Awww, shucks. Yes, and then there's the finished version too, done by a third hand. It just keeps getting better.

Aww, thank you. She has one of the most adorable faces in the series.

Did you check out the color version too?

Unfortunately I haven't been doing any actual drawing, except practice-type stuff, for quite a while. It's not that I wouldn't love to, but I don't see it happening for the foreseeable future. For now I'm content to write my stories (which I can't post here) and do some occasional inking work for others.

Again, this was ~CreepyDan's work and then colored by a fantastic yet shy artist. The last I saw, I think he's holding off on taking requests until he finishes commissions and then whatever else he has outstanding.

The word "refuse" implies that you just don't want to use them, which I suspect isn't quite what you meant. I picked up my Graphire 4 years ago and used to trace a lot, often sucking at the start and then doing so much better by the end of any piece that the first parts looked terrible to me. (I shouldn't call what I do "inking" since I'm not adding "value" like shading or have a grasp of how the widths affect the overall image.)

However, it wasn't until I was laid up with the broken ankle last year that I decided that perhaps some warm-ups would help: horizontal and vertical lines, freehand circles, getting so that I could draw diagonals between corners of my gridlines in one stroke, sine waves, etc.

I swear! the first time I tried it I though I'd had a stroke and was going to call for an ambulance. I couldn't control worth a damn when I started; still, my hatred of being in the hospital convinced me to keep going and slowly I started to find control — just like when I'd trace something. I don't do them as often as I should, plus I've been trying to do "speed (ha!) traces" more too, though either I'm exhausted by the time I'm done with comments or people suddenly appear and want to chat (for a change) the moment I rearrange my desk for it.

Another thing I've done is put the mouse aside and spend a day using the tablet for all of my daily tasks. It's a fantastic way to train your brain to re-adjust to finding the exact spot to click even though the tablet can be in different positions. (You'll just need to learn how to ctrl-click and use the stylus button for right-click, etc... if it's pre-configured that way. Look at the settings. You'll also need to learn some keyboard tricks, such as ctrl-click to open a web page in a new tab (at least under Firefox), etc. I'd be happy to share my settings and a quick list of how I manage.

For me, composing itself seems really hard on the tablet, but going layer over layer etc. it starts to come together, but remember that I'm not very good at drawing to begin with. Still, I start with light pressure and lighter color (as if using an H6) and then get a better image on the next layer, dropping the previous one... When I get back in the swing maybe I'll even pick up that Yin Yang Yo! picture I started last year. (Hey, I've mentioned that show to you twice today, so it must be on my mind for some reason.)

But you can start with pencil then scan and ink.

Now, I do find that using the pen tool / vectors with the tablet is a pain because it's hard to "lift" the stylus precisely on the pixel I want. However, think that the freehand drawing feels better: for speed, true trace, accuracy of width, and especially since I don't hurt my wrist from over-tightly controlling the mouse.

But when inking or drawing I really prefer having my hand separated from the "canvas" so I can see exactly what I'm doing. That "disconnect" is very easy to get accustomed to.

Well, I hope you find time to at least try the warm-ups and some doodling. ~bloochikin even did an amazing speed-painting once the very first time he was trying a different drawing program.

Look at this: me giving advice to you! Anyway, try the warm-ups then you'd be ruling within a week and totally rocking in under a month, whether or not you scan pencil sketches or compose directly.

Geez, is this long winded enough? And we were doing so well with short messages until now.


_{P.S. I bought two art books, one on comics and the other on animation, on Thursday. Whether or not I ever develop any talent at least I'll have a better idea what I'm talking about when giving comments.}