Any of our resident artists using a graphics tablet?

[Kiwibird]

The only reason I'm getting one is due to needing it for a project I'm working on. The price, even used, for one with a screen is still a lot! I guess it'll only be encouragement for me to actually get through this process and keep my eye on my goal here. And with any luck of this working out as well as I hope, I'll be able at some point to actually afford some new technology to work/play with. If not, at least I won't be out thousands of dollars either.

Lets get even more confusing then! We have scones here too- like a sweet biscuit, baked in a triangular shape and often with chocolate chips or blueberries etc... in them. My poor head is swimming now!

 

[Kiwibird]

Got everything setup last night, but not without some issues. Was sent the wrong power cord by the seller. Those things do happen, I'm not upset and they got back to me ASAP about it. Fortunately, I did have a compatible one from another device that will work temporarily until the replacement arrives. I also managed to order the wrong USB type, but a quick trip to OfficeMax and all is in perfect working order.

VERY glad I got the kind with a screen. I just don't think my brain is wired to work with the other kind. It is very big (16") and heavy duty, not quite what I was expecting but clearly a solidly built item (it was originally from their "business line"). It weighs about a metric ton and is definitely NOT something I can just carry around and sit in my lap etc... like a regular tablet. I am using it with Autodesk Sketchbook. Naturally, no recent books exist for the program, so I'm flying blind learning it. Should take me a few days to work everything out/all the features and functions etc... Yea, I know youtube probably has videos, but my brain does this thing where it just tunes out on that kind of stuff and wanders elsewhere (guess a leftover from school where I'd tune out the teachers). I've figured out other complex programs by playing with them, I'll figure this one out too The drawing style is fairly realistic, much different than drawing on a tablet with a stylus. Overall, I'm pleased with it as a beginner/introductory graphics tablet to learn on.

 

[Anansi]

Looking forward to seeing how the new art medium works out for you, April! Very exciting!

I'm pretty much prehistoric with my art, having never worked with any computer interface whatsoever. Always been straight pencil, paper, inks and high end art markers for me. But I do find the digital stuff fascinating!

As an American by birth, but Jamaican by blood and heritage, my perspective has always been one of straddling 2 worlds. So I've always been able to view certain Americanisms with the benefit of a slight remove. As such, I've always been fascinated with the American penchant for just deciding things need a new name. In a deep, reverberating voice: "Hello, world. Yes, I'm new on the scene, but we need to make some changes. That sport there where you use your feet 98% of the time? The one you've called "football" all these years? Yes, that is now "soccer". And this new sport I've created where we use our feet on the ball 5% of the time and our hands the rest? That shall now be REAL football! So let it be written..."

Hahaha! America is gangsta!

"And this metric system the rest of the world is using? Bah, I say! Feet, inches and pounds (abbreviated lbs, just to make it interesting) for us!"

So the chips, cookies and biscuits thing is hardly a surprise. Lol!

 

[Anansi]

...The drawing style is fairly realistic, much different than drawing on a tablet with a stylus. Overall, I'm pleased with it as a beginner/introductory graphics tablet to learn on.

How is the learning curve for working on a relatively friction-less surface? Is it hard to adjust to the lack of resistance you'd find on paper?

 

[Kiwibird]

...The drawing style is fairly realistic, much different than drawing on a tablet with a stylus. Overall, I'm pleased with it as a beginner/introductory graphics tablet to learn on.

How is the learning curve for working on a relatively friction-less surface? Is it hard to adjust to the lack of resistance you'd find on paper?

It feels a bit... funny especially since the 'pen' also functions as a mouse and has a light switch-style button on it for single and double click functions (which for me, means I want to touch it but I must not touch it because it actually does something). It does have a very cool feature that when you turn the pen upside down, it becomes an "eraser". I also haven't (yet) figured out if there are any of the tools that are pressure sensitive or not. That would definitely be a big adjustment when doing shading etc... That I'll have to look into more. One thing I do like in the program is that it uses layers, so that'll be really helpful when getting into more anatomically correct art. I plan to play around all weekend with it to get the general feel of how it works, try all the tools and take notes on each. Like any new medium, I'm sure it'll get less 'funny' feeling the more I use it!

 

[Kiwibird]

I posted this some time ago and have been working hard to learn the program and get familiar with a 'digital medium'. It's gone well enough that I am gearing up to create a website to be launched probably in January with some digital art for sale and also to take commissions. I am starting to research pricing and am SO confused. It seems relatively simple to price original art done in traditional mediums (materials+rate per hour X hours to create), but how does one look at pricing for digital art? Pricing online is all over the place and some seems on par with what I would think feels reasonable looking at the amount of work the artist put in, but other stuff is outrageously underpriced IMO. I ran into this when I tried selling my sewing. I get people wanting to buy my purses I make off my body all the time, but when I made up a bunch and attempted to charge a fair price online (like $50-80, not hundreds). Never ended up selling a one, probably because I suck at marketing and have no social media, but I got pissed and donated them all to charity and was done and over that 'venture'. I am so not repeating that experience. It really made me very upset and sad and unwilling to attempt selling anything I created for a long time.

