Need tips on drawing in Photoshop CS3 with a tablet?
January 22nd, 2010
I recently bought a Genius F610 tablet and need tips on drawing in Photoshop CS3 with it. I can draw great on paper with pencil but totally don’t understand Photoshop and layers and all that, so if you guys can help, that would be awesome. Just link a video you think will help or write down a couple of things you do or something. Thanks!
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:53 pm
I dont own a tablet. yet..
But i can help you out with the layers…
basically is just so you dont have everything on one.. piece of paper.
So say you have your background, but you want to put… a tree on it..
well make another layer and put your tree on it.
But NOW you want something behind that tree.. So go ahead and make another layer and design w/e you want.. but you wanted it behind the tree, so click and hold the layer with the tree on it and drag it above the layer with object X on it.
thats kinda confusing.. the best way to think of this is like drawing a flip book…
Whatever is on the top layer will be on top in the frame. and vice versa.
This layer system is helpful so you dont ruin what you worked on earlier. Like on normal paper, you have to draw from background to foreground, in these programs its more or less a free for all… work on w/e you want and then you can reposition it by clicking and dragging or adjusting layers.
im soo sorry if thats confusing.. I know its hard to understand if you are new to the programs…
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:03 pm
There is so much to explain. You’re better off doing this:
Search for PhotoShop Tutorials on deviantART. Select one that appears to teach what you’re looking to learn.
That’s what I did. They helped me a lot.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Hi I am Anthony Gabriel, Photoshop CS3 is use for most of editing work only,Drawing work is some what difficult, So please try in Corel draw X3, Its very easy to draw and colouring please try in this.
Thanking you
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Genius F610 6” x 10” Ultra Slim Tablet for “Pen Writing”
http://www.geniuseshop.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=131
http://www.amazon.ca/Genius-G-PEN-Ultra-graphic-tablet/dp/B000WEHJHG
before you go further, check compatibility with software, mentions use with Office tools, not graphics, you may have to adjust control panels and preferences for each program, if it does not work well, or you find not user friendly, exchange before any warranty returnable due dates,
Adobe – Photoshop CS4
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/compare/
would not be concerned with layers, priority is to be able to draw and paint and air brush on one layer, and be able to control pen suitably, practice with tablet capabilities first,
layers and other photoshop options can be learned through tutorials without tablet, and with when setup and pressure tested,
if program does not co-operate with tablet try other freeware or trials to test further,
ArtRage 2
http://www.ambientdesign.com/artragedown.html
Pixia
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/mighty/knight/
PhotoPlus
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/PhotoPlus/
Rendera – Free Graphic Editor
http://www.rendera.net/
openCanvas 1.1 – English version
http://wistinga.online.fr/opencanvas/
Pixarra : TwistedBrush
http://www.pixarra.com/
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/08/genius-easypen-and-mousepen-graphics-tablets-play-on-both-sides/
..
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:22 pm
To start out:
Open up Photoshop, and make a new document.
Open up your brush menu. Go to the little arrow on the far right and open it, select ‘load brush preset’. You will be taken to a list of the brush sets that come with photoshop. Load them ALL (only the basic ones will be loaded at first)
Select a brush. Go to the taskbar on the top, there should be a little pen logo. Click it, this allows Photoshop to be pressure sensitive. Right beside that are your settings for opacity and flow. Lower your opacity to sketch.
Go to Window and make sure your Layers window is open.
Go to Layers: New Layer. Just hit enter, you don’t have to name it (that gets useful later on, if you have lots of layers or are doing animation)
Look in your Layers window. There should now be two layers, the background and ‘layer 1′. Layer one will display in the window with the same checker pattern you get if you delete the background-transparency.
You can now draw on this layer without disturbing the layers underneath. Draw something, it doesn’t matter what.
Use your eraser. You’ll notice that the background is not erased, only the lines on the layer you are currently on.
Now, go back to your layers window. Click on the background layer, and then go back to Layers>New Layer and enter
Now, your layers window should display three layers- the background, above it Layer 2, then Layer 1 on top. You should be on Layer 2.
Select a color, and use it on Layer 2. You will notice that the lines of Layer 1 stay on top. You can grab layer 2 on the Layers window and move it up, so it is sitting on top of Layer 1.
While it’s on top of layer 1, use your paintbucket to fill it with whatever color you want. Now, in your Layers window, use the Transparency slider to lighten the layer. Now you can see underneath it.
Put the transparency back to 100 and move Layer 2 under Layer1. Select Layer 1.
Go to Layer> Layer Style. Here you have a menu of different effects you can apply to the selected layer, such as Drop Shadow, Emboss, etc. Play with these for a while. When you adjust the light source for an effect on any layer, it will adjust the light source for the effects on any other layers as well.
Back to the Layers window. Click on the little eye beside Layer 1 to make it invisible. Select Layer 2.
Go to Filter. Here you have a list of filters you can use in your art. You will get a preview image when you click on them.
You can add as many layers as you want to. When a layer is ‘locked’ you can’t do much to it. You can unlock layers by clicking on the lock icon beside it.
When you have lots of layers, you can merge them together. when they are merged, they become one layer. You can merge lots of them together at once.
When you’re done with your art and want to save it, you can do it two ways. First off, if you want to work on it more in the future, you can save it as a photoshop document (psd). This preserves the layers.
If you are done, and want it to all be one layer, then go to Layer>Flatten Image
If you want to post it to the internet, or don’t want to take up so much space, save it as a jpg. This will flatten automatically.
When you use text on a layer, you will have to Rasterize it before you can use filters, textures, or your pen or other tools on it. This is done by going to Layers>Rasterize>Type.
Layers can be used when planning and sketching art. Make a new layer and draw on it, then adjust the transparency so you can barely see the lines. Make a new layer and draw over it in better detail. Delete the lower layer to get rid of your sketch lines.
Draw your lines on a layer above and color on one underneath. create new layers for highlights, details, and shadow. That way, you can remove parts you don’t like without having to re-do your work.
Once you select anything, it will be selected on whatever layer you select, regardless of whether that is the layer you selected it on to begin with. You can select an outline, then change layers and colorfill or do effects on it.
Brushes only work on the layer that you have selected. You can smudge, warp, or filter a layer and the one underneath will remain undisturbed.
When you change the light source on any Layer Style, it will change the lighting for the entire document. To avoid this, merge the layers you want to have the original effect on, it will now only be applied to the new layer.
You can create custom patterns and brushes, as well as download brush presets (search for cs3 brush sets). Any image can be made into a stamp, brush, or texture. Just get your image and go to Edit>Define Brush Preset/Define Pattern
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:25 pm
it’s really hard to explain..it’s best to learn by actually doing and experimenting with it…or having someone is experienced with photo shop help you a little
you start to get it once you start doing stuff on photoshop
once you get down the basics..then you should start looking at tutorials with print screens or videos for the more complicated stuff