Research - Basics of Digital Painting

1. Equipments:  
               a. Drawing Tablet
               b. Software

a. Drawing Tablet

It is a device acts like a replacement of the mouse that allows artists to draw into the computer like drawing on paper. The tablet that I'm currently using is Wacom Intuos 4 (medium size).

In digital drawing, this could be the most important equipment and it is essential to illustrating in computer.

Wacom Intuos 4

b. Software

The software that I mainly use to draw include Paint Tool SAI and Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Paint Tool SAI - A software developed by SYSTEMAX specialized for digital drawing.

Features:

• Brush modes such as watercolour, airbrush, pen, marker and acrylic.
• Brush density/opacity
• Paper textures such as paper, canvas, and watercolour.
• Multiple layers for a document.
• Vector layer, line editing
• Different blending modes such as multiply, screen, addition, overlay.

Pros:

- Rich in preset textures to make digital drawing look like traditional work.

- Good for lining (see later research), can edit lines using vector layer for smooth lines.

- Sensitive pen pressure for density of colour and thickness of lines.

- Could be exported to other file types such as .PSD and other image file types.

- Can rotate picture which is sometimes more convenient when drawing.

Cons:

- Lack of image editing features.

- Cannot add text to a drawing.

- No printing function.

- Cannot copy and paste layers.

Paint Tool SAI - Interface

  

Adobe Photoshop CS3 - is a professional image editing software with a wide variety of uses.

Features:

• Magic wand tool for auto selection.
• Multiple layers.
• Dynamic brushes.
• Pen pressure.
• Text function with different effects.
• Channels (for colour editing) and paths (for lines)

Pros:

- Text function is convenient.

- Better at image editing effects and overall colour adjusting of pictures.

- More blending modes.

- More brush variations.

- Can read many file formats.

Cons:

- No vector layer for smooth lining.

- Less sensitive pen pressure.

- Cannot copy and paste layers within a same file/to different files.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 - Interface

2. Steps to Digital Painting:

Bibliography:

1. Davies, By Chris. "Wacom Intuos4 Wireless Bluetooth Graphics Tablet Debuts - SlashGear." SlashGear - Feeding Your Gadget and Tech Obsessions. Web. 02 Jan. 2011. <http://www.slashgear.com/wacom-intuos4-wireless-bluetooth-graphics-tablet-debuts-0172170/>.

2. Google, By. "Features of Adobe Photoshop." EzineArticles Submission - Submit Your Best Quality Original Articles For Massive Exposure, Ezine Publishers Get 25 Free Article Reprints. Web. 02 Jan. 2011. <http://ezinearticles.com/?Features-of-Adobe-Photoshop&id=1752077>.

3. "PaintTool SAI Alternatives and Similar Software - AlternativeTo.net." Alternative Software and Apps to Your PC (Windows, Linux), Mac, IPhone, Android, Web/Online and Other Platforms. - AlternativeTo.net. Web. 02 Jan. 2011. <http://alternativeto.net/software/painttool-sai/>.

4. "The Photoshop CS3 Workspace | Blue Lobster Art and Design - Sacramento Web Design and Graphic Design." Blue Lobster Art & Design. Web. 02 Jan. 2011. <http://blulob.com/2009/03/02/the-photoshop-cs3-interface/>.