When it rains, it pours. For years I’ve been looking at my Wacom digital drawing tablet, hating it. It made my hand hurt and I had never been able to make the necessary hand-eye connection that makes people able to draw naturally on one surface (the tablet), while looking at another (computer screen). Suddenly that has all changed. I learned some tips for setting up the tablet (most notably, screen ratio mapping – duh!), and just as important, I gave it another try. Suddenly I can draw on a computer just like I can on paper and THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING. The ability to correct mistakes, change colors, draw in layers – it’s priceless. I still love ink, paint and paper – I really do – but this is going to change everything. I’ve also discovered the very-lifelike tools available in Corel Painter, and using that in combination with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop is getting me the results I want: a hand-made analog look, with all the edit-ability of layered, digital art, no scanning and no setting up and taking down an illustration station with inks, pens, brushes, water jars, etc. I know, that stuff has some real tactile appeal, but the bottom line is that it’s a pain in the ass, and that means that the work doesn’t happen. I’d rather it happen.

And this is just the beginning. Here (above) are a few doodles from the last week of playing around. But this is nothing – just testing the tools and setting up. I look forward to REALLY getting into it in the near future.