Digital Drawing Talk: Tablets To Drawing Software on A Budget

One of my earl digital drawings on Wacomb Bamboo Fun

For about 7  years I have been illustrating using a Wacomb Bamboo Fun Tablet with primarily Sketchbook Pro6. But for over four decades I drew and painted with actual physical art materials...paint, paper, pencils, markers and canvas. For me the reasons to try digital art making is because it helps me to overcome the physical barriers that arise as my muscles deteriorate due to my SMA. All I now need is a tablet, my computer and my creativity. No easels, heavy equipment, messy clean up. Don't get me wrong, all of that is great if you can create what you want and have the ability to manage all that goes with it. I am just trying to say that thanks to technology, those who want to create but have limited arm/hand/finger mobility and strength, not to give up. That digital drawing devices and software make virtual painting and drawing a possibility.

A page I drew by hand, scanned and completed digitally

Based on my experience so far in digital world, I have say what I have learned to help anyone else like me. Make sure you get a drawing tablet that has PRESSURE SENSITIVITY. This has been my biggest frustration. When I started out, it was as if I was a three year old using a pencil for the first time. Turns out there are drawing programs and devices that can help your experience be as real as using an actual pen or brush. If you don't have the right specs, the stylus is beyond hyper sensitive, flailing about with every tremor or even every breath you take...Hmmm....a song just popped into my head!

 Well because I have been crazily creating beads and such in polymer clay, I haven't used my Wacomb Bamboo Fiun tablet in a while. I was shocked when my laptop said it wasn't compatible. When in doubt unplug and re-plug devices. That worked part way but, the software drivers were gone. Reinstalling them, I can now get back to drawing!

However, as this was happening, I assumed it had finally broke down and I would need a new tablet. Not wasting a minute, I hit  up Amazon and started searching sites for the best affordable tablets. That lead to also researching Digital art application reviews. Wanting to avoid spending mega dollars, I was interested in a fun/great online YouTube Artist named JAZZA!  I am not comfortable with all of his content and advise parental supervision if browsing his channel. But I really enjoy his great personality and artistic talent. Since he is a modern young artist, he can help me update my old traditional ways. The video I am posting here is definitely "Suitable for All Ages." I recommend watching this if you are interested in finding a free to under twenty dollars digital art making program. I am going with his first choice. You will have to watch to find out which one!
JAZZA

Here is another great video giving great advice on becoming a digital artist, the first video is about purchasing a drawing tablet as well as some suggestions on drawing software/apps as well.
Nadiaxl

Nothing digital made this. I used coloured pencils and markers.

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A New Hand Drawn Illustration by Me: Facial Expressions

illustration by me, Anita Berglund

 Hi guys! Hope you are enjoying creating in some form or another. I want to share a recent drawing I just completed to illustrate another blog site I have called Walking Way Overrated. Below was an incomplete version and then I added and changed things like her facial expression. It is tricky for me to draw someone's mouth slanted to portray puzzled look.

halfway done

illustration by me, Anita Berglund

HeArtfully Creating,
Anita

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Yay, New Digital Drawing To Share!

Illustrated by Anita Berglund 10/2017

Hi guys! Just wanted to share a new illustration I did to illustrate a blog post on my other blog/video at www.walkingwayoverrated.blogspot.com about finding the cause of pain when using a wheelchair.

The software used was the SketchbookPro6 app with the Bamboo by Wacomb (old version.) Hope you give drawing/painting a try even using a mouse!

HeArtfully Creating,
Anita

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DIGITAL DRAWING: Illustrating to Convey A Point, Or To Tell A Story

Illustrating to Express A Thought or Make a Point
Something that I often need are drawings or cartoons to illustrate a point or a story in some of my other blogs and videos. (Click here to see a previous article about drawing with a mouse) We all grew up with story books being read to us. And the really memorable ones usually had incredible illustrations. Illustrations are all about drawing for a purpose. Especially if you are a Graphic or Commercial artist, or, you like to write and illustrate your own children's books. The ideas and uses are endless! You can become a graphic designer, illustrator, web designer, fashion illustrator...like I said, the possibilities, endless!
Drawing With A Purpose
Yesterday, I created this cartoon. If you are familiar at all with the Star Wars saga, you may think as I once did...Darth Vader is remembered forever saying to Luke Skywalker..."Luke, I am your father." Is that not how we all remember it? I have seen that episode at least ten times in what, thirty years?! Well it turns out, we are remembering it falsely because when we actually watch the movie, he says this....

