Draw in Photoshop Using A Tablet
In this Photoshop tutorial, you’ll learn how to set up Photoshop so that it can use the tablets input, create an outline from a photo, color and shade all using the tablet. The tutorial includes a time lapse of the process I took to creating the final product.
A graphic tablet allows you to take Adobe Photoshop to a new level. You can take advantage of the brush tool and it’s powerful ability to imitate different traditional mediums of art and human input. For this tutorial, I’ll be using a Wacom Bamboo tablet. It’s Wacom’s (Wacom is the industry standard supplier) most inexpensive tablet ($79), but still does a good job. Tablets can range from the Bamboo which has only pressure sensitivity, to monitor tablets with pressure & tilt sensitivity. The monitor tablets are relatively expensive investments though. If you’ve never used a tablet before, it will take some time getting acquainted. One thing that would throw me off was that when I draw, I like to rotate the paper to draw straighter, but that doesn’t fly on a tablet because the cursor becomes disoriented on a non-monitor tablet.
Start Large, then downscale. The most important thing to know BEFORE you start, is to start BIG. Working on a large document will allow you to zoom better but more importantly downscale all the minor imperfections you would see at a larger size. Start at least twice (four times is optimal) the size of what you expect to be the final image size.
Step 1: Outline
For this tutorial, I’ll draw Kobe Bryant from an image. One great thing is you can draw an outline right on top of the image. Create your document (remember 2x or 4x it’s intended size) and import any reference images making sure you resize the image to take up the appropriate space in the photoshop document.
Setting Up the Brush with Tablet
The first thing you’ll want to do is create a new layer for the outline. To set up the brush controls, take a hard round brush (the size depends on the size of the document). To enable the tablets input, we need to access the Brush palette ( Menu Bar >> Window >> Brushes ). First set the spacing to 1% under the “Brush Tip Shape” option. Next enable the “Shape Dynamics” and set the Size Jitter control to Pen Pressure & the Roundness Jitter control to Pen Tilt. Since my tablet doesn’t have tilt support, you see a caution sign next to the tilt control. The tilt isn’t necessary, and you may even want to remove it even if you have the ability.
The brush settings
Tracing Tips: Now that you’ve set up the brush, you can trace out the photo. If you pay close attention to the video, during the tracing stage, I traced the outline two different ways. The first way which you see in the beginning, I made the outline of thick solid lines. Later on, I switched up and made the brush size smaller and created more swift short strokes to get a smoother and accurate line. I then took the eraser and cleaned up the up the line. The reason I switch to a more sketching type approach was because the lines I was creating with on solid line was not coming out as I intended. (Thats why you see me undo a lot in the beginning.) Lock this layer so that you don’t alter it in later steps.
Step 2: Coloring
Once you’ve completely traced the image, create a new layer for each color you intend to use. Put these layers below the outline layer, and fill in the drawing. Naming each layer is a good idea so that your organized. I use only a few colors because I’ll add depth in the next step. Keep within the lines!
Color the outline on different layers.
Step 3: Shadow & Highlight
Again, create a new layer above both the outline and the color layers. For this step, we’ll be dealing with soft brushes with low opacity, because you want to avoid sharp lines in the shadow. Generally, when I add depth the opacity of the brush is 3-5% and no greater than 12%, . To add a shadow, use a black brush and a white brush for highlights. The photo was a great reference to know where the shadows and highlights where. Keep in mind that you can always undo, and just mess around and see what you come up with. The time drawing I made in the time lapse took 5 and a half hours to create start to finish.
The shadows and highlights.
Adding depth to the face
The face of the subject is trickiest part of this tutorial. If you look at a face, there are a lot of bumps & curves and thus a lot of subtle places to shade. For the eyes, there is a shadow cast under the eyebrows, and light on the top of the eyelid, then shadow on the lower eyelid followed by light cast on the cheek. There is light shining on the forehead, the nose, the top of the lip under the nose and the top of the chin.
Places to shadow and highlight on the face
Conclusion
There you have it. All you have to do now is tie up and lose ends and downscale your drawing. When you downscale, you’ll suddenly know why I told you to start big.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Fantastic! I never knew all those little tips and tricks, especially when it came to the subtleties of the face. It’s nice to see some fresh content :) I’m gunna go and whack out that ol’ tablet…
Slip
May 21st, 2008 at 10:47 pm
I don’t know why, but I was under the impression that prices for tablets started from a lot more. But $79 ain’t that much at all. Now I need to figure enough reasons to buy one. Do you think it would be of help if I have no (traditional) drawing skills whatsoever? If I convince myself that it could increase my Photoshop productivity in any way, I think it would be enough of an excuse to order one :)
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Nice Tutorial . Nice Digital painting !
