A question of tallent

[erikdravn]

Hello everyone. Thanks for the awesome shows Bert!

I am considering purchasing a tablet. I am very hesitant however. I can not draw stick figures!!!! So, when making the transition from mouse to tablet, does natural ability come into play or is it still enough of a separation that drawing skills are not needed? I am a decent digital manipulator, but no matter how hard I try (and believe me, I would give ANYTHING to be able to draw naturally) I just can not do analog art.

Due to the outrageous cost of tablets, I'd kinda like to know before I spend more then my car is worth to get one. ;)

Thanks,

~Mike

[arclight]

I can't speak directly to the talent aspect. If you're not doing much in the way of free-form 'drawing' as it is I'm not really sure a tablet would make much difference, anyway, unless you're going nuts and getting a setup like Bert has.

If you're really unsure, it's not hard to find non-Wacom tablets on sale for cheap. I used to see 'em for around $40 (or less) at places like geeks.com but I haven't looked in awhile.

[mars]

One major aspect of drawing digitally is, that it's more forgiving, since you're working with layers and always have the good ol' CTRL+Z. BUT there is even mor to it. Let`s say you cannot draw circle or rectangles the "natural" way. Now you have all the benefits of the soft right (left I should say) at your hand. And when it comes to more complicated things, you can always use those basic shapes and tweak them.
Bert would say: Sit down and play.

Furthermore: the artists I know, always need a warm-up. Meaning they sit in front of a sheet of paper and start drawing "basics" (lines in different directions and at certain angles, ovals, circles, and so on), to get "in the mood".

That being said: don't start with a Wacom Intuos. get a tablet, which later, when you progressed, you can resell to minimize your loss.
If it has to be a Wacom: if it doesn't work for you, I'll gladly take it as a present.

Greetings from Germany