What digital changes and what it does not
Digital drawing replaces paper and pencil with a pen and a screen. Features paper lacks, such as undo, color swapping, zoom and layers, make it look much easier at first. Yet the principles are the same as on paper: seeing forms as simple solids, measuring proportions, and choosing a light direction to separate light and shadow. Having lots of features also means having lots of decisions to make. Rather than recommending particular products or programs, this guide covers the concepts and habits you need whatever hardware and software you use.
Types of hardware
To draw digitally you need a device that detects the pen's movement and how hard you press. There are three broad types, each with clear strengths and weaknesses. Whichever you choose, first check that it supports pressure sensitivity, which varies line width or darkness with pressure. Without it, adding the light and heavy touches of a pencil is difficult.
- Pen tablet: you draw on a screenless pad while watching a monitor. Relatively cheap, but hand and eye work apart, so it takes time to adjust
- Pen display: you draw directly on the screen. It feels closer to paper but connects to a computer and tends to cost more
- Tablet with pen support: a single portable device. Check the screen size and storage
- Check for all types: pressure levels, how the pen is charged, and palm rejection
Canvas size and resolution
A digital picture is a grid of tiny dots called pixels, so enlarging it beyond the canvas size you started with makes it blurry. That is why it matters to decide the purpose first and start with generous dimensions. For artwork that will be printed, people commonly set up the canvas at the print size using 300 dots per inch, or 300 dpi. For pictures that will only appear on screen, the pixel width and height matter more than dpi. It also helps to know about color spaces. Screens make color with light in RGB, while printing uses CMYK inks, so a color that looks vivid on screen can print duller. If you plan to print, check your printer's guidance.
Splitting into layers
Layers are like a stack of transparent sheets. Each can be edited or hidden separately, so a sensible split makes changes far easier. A simple arrangement like the one below is enough to start with.
- Sketch: lower its opacity and use it only as a guide
- Line art: make a new layer above the sketch and draw clean lines
- Flat color: lay in broad areas of color beneath the line art
- Shading: add shadows and highlights separately above the flat color
- Name each layer so you can find it later
Brushes and stabilisation
Programs come with dozens or hundreds of brushes, but at first a pencil-like brush, a broad fill brush, a soft blending brush and an eraser are enough. Switching brushes constantly changes your results every time, making it hard to tell what has improved. Most programs include a stabiliser that smooths out hand tremor. It helps with long clean lines, but set too high it makes the line lag behind your hand and feel sluggish. Start low and raise it gradually, and keep doing line practice without stabilisation too.
Saving and managing files
Digital work can vanish in an instant. Save often while working, and always keep a separate original in the program's own format with the layers intact. To show others or post online, export to a common image format such as PNG or JPEG. PNG loses no quality and supports transparent backgrounds; JPEG makes smaller files but loses a little quality to compression. Exported files have their layers merged and are hard to edit, so take care not to overwrite the original. For important pieces, keeping a backup somewhere other than the device gives peace of mind.
Common mistakes and looking after yourself
Digital work means staring at a screen and holding a pen in the same position for long periods, which strains the eyes, wrists and neck. Every twenty to thirty minutes, look away from the screen into the distance, and once an hour stand up and loosen your wrists and shoulders. If wrist pain or numbness persists, take a break and see a doctor.
- Drawing only while zoomed in: zoom out to the full view often to check balance
- Leaning on undo to redraw the same line dozens of times: decide within a few tries and move on
- Missing distortions in the form: flip the canvas horizontally and they jump out
- Putting everything on one layer: at least separate sketch, line art and color
- Starting small and enlarging later: create a canvas big enough for the purpose from the start
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