May 24th, 2008 at 2:25 am
Yea, tablets are pretty cheap. Buying a tablet really depends on what you use Photoshop for. If you want to do drawing or painting with it, then its a valuable asset. If you’re doing image manipulation, it is still a big help for using the brush, eraser, dodge and burn tools. You can get by without one though. It’s a hard call, I must admit.
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Hi
Nice tutorial but I’m still having a problem with out outlines. I’m using Photoshop CS2 and I have a Trust TB-3100 tablet. The problem is basically the outlines are coming out scruffy and very inaccurate, as if I was freehand with a mouse. Your outlines look very smooth and around the outline of the figure where as mine are all over the place.
Little help?
Anth
August 1st, 2008 at 7:48 pm
@Anth: The reason that your lines seem scruffy and inaccurate is because of the tablet. The TB-3100 is one of the worst graphics tablets you can get from what I have read and from my own experience. I have yet to find a fix for it.
August 29th, 2008 at 12:52 am
i just bought the bamboo no more than 1 hour ago, just surfin around to get some tips on using it.
thanks
skot.
September 24th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Darn, I can’t wait for my tablet to arrive!!!
It’s a Trust Slimline Design Tablet TB-6300
Do you have anything to say about it?
November 25th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
very nice…..
December 3rd, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Thank you for sharing. i’m new at this and u have no idea how much you have taught me already! i’m book marking this page!
December 9th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I’d get a Wacom, if anyone is thinking of getting one. I’ve had a few different kinds, and I can tell you Wacoms are BY FAR the best I’ve ever used. Trusts are one of the worst brands you can get. It’s like Wal-Mart clearance aisle brand. Compared to the Wacom, they’re awful. Yes, Wacoms are expensive, but they’re completely worth it in the long run. You can literally see the difference in your art creations.
December 17th, 2008 at 4:09 am
can someone help me create a larger photo art in grey scale for a t-shirt design i am working on please email me if u can help @dougmill21@sbcglobal.net
January 29th, 2009 at 11:31 pm
That’s amazing – I had no idea where to begin with my new tablet but I’m all fired up to have a go at this! Many thanks!
March 3rd, 2009 at 11:40 am
Good Tutorial. I was planning on buying a tablet myself and was just thinking of how it actually works.
July 30th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
I want to buy a large number of tablets for my computer art classroom and money is an issue. I can’t decide on the size- are the small Wacons easy to use for drawing or is the interface too small? Also the new Fun tablets come with a mouse and software. I already have the software and the pad seems too small for a mouse. Are there any other differences between the original Wacom Bamboo and the Wacom Fun Bamboo besides the unneeded software, mouse and higher price?
August 21st, 2009 at 8:34 am
Shelly, I think you should buy bigger tablets, because it`s better. :)
August 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
i just bought a wacom intuos4 and its a small size… im having a hard time drawing here cause if the small plate… any tips? its my first time to draw using a tablet and its frustrating cause you think ( you are good enough but when you use it it makes you look like a total newbie) lol im embarrassed to admit it. i thought using this is just like using an ordinary pen. also the problem that i notice is that im used to lookin at my hand where i draw. DX… and now im facing the monitor while my hand cant be seen. lol… seriously its frustrating… i need tips please on how to use this thing properly
August 25th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
I don’t see you you’d make a tutorial with a crap result.
This is a lesson on tracing poorly.
Either make a tutorial on hints when copying; such as holding your result up to a mirror to help highlight errors that you don’t normally see; using a removable grid to copy piece by piece.
OR
Make a tutorial on colouring techniques and hints, which you evidently don’t understand anyway.
This helps people make artwork such as your examples, which frankly, are embarassing. People need to aspire to be more, not mediocre.
September 29th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
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October 18th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
i got photoshop cs3 version 10.0 and ive been thinking about making my mom, or saving up for a tablet. since im only 11 ¬_¬ but i was just wondering how it works, thanx nice tutorial.
~ mikki
December 1st, 2009 at 6:13 pm
This is a great help. I am curious though because
bamboo touch and pen and now bamboo fun are out.
Which one should I get?
January 18th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
THANKS A LOT !!!!!!!