I’ve been a longtime lurker of the fluffy universe and recently started drawing my own content. My skill and knowledge of visual art is pretty limited. When I was in middle school I drew comics all the time but I haven’t since and I’m 28 now. I’m using MS paint and it works well for me. My style is cartoony so it does exactly what I need it to do.
At first I learned to lean into the mouse and allow my drawings to look irregular and scratchy. It reminded me of Home Movies on Adult Swim and I was happy with that outcome for awhile. Recently the mouse has just become an obstacle. I’m trying to draw with more intention and the lack of control is killing me. I feel like I’m spending way too much time correcting avoidable mistakes.
For those that draw on their computer, what’s your favorite program to use? Do you use more than one? Do any of them make drawing with a mouse easier? I know a lot of people don’t use a computer at all and instead use a tablet or draw on paper then use a scanner or phone to digitize. I tried to draw on paper at first but my materials aren’t very good and I hate erasing. I erase a lot so I always fuck up the paper and end up making a mess with the shavings. A tablet sounds nice but drawing isn’t my main hustle. The only time I draw is when I make content for this site so a tablet didn’t make sense. If I’m wrong and there’s a cheap hobbyist tablet out there or the used market is reasonable should I look into switching over to that instead?
yo wtf you can just plug a tablet into your computer?? I thought you had to buy an iPad or something wow. Have you used one before and did you like it?
I draw with a mouse on MS Paint but I’m not much of an artist. It ain’t too hard to get started doing and I prefer it to pencil/paper. I don’t like GIMP’s drawing tools but that’s just me. But it’s definitely more versatile for people with more talent.
Not just any tablet. You can’t just plug an ipad into your computer and have it be your canvas. (or at least, I don’t think that’s possible) But there are lots of art tablets made to be connected to computers. The big names are Wacom and Huion, though there are others.
I draw on paper, take a picture of what I drew, and then open it up in GIMP so I can trace over it with my mouse and add color + make any necessary edits to proportions.
I used to draw on the computer with a mouse. Photoshop plus the pen tool to make curves and lines was my bread and butter. I’d scribble out a sketch to block out rough proportions and poses and then use the pen tool on a layer above it to set down my line art. I did have to do a bit of erasing to get the effect of variable line weight but overall the effect was good. Play around enough with brushes and settings and you can do some pretty good stuff. I even used to animate on it.
But that was well over a decade ago. Now I just use a drawing app on my phone with my finger. Adobe Fresco. It works fine imo.
So, if you like drawing, and you do it not out of necessity but because you want to draw, then mouse drawing is like running for the joy of running, but while wearing broken stiletto heels. Do yourself a favor and buy a used, refurbished drawing tablet and never look back. You don’t need an expensive one, it just needs to interface with a drawing program. But it’s like drawing, while mouse drawing is like driving a car while a caffeinated monkey tries to mate with your sunglasses.
just got my degree in digital art. usually draw w a mouse in illustrator, and a cheap wacom for photoshop. photoshop and other similar apps have line smoothing now, which makes mouse drawing easier. also echoing adobe fresco. and you can use it with an ipad and then edit the image in photoshop
I suggest you to stop drawing with a mouse. It’s going to kill your wrist (its going to sound like a cement mixer)
You can always draw on paper, take a picture of it and mess with brightness/contrast to clean some stuff.
Now, if you wanna go digital. Get an used drawing tablet (huion basic models can go for less than 5 bucks) they may have a small “drawing area” but they’re most than enough.
Now, for apps ? Medibang paint has a free alternative, lets you use layers and various brushes also offers line correction. Krita can be good too but kinda overwhelming because too many tools
My setup ? Galaxy tab a with s pen + clip studio paint / laptop + huion h420 + CLP
I have animated on a keyboard and mouse, and the import thing (at least for me) is to beat the shit out of the correction function (or stabilizer, it has different names, but it just automatically smooths the lines as you draw.) I’m not sure if ms paint has it, probably not, but I tried MediBangPaint once on my laptop and at least it had it.
(fluffy friends find fun funsies episode 3 was done entirely on a keyboard and mouse)
Yea honestly carpal tunnel has been a big worry. I play music with a friend that developed issues from continually hand grinding coffee at a job. He only worked there for a couple months but it was enough damage that he can’t play instruments for more than a couple hours. What sucks most is music is part of his livelihood now and he has to take breaks from playing every couple days to keep the condition from worsening. I feel bad for him and have personally been watching for potential risks. I didn’t even know about screenless tablets till I made this thread so I think you’re right and it’s worth the investment for that reason alone. Thank you for your reply, friend
Just to be clear, there’s two types of drawing tablets and (confusingly enough) a device that’s known as a tablet which you can draw on.
The last one is an entirely separate mini-computer with a pressure sensitive screen - the iPad is probably the most common version of this. The pressure sensitivity is usually decent enough for sketch work, but the ability to draw digital art anywhere is the main appeal.
You can plug these into a computer and use it like a drawing surface, but you need third party software or shenanigans like remote desktop.
The second type of drawing tablet is a pressure sensitive screen that plugs into a computer - it can’t be used independently of a computer (that’s the tablet device). The missus uses a Huion Kamvas PRO 13. These tend to less expensive than a tablet device, have better sensitivity, but lack independence.
The first is just a pressure interface, no screen or anything. They’re the cheapest but also the least sophisticated and also need to be plugged into a computer - they’re basically an input device like a keyboard or mouse. The Wacom One is an example of this type.
