I Tried to Follow a Cool "How to Color Eye" Tutorial

 YouTube Tutorials are Amazing!

I found so many great artists online. One, a super talented gal who goes by the name "Loves2DrawManga," has many great tutorials using Clip Studio Paint, and one caught my eye (sorry, "eye" couldn't resist). 

My first digitally colored eye, following a cool tutorial by Love2DrawManga on Youtube

This was a coloring tutorial, and I was drawn to it because I really love the artist's work, and this particular tutorial seemed simple and I thought I could remember the steps. 

I was wrong, and had to watch the tutorial on my phone and pause and rewind a bazillion times. The joys of getting old. What on earth made me think I should get into art at the age of 57, lol? 

 I need my computer to run my digital art software, and it's too annoying to go between the art program and Youtube, so I had to use my phone...which strained my eyes, even with my reading glasses on.   

However it was worth it.  This gal makes amazing tutorials and I learned a lot.  This was a coloring tutorial, so I need to see if she has a sketching tutorial, because my sketches are sketchy, lol.  

I'm still happy with how this turned out, and if you want to try it, you can find the tutorial here: How to Color a Manga Eye Digitally for Beginners

Goodbye Huion, Hello WACOM Intuos

Wacom Intuos Small Bluetooth Graphics Tablet

Goodbye, Huion, hello WACOM!

So, I was upset about my beautiful fancy big drawing display tablet arriving and then failing to turn on or power up or do anything at all.  The support people weren't very helpful, and really really didn't want me to return it. 

I'm still in the process of returning it, but in the meantime, I had signed up for an online art class that requires the use of a graphics tablet (or the more fancy display tablet that I wanted).

I haven't been reimbursed yet so didn't have a lot of money to spend, but did some research on inexpensive but RELIABLE graphics tablet companies, and everyone pointed me toward WACOM.

Wacom Rules (Or so "they" say)

There are tons of reviews saying that every tablet is wonderful, including my Huion that arrived broken, but I soon learned that most of the glowing reviews on YouTube were the result of artists being given the products for FREE and then asked to give a review in return.  

People who outright purchased Wacom with their own hard earned cash loved the thing, so I found one on sale at my local best buy and bought it for under $100 Canadian, on the last day of the Cyber Monday sale. 

My new WACOM Intuos Small Bluetooth graphics tablet

I don't know if you can tell, but the box...and the tablet...are MUCH smaller than the Huion Kamvas.

That's because, in order to buy a comparable size in the WACOM, I'd be out $883.41, according to today's prices on amazon.ca (I'm Canadian, so that's in Canadian dollars).

I can't justify that as I'm not an artist and have no idea what I'm doing.  I was so excited about the Huion because it was a DISPLAY tablet, which