I am currently working on a painting, when all is said and done, will likely end up taking 30-40 hours to complete. Yes, I know I can sell unlimited prints of it, but still, it's been a massive time dedication. Some of my less complex pieces are clocking in at 15+ hours to complete. Highly detailed stuff, a lot of tiny details and layering of colors etc... that just takes extraordinary amounts of time (and looks extremely awesome, haven't seen anyone else doing quite what I am). So I'm looking to our community of artists on here for ideas of how to fairly price this kind of thing? Past the initial investment of the graphics tablet and required accessories, I'm not using any materials to create this stuff, but there will be a printing charge depending on the size someone selects. Do I just do a standard retail markup of 2.5-3X over printing cost because that seems SUPER low to me or add some additional cost for labor in there somewhere or what?! Basically, I have a product to sell and no idea how! Marketing and the 'business end' of things is so not my thing...

 

[GaleriaPetPortraits]

Just a note to let you know I'm really enjoying following your thread.

As I already posted, I tried some such gadgets, and got frustrated fast. I find I can simply draw, paint or whatever, and scan stuff faster. Then I may use Paint for certain effects. But mostly, I achieve layering and 3-d effects by printing and applying actual layers to a canvas, before finishing it off (integrating layers) with acrylics.

I sometimes regret my laziness in not learning new stuff. I'm sure it would add to any repertoire.

Maybe your success will inspire me! Thanks for this thread.

 

[Owlet]

people don't like to pay for luxuries. When it comes to arts and craft people think they are obligated to them because "it's just art anyone can do it" it's pretty ridiculous. Honestly, price them what you're comfortable with and if honest people are interested they will pay.

check out the "for exposure" Twitter for some ridiculous stories.

 

[Kiwibird]

I am LOVING the digital art experience. No mess, no materials to run out of or remember to buy. Infinite possibilities with colors, brushes etc... and allows for (probably much to the detriment of time spent creating each piece) limitless perfectionism. If there is one thing I have always struggled with since I first started drawing as a little kid, it has been accurately conveying what I envisioned in my head. Something was always 'off', and while everyone claims art is subjective and should flow etc... I just can't stand something being off, which with traditional mediums usually meant I could get 80% finished, hate a color or make a minor mistake and toss the whole thing out. I could spend a few weeks as a kid over 5+ attempts to get my art 'right'. With this digital art, I can check various colors and techniques, zoom in and/or out then back step if I don't like the look. I am literally creating a high level of perfection (relative to my vision) in this art. It actually takes much less time than if I were doing so in pencil or acrylic. I love digital, it's the medium I've been searching for my whole life!

Oh, and I am waiting to post examples because I am still learning about what intellectual rights I have to any art I post online. My primary focus, of course, is still creating a profitable venture through art sales and commissions

 

[LordTriggs]

the majesty of being able to right a simple mistake is glorious!

having done minor animation stuff before when I had more free time a computer was a saving grace and fostered me to improve!

If you haven't already check out patreon as a place to put your art, it's what most internet artists use and I've never heard anything bad about it

 

[ChristaNL]

Glad you are enjoying yourself.
(and yes I know exactly what you mean - one little mistake can throw the entire experience - no one else will notice, but you do! That is what I liked about watching Bob Ross with his "happy little accidents" - that guy never got fazed by something going 'wrong'-> well at least not on TV it helped a lot/ but not as much as 'oke lets get back to the previous version of this' ...)
I have a tablet lying around somewhere (probably two)- I got stuck halfway in the learningcurve and then life happened etc.etc.


Oh- I digress (again)- what I wanted to say is: make sure you only put the ones online that are securely watermarked or protected in any other way. As one of my professional photographer friends finds: people will try anything to get her work for free.
(adding it as a last layer to the work leaves it way to easy to lift of again- I am not that good with computers etc. but even I could manage that if I tried)

 

[GaleriaPetPortraits]

Christa, that's such a good point, about watermarking. With portraits (and, usually, names on them), it's not much of a worry for me. BUT less personalized work... landscapes, photos, still lifes (lives?)... ARE at risk.

About cost... the whole invasion of digital "paintings" has really made an impact. I know a number of eBay artists who persist in asking for hundreds of dollars for portraits, while people can buy an exact digital one at a copy store for 30 bucks. Peole just don't want to pay much more. I like to charge less and sell more, as opposed to charging more and selling few.

That's why I try to offer as much personalization as possible, with poses/toys/etc. that the customer and I dream up. I don't know if that applies to others' work here, but I do advise as much personalization as possible. With WACOM/software/etc., you could add personalized stuff to established works, right?

