Do you use your Wacom for more than just drawing?

[PlusThirtyOne]

Do you navigate files on your computer? Surf the web? Play games? Do you do so in between drawings and taking breaks or do you use your pen casually without art apps even open?

Obviously if you've got a Cintique, why wouldn't you? -But i mean screenless tablets; Bamboo, intuos, dare i say Graphires, etc.

 

[RailRide]

Been using my tablets as general pointing devices since the days Windows 3.1 was still relevant (using a Wacom ArtPad, with its serial port connection and wall-wart power supply, on a 486dx75 laptop).

It's probably the reason I never went through the (some say, traumatic) adjustment of drawing while looking somewhere other than where my hand is.

Despite this I only got into doing extensive digital edits on scans with the tablet within the last decade or so, and full digital drawing (i.e. no pencil-and-paper stage) within the last year...at least doing so without the results looking like poo (in fact, I posted this during a break from working on a digital concept sketch).

That last bit of late blooming may have something to do with my never having used a screen tablet--I bought a Surface Pro 2 when their prices fell due to the release of the SP3, as a "way cheaper than Cintiq" way of testing the idea of a screen-tablet, and have yet to do a full-on digital pic with it, although that day is steadily getting closer (likely faster since I found a wireless adapter for its keyboard cover so I can place it somewhere thats not constantly in the way)

---PCJ

 

[quoting_mungo]

Do you navigate files on your computer? Surf the web? Play games? Do you do so in between drawings and taking breaks or do you use your pen casually without art apps even open?

Obviously if you've got a Cintique, why wouldn't you? -But i mean screenless tablets; Bamboo, intuos, dare i say Graphires, etc.

I will use my Intuos for quick little things like flipping between applications, but since it's pretty huge (A3) it gets in the way of eg typing, so most of the time I'll be putting it "away" (it lives within easy reach of my seat; while I've dropped it on my face once or twice generally its location was only an issue during the ~5-6 months I suffered from reactive arthritis in my wrists and had basically zero wrist strength. But I also didn't draw much then because of the pain) if I'm going to be doing anything that takes extensive keyboard use.

However, I do tend to recommend that users new to using a screenless tablet spend at least a few weeks using the tablet for general computer usage. It's an easier way in, in many ways, than trying to get over the hand-eye coordination "hump" by drawing.

As a sidenote I actually find I vastly prefer drawing on a screenless tablet over drawing on one with a screen; in the latter case I find myself getting agitated by my hand being in the way of the image. (Somehow this irritation doesn't translate to traditional art. There's just something about drawing on a screen that makes my hand feel like more of an obstruction.)

 

[PlusThirtyOne]

I never went through the (some say, traumatic) adjustment of drawing while looking somewhere other than where my hand is.

it still surprise me how much a struggle this is for people. As someone with ADD, i was coooooonstantly distracted in school. i regularly would look up from my hand and paper while drawing or writing without stopping. When i got my first Wacom Graphire in the 90's i was already used to looking up from my hand. it's just like touch-only-typing!