Original Digital Hand Drawn Illustration by Anita Berglund, 2016

Are you surprised? If you know nothing about what I am saying regarding Star Wars, the lesson about illustrating or drawing with a purpose, still applies :o)

So if you love drawing, think about what you can do with it, if you want to make a living. There are others who often commission artists like us, to create drawings or illustrations for their own web sites, blogs, books and magazines...endless, remember!

Thanks for stopping by.

HeArtfully Creating,

Anita :o)

SaveSave

Purposeful or Functional Art: Personalized Greeting "Cards"- Part 2

A Work in progress, not complete. Illustration by Anita Berglund

Okay, I shared just a few examples of the original greeting cards I made years ago using traditional methods. Remember paper, pencils and markers! These days I have bee using my computer to draw and paint images. Something that I started out doing for fun was to take photos of friends and family and open the photo up into a drawing/painting app like Sketchbook Express. And then....I just embellished a lot! Adding costumes and backgrounds. So you can see some of the process I  am posting a series of before, during and to the finished result images.
Print Anywhere!?
What is great about digitalizing your work by drawing digital or scanning your work into a jpeg file, you can email your personalized, original art work to the recipients. And they can do what they want with it including making it wallpaper on their computer, print it out in whatever size it can be. If you go to printing web sites you will see original images on t-shirts, mugs, posters, calendars, pins, pretty much anything you can print on.  That is something you might want to consider if you want to make gift that way.
Have Fun!
When you create heArtfully, you are enjoying, even loving what you are doing and that means it won't feel like a chore. As well people care if you take time to create something personalized just for them. So if you don't already make your own cards and gifts, I encourage you to.
Time To Share...

This is a compilation of faces from photos of family members- Illustration by Anita Berglund

Family members of ours who went from this...

To this...

To This...

To the final result, this! Illustration by Anita Berglund

Here are my parents before...

Add caption Illustration by Anita Berglund

Mom and Dad again...I collaged a pile of old photos and had some fun....

Here Was the final result! Illustration by Anita Berglund

Wanting it to be perfect, I was happy that it turned out pretty good. Always room to perfect! Illustration by Anita Berglund

Here is the before process....Illustration by Anita Berglund

A Cool Illustration!

Hi guys! I was working on some projects like Pinterest and blogs, and wanted thumbnail illustrations that were my own. Yes, there are public domain/free to use/copyright free, drawings and photos on the internet but hey, if you love drawing or are learning, it makes sense to make your own. Then it legally belongs to you and, it is original, no one anywhere will have your art work on their blog, web site, YouTube channel, or whatever social media site. If your work shows up somewhere, then it will have been stolen. Yes, stolen. But, I must say that with the age of the internet, I don't know how you can prevent others from copying original art work and photos. I have seen artists who have web sites with some kind of setting that disables any copying of their images. Or you can lay the word Copyright in a translucent way over an image. It is up to you. Just know that any original art work, including writing and photos, legally belong to the creator.

Personally, I draw because I love to and I want to make it visible, so for images like the one below, I don't want to cover it up with any watermarks. Just write copyright, the date and your name and use the honour system. I suppose if someone copies it , consider it a compliment.

For almost fifty years I have adored drawing, it is why I am an artist of course!. A lot has changed in my half century of living.  I now get to illustrate using  my computer! I have an article here about digital illustration, 

Thought I would share this quick illustration that I did just now to illustrate a pinterest board I have. I drew it using my Wacomb Bamboo drawing pad and stylus.But, you can use a mouse. The software is an app  called Graphic" and I colour using the app called Sketchbookpro 6. The reason I use Graphic app to draw is because it has a mode to help reduce my hand  shakiness. But Sketchbook is far better to paint and shade with. My dream software would be Adobe Illustrator, but, since it is hundreds of dollars, I prefer to work with affordable software. My apps are Apple compatible, but I know when I used Windows, there were affordable and free drawing/graphic programs as well.

