[maggie2]

whenever i draw a line i tend to use small strokes and go over the same line a lot which makes my work really messy.

But when i try to do it in one stroke the lines are usually shaky and generally look poor.

Any advice on the matter is greatly appreciated!!

[balistic]

Make your strokes more quickly. Try to draw a curve in one quick, fluid motion, using your whole arm if possible. If the line doesn't come out right, hit "undo" and try again.

Lines only get shaky when you draw them slowly. Draw them fast, and they'll be smooth. It takes practice, but it's an important skill to have.
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brian.prince|light.comp.paint

[maggie2]

does the way in which the pen/stylus is held plays a factor?

[seth1]

maggie: If you cant make a nice stroke with a pencil you wont be able to with a tablet! It's the same concept..

[Ranath]

http://www.chiseledrocks.com/articles/grips/section0.htm

there's a good article of how to hold pencil. With pen and stylus you should go by pen grip.


What I've learned though, you should never do lines with your wrist. Keep your wrist locked while making lines, use elbow as pivot point.

[maggie2]

Okay thank you everyone, very helpful

[Japong]

Thanks for that link! I've been trying to find a page on pencil grips for the longest time!

[screenfx]

I use the pen for tightly curving lines, but for long straight lines or long arcing lines i do this:

Turn off all pressure sensitivity options in the brush, then using a regular mouse click on a starting point. Now hold down the shift key and click from point to point. The closer the points are together the smoother your curves will become. When you need to start on a new point let go of the shift key and begin a new point. If you are working on areas with tight curves switch to the pen because its faster.

Good Luck,
Bill

my digital art gallery
http://www.billcallis.com
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http://www.billcallis.com

[jfrancis]

You can use the pen tool in PS to plan a curve, and then make Photoshop stroke that curve with a brush of your choosing.

If you do it on a separate layer, you can play around with lock transparency to modify the color of the stroke itself without changing its edge.

With transparency UNlocked, you can try modify the stroke edge using the painting blend modes "behind" and "clear"

"Behind" paints behind the stroke, but on the same layer as the stroke.

"Clear" seems to be equal to using the eraser tool.

...these are not layer blend modes, they're paint blend modes. Look for them where the brush tool conreols are (PS 7 and later)

[rv_el]

Feng Zhu goes over some of this stuff in his (i think) design 3 dvd. He talks about ghosting the line before you draw it. Draw 2 points, then across it really quick a few times just above the paper (and i'm sure you could try this on a tablet) and then do it.

Personaly, i've found that i can nail the points really good but the damn line is ALWAYS curved just a bit .

On a tablet i'm usually REALY bad at line work and i should get into using the pen tool more often, especially for more mechanical means.

I do a lot shift clicking myself

[Mikko K]

Pretty much agree with what's been said before. I would suggest not to think too much about how to hold the pen. Just do it how it feels like and you can't go wrong.

One good thing in PS is that you can make the line straight by using shift, even holding down shift will do. Just do a horizontal or vertical line. You can then use transform--> distort to make the line go in correct angle. This is useful for finished high-res works that may have to be accurate.

[screenfx]

Look ahead of your cursor, not at it. Your eye should be a fraction of a second ahead of what your drawing. Remember when you first learned to drive you looked right in front of the car, and as a result you over compensated, swirving left and right? The same concept applies here. If you draw slowly and tightly keeping your eye on the cursor you will over compensate.

Curves come out smoother if drawn quickly. Practice drawing curves and straight lines over and over the same way you learned to draw in the beginning. It's good excersise and loosens you up.

Good Luck
Bill
my digital art gallery
http://www.billcallis.com
_________________
http://www.billcallis.com