Edit
About the prices of digital "paintings"...
People just don't want to pay much more. I like to charge less and sell more, as opposed to charging more and selling few. And anyway, the main buzz is knowing people have my stuff in their houses and lives.

 

[Kiwibird]

After further research, I think I've come up with a formula to price the art fairly within a range of what other digital art from other 'unknown' artists with large amounts of detail in their work is selling for. Unfortunately, I can't find anything quite like what I'm doing style-wise so I'm not 100% sure how on or off the mark I am.

And anyway, the main buzz is knowing people have my stuff in their houses and lives.

Gail- you are just such a good person. You're just so naturally friendly and kind and by the sounds of it, sell art because you are passionate about it and love doing it. I *wish* I had more of your attitude towards art and life!

 

[Kiwibird]

Well, I guess ALL the digital drawings I did are trash now. I did not realize using a photo, even a "free stock image" of an animal for reference to draw off of is potential copyright infringement. Mind you, I drew non-photorealistic images (kind of cartoon-ish in a way in the sense of could tell what they were but they weren't lifelike). I was making my own art just using a point of reference for it. Since I couldn't find any reliable sounding information on if that was legal and have no money to hire a lawyer to consult on something that likely wouldn't sell for enough to pay a copyright lawyer for their time. The LAST thing I can't afford some stupid legal battle, so I deleted them out of an overabundance of caution. So much work gone but I know my luck and it's not good luck so the best option was not to touch that potential disaster with a tend foot barge pole. Nope. Should've looked into that definitively BEFORE wasting so much time on it. So now I have to start from scratch. I don't even know what I'm going to do. I was drawing all kinds of super rare interesting exotic animals and I can't just find those around. I'll try to go to the zoo to take photos of animals myself and then *I* own the rights to the photos I use for reference, but I don't think Portland has a very big zoo.

As of right now I'm just spent. And utterly disappointed in myself as a human being and frustrated with life in every capacity. Why can nothing in my life can just be simple or anything less than a significant struggle. Just so frustrated right now

 

[ChristaNL]

Actually, there is some elbowroom for artistic freedom -> so undelete if you still can

Youtube-fan-films are a great example: they are allowed, but you have to post a disclaimer etc..
(and they are not allowed to make money, I think)


If you use a photograph of an elephant as reference and said elephant can no longer be recognized - because you changed the stance, form and size of the ears and the other ovious things that would identify *that* elephant .. it is *your* elephant now.
If you just stuck a bow-tie on said elephant-picture it would be another matter.

 

[Kiwibird]

I simply won't mess with anything even arguably possibly lawsuit-worthy. I drew every line by hand (on the tablet) and changed the colors to hyper realistic ones, but the basic outlines and rough positions/number of spots or scales I kept. Not worth tempting the universe on that one. Murphy's law has a strong attraction to me and with the disaster that is my life currently the last thing I need is to violate some obscure law on image use because I simply do not understand the full legalese of it all. I don't need to instigate more battles to fight. I'm worn down enough as is.

Knowing what I do now, I and I alone will "own" the photos I use and if I do commission work ever, they will have to sign a legal contract giving me their explicit permission to use their photo. Ugh. Even more crap I now have to figure out.

 

[ChristaNL]

If you want to go ahead and play with any links I have posted...have fun.
just send me a copy when you sell something
(unfortunately my pictures are crappy quality)

 

[Kiwibird]

So after a bit of a freakout over not understanding the whole legality of whether or not I can use photos for reference in my art, I remembered that I took 4 years of photography classes and helped out a professional photographer on shoots for years just to learn. I'm unclear why I'd think it was ever a better idea not to just do everything myself. I'm actually really very good at photography, but there are just too many others who are also very good and nothing about mine was particularly unique or special, so I kind of stopped pursuing it in any kind of capacity where I take photos without specific reasons. I guess now I have a reason!

I got a great picture yesterday of 4 budgies at a local pet store interacting. I will definitely be drawing them since budgies are very popular (and adorable). Got a pic of a rather cool looking chameleon as well. Unfortunately, it's a small store and a lot of displays did not currently have animals or the animals were hiding/sleeping. I also went through my personal collection of photos and found the ones of this baby pterodactyl, er, I mean baby blue heron that used to live near the stream behind an old home. I also found one of a beautiful koi at the Japanese Gardens. So I think, even though I will unlikely be able to locate any rare animals to photograph myself, I can probably still get some good reference photos of more common animals just looking around where I live

 

[AutumnBreeze]

I have a wacom intous draw and it cost about 80-100 dollars and is one of the cheapest drawing tablets out there but it works amazing. if you have a tablet or ipad you can just download a drawing software and use your finger. it doesn't work as well but it is free. anyways I'm not that great at drawing birds but if you need any help or anything just send me a message.