Copyright 2015- hand drawn illustration by Anita Berglund

HeArtfully Creating!

Anita

Stick Men And Beyond

 Digital Illustration By Anita Berglund

Anyone Can Learn.

Hi guys. If love drawing, painting or making art of any kind, you made have heard this line before..."I can only draw stick figures, I can't draw." If you have heard someone say that in response to seeing what you can create, what do you say to them? If that is you and you really feel that you could never learn to draw or paint, then this is for you too.

I have put together a brief video in hope to discuss the "Stick Figure" attitude and show that anyone can learn to make art. Anyone can learn to do anything for that matter. So take a watch and I would love to hear your questions, see your drawings and read any comments you may have. You can leave video responses below if you click the video to link to my YouTube Channel.

Beyond Stick Figures Video (click below)

Drawing With A Mouse!

I have been drawing and painting for almost half a century and didn't learn this method of drawing

until a few years ago! Being an old fashioned girl, I've used pencils, coloured pencils too, as well as pastels and markers, not to mention acrylic paint, for yes, painting! Drawing with my mouse was

something I played around with years ago but never took it seriously. But, about three years ago or more, the thought came to my mind, "I wonder if there are any drawing devices for the computer?"

Lo an behold, I found a Bamboo Wacomb drawing tablet on Amazon.ca and used the basic Corel program that came with it. 

Back to Kindergarten

However, when I first started with the more serious attempts at drawing digitally,  it was like being

An Unfinished digital drawing...I might finish it some day.

five years old again. Five is great, but I am in my late forties and drawing is something I have done most of those years. So imagine picking up a pencil for the first time and having a shaking hand? That is what it was like. It took a lot of frustration and trial and error to discover software that could make my lines straighter.
If you have downloaded apps or software like Sketchbook Pro or iDraw, you may already have discovered what I did. I couldn't draw circles or straight lines, it was far too wobbly. Believe it or not it was easy to do with a pencil, but not on the computer. That was why at first, I would draw out the basics in pencil, then scan it and then draw over it with the mouse or tablet. See the picture to the right? See the pencil lines? That is real, good old fashioned pencil.
Never Give Up!
However, what kept me from giving up was being able to draw, colour and erase as many times as I wanted to. Not to mention, the fact that it was just easier for me to look up at my monitor and not with my neck bent down for hours. And the other awesome feature, some software simulates all art media like chalk pastels, watercolour paint, pen, marker, pencil and even various canvas or paper surface textures! Super cool.
Needless to say, I was inspired to not give up.  And by the way, you don't need the Bamboo drawing device, you can just use your mouse. In fact, some times it seems like you have more control with the mouse. Most computers come with paint programs that are free, so try it out.
Sharing Some of My Digital Drawings...

This drawing was drawn just for this blog to illustrate a topic  By Anita Berglund

I was trying to show a feeling - what does this drawing make you feel? By Anita Berglund

Illustrations communicate messages, what is this one saying? By Anita Berglund

This is another drawing in a cartoon style to communicate a message.   By Anita Berglund

Always Learning...
As, I am with all art forms, I am still learning the world of drawing digitally. Since this blog is intended to inspire creativity as well as offer up some lessons, I wanted to share some of my digital drawing attempts so far. I want to encourage you to try it if you haven't already or if you experienced frustration like I did, to say, don't give up! I would love to see your drawings. Message me if you have something you want to share. Remember to save your pictures so you don't lose them if your system crashes. Mine crashed when I didn't have enough RAM. Which is memory. If your computer slows down, every now an then save, and reboot. It will clear the RAM (Random Access Memory) and hopefully, give you some more drawing time.

The Bamboo by Wacomb device comes with a small flat surface that plugs into a USB port and a pencil like device. The programs I like to draw most with, as a beginner is an app called iDraw. For some reason the original software doesn't work anymore. With iDraw, you can control the steady part. Meaning you can make adjustments to help your line making, anywhere from 0-100% control.

This is A cartoon of Craig doing laundry that I drew for another blog

This one was made as a digital card using the photos as a base t work from.

 Illustration by By Anita Berglund