>What are some tips for learning to use a tablet?
practise

>>218
I know that much, I meant as far as getting used to using a tablet as opposed to drawing on a piece of paper.

I bound two function buttons on the tablet to step back history and step foward history in Photoshop (undo and redo). I also found it way easier to press B and E for brush and eraser rather than flipping the pen over if your pen has an 'eraser'. There are really no magicial tips for getting used to something aside from practise. Looking at the screen instead of the paper took the most getting used to for me

>Looking at the screen instead of the paper took the most getting used to for me

This is probably the thing that gives me the most trouble. Could you relate this to the Touhou games in that it's good to practice, but not too much. Would maybe a couple of hours a day or so be a good idea?

I wish I could help man.

I bought a tablet over a year ago, tried it once, then went back to using a mouse.

>>218
This. You need to spend time with your tablet and program of choice.

I'm still drawing with an old Volito tablet so I don't know about newer tablets and their functions. Some people like to put a sheet of paper on top of their tablet to get a rougher feeling close to drawing on paper.

The choice of software is also important imo. I tried three:
*Painter 10: I had far too many bugs with this but it had potential. It also took me like four minutes to save a single work but maybe that's just my comp.
*Paint Tool SAI: Really nice and the tablet responded accordingly without me doing anything. It's the one I use when drawing animu style. Although some of the functions are somewhat awkward (japanese style awkward).
*Photoshop: It took me a while to get the hang of it, you need to spend time with it, learning the shortcuts etc. I use it mostly for painting western style or bigger pictures. Finding good brushes is also essential. Lately it's the one I use the most.

Don't be afraid to use layers and draw something shitty from time to time. The eraser (or history function with CTRL+Z) is there for a reason.

I don't know if Bamboo is as bad as people say it is, but it replaced the Graphire line, which really was awful. I have a 6x8 Intuos 3, which is fantastic.

One of the best tips is putting a piece of paper on the tablet to give it a more natural feel. Other than that, it's mostly down to practice. My friend said he found some training tips online, like drawing two dots and then trying to make a straight line from one to the other; I'll have to ask him what website it was.

>>223
Thanks for the advice. I decided to return the tablet I bought and buy a Bamboo Fun as I read on their website that it's better for drawing, though I'm not sure how I decided to exchange it anyway.

>>217
Like the others have said it really is just a matter of getting a lot of practice, just like drawing on paper. It's strange at first but eventually you will get used to separating the motions of your hand and what you see on the screen.
As far as sensitivity goes, this is really just a matter of the size of the tablet you buy, which is why the larger tablets are so much more expensive. You could keep going with the (I am assuming small) Bamboo or upgrade to a larger size. As someone who has owned 2 graphires, an Intuos, and now works on a Cintiq I can speak from personal experience that if you plan on taking digital art seriously the upgrade is very much worth it, the Bamboo and similar lines of product are designed mainly for casual or light use.

>>226
I'm going to start out on this for a while and if I do end up sticking with it I will probably buy a new one. Also I'll probably post some picture I've drawn to get some critique, others may do so as well. I also need to learn how to shade well so that I can learn how to color well.

>>227

I've found, and this is just my personal experience, that learning the fundamentals of drawing like line weight, shading, and coloring are best learned with more traditional media, it is just more intuitive. With digital art there are more degrees of separation between you and the concept you are trying to learn. Strictly for learning groundwork processes pencil and paper (and oil paints) have worked best for me. Physically mixing paints and moving a brush across canvas then seeing the finished product is satisfying in a way I think digital work can't be. I still prefer working traditionally but there are just sometimes where that just is not practical which is why I use tablets.

Learn to draw on paper first. You should at least get line weight variation down before starting too heavily on your tablet as its sensitivity can make consistency difficult.

>>228
I do know the basics of shading etc. although I could probably use more practice with coloring.