screens are meant
to be drawn on with a pen
and normal use should
not scratch the tablet.
Now don't get me wrong,
you need to be careful
with your screen, but some of the reports
of scratches on the screen
turn out to just be oil
from people's hands or
residue from the pen tip
rubbing against the screen.
This can be easily wiped away
with a soft, dry, microfiber cloth.
A Cintiq has a nice screen
with mostly accurate color
so it's up to you if you have a reason
for needing to buy and
use a color calibrator.
And the last type of
tablet we'll talk about
is the all-in-one tablet
with the built-in computer.
This is the Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16.
There's not much to say about
drawing tablet computers.
They are basically a screen
tablet with a computer inside.
One of the key differences
between a tablet computer
and a screen tablet is
that the tablet computer
may be able to sense screen rotation,
and the screen itself can be angled
to make it more comfortable to draw on.
This can be useful for drawing
in portrait orientation
or tilting your canvas to
make watercolor paint drip
in Rebelle 2.
If you don't like it when
the screen senses rotation,
you can turn it off with
a switch on the tablet
or within Windows.
Now let's talk about some extra features
that you may or may not have.
First, the eraser.
If your pen has an eraser,
you can flip it over
and that should switch your
art app to the eraser tool.
This eraser can be disabled or programmed
to do another function.
You can also draw with the eraser end.
Now let's talk about touch.
Some tablets support touch input.
Let's try turning touch on
and we'll use it to navigate.
I can use both the touch and
the pen to create my artwork.
I can tap with one finger to click
or drag windows and files.
There are some global
gestures that you can use
and customize in the
Wacom Tablet Properties,
but many art apps can use
their own gestures as well.
I can drag with two fingers
to pan my page here in Photoshop.
I can also pinch with two
fingers to zoom in and out.
And I can twist to rotate my canvas.
Many tablets have express keys.
Express keys are buttons on your tablet
that can perform just about any command.
They're most useful when assigned
to commonly used functions
such as Undo and Redo, Hiding
the application interface,
and panning the view of your
canvas, just to name a few.
The more express keys you have,
the more shortcuts you can program.
There's also on-screen
buttons you can program
in the Wacom Tablet Properties
to add even more commands.
You can customize
express keys for all apps
or for specific apps using profiles.
And you should backup your
customizations to a file
or the Wacom Cloud for easy recovery
should you ever need it.
Now let's talk about brush expressions.
Brush expressions can be
used along with your pen
if it supports brush expressions
to do things like tilt your
pen to get different marks.
You can also rotate your
pen, to rotate flat brushes
like palette knives, if
your pen supports it.
Your digital art software
also has to support the
expressions as well.
Now let's talk about the
tablet surface and nib wear.
Many Wacom tablets have tooth,
or a slight feeling of paper grain.
It's not sticky or too slippery.
That can't be said for some
of the Wacom-alternative
tablets out there.
So why is the tablet's surface a feature?
It's because this tooth feels
more natural to draw on.
It provides a bit of friction
or resistance to the pen tip,
the same kind of friction you'd
expect from a pen on paper.
This does cause the pen
tips or nibs to wear down,
but that's just a property of nature.
Everything wears down when
rubbing against something else
because it creates heat.
If the nib doesn't wear down,
then the screen has to wear
down, so which would you choose?
It's a property of
nature, not a conspiracy
to get you to buy more nibs.
And fortunately, your tablet probably came
with some replacement nibs.
In the Intuos, they're in
a compartment on the back
of the tablet that just slides up
and they're hiding in there.
And on the Wacom Cintiq, they are hiding
inside of the pen holder here.
Additional nibs can be ordered online
and there are even felt tip nibs
and other types of specialty nibs
that can give your pen a different feel.
Nibs can wear down quickly,
but not if you use proper technique.
For example, don't press so hard.
If you're pressing down really
hard to get pen pressure,
maybe you need to
calibrate your pen pressure
to make it easier to get
the stroke that you want.
Another tip you can use to
make your nibs last longer
is to use your pen's
eraser for repetitive tasks
like blending and any strokes
that don't require the
accuracy of the pen tip.
I have many more tips
about saving your pen nibs
in a video which I'll link to
on the description of this video.
And the last extra feature
that I want to talk about is wireless.
Some of the tablets without a screen
can be connected wirelessly.
Some tablets come with a wireless kit,
and some require the kit
to be purchased separately.
Although in my opinion, a
USB connection is better
because it's not susceptible
to wireless interference
or the signal getting blocked or lagging.
So there you go.
That should give you a
good idea of how to draw
on just about any drawing tablet.
If you found this information helpful,
take a quick second to like this video,
and if you're new to my channel,
I'd love to have you subscribe.
I have a lot more videos
about digital art like this.
Thanks for watching and
I'll see you next time.
