Attempting to draw with a Bamboo Wacom and Corel Painter 12 Part 1

Category: Techtoday

I've been spending so much time at work and at home with HTML, CSS, Linux, technical documents, and Docbook that pulling up a desktop (Linux, Mac, or Windows) or even an iPad was beginning to trigger nausea and vomit. Isolated and living overseas and deprived of most of my equipment and books forced me to resort to my laptop, ereader, tablet, and MP3 player as my only sources of entertainment. As much as I love Spider-Man digital comic books, Mad Men, magazines, 1980s movies, mystery audiobooks, and literature, I was beginning to climb walls. So yesterday, inspired by an old issue of Spectacular Spider-Man and artwork displayed over at Deviant art, I took up an old activity that I gave up on a decade ago: drawing.

A sample sketch of the author (1997)

Although I haven't drawn for years, I'm still a fan of the old-school hand-drawn animation, manga, and comic books of the 80s and 90s. Having invested regular hours on CorelDraw Designer X5, CorelDraw X5, and Adobe Illustrator CS4 for technical illustrations, I thought it would be easy to start drawing digitally and finally make use of the Wacom Bamboo I had purchased but hadn't used so much. I was a devoted user of Paint Shop Pro even when it was still owned by Jasc, but didn't own an updated version so I quickly visited Corel's website and downloaded the trial version of Corel Painter 12. Obviously, I could have begun work using any version of the popular Adobe Photoshop, which everyone seems to believe is the product out there for anything related to art, but I've always associated Adobe products for work rather than pleasure (and I personally love Corel's products).

After 10 minutes into drawing using the Bamboo tablet and Painter, I switched off my laptop and switched to pencil and paper. My excited attempt at drawing a simple comic book panel was crap. Worst, it wasn't the Wacom or Painter's fault. It was my complete inability to draw.

I had no false ideas about my skill. I just wanted to see if I could at least draw the way I did when I was in high school, albeit this time with a sophisticated piece of software and drawing tablet. Hell, it was a breeze drawing electronic products and machines in Corel Designer and Corel Draw, so why couldn't I draw some awesome mecha or at least Spidey swinging over Manhattan John Romita Jr. circa 1980s style?

Lesson Number 1: Awesome software, online tutorials, and great hardware doesn't make you a better artist. Digital art still requires basic skills.

Less than an hour later, my sheet of paper was filled with same crap I've been drawing all my life. And even if I did produce a usable piece of illustration, I didn't have my scanner with me (My Canon LiDE 600F was 11,000km away) and although buying a mult-function printer is inexpensive, I certainly won't need it if all I drew were useless scribbles. All signs pointed to the scary truth - if I wanted to start doing any type of drawing again I have to learn how to draw/paint digitally. And I would have to learn how to draw all over again (not that I knew how to draw any sort of art in the first place). It was time to get help.

Attempting to draw with a Bamboo Wacom and Corel Painter 12 Part 2: Tutorials, books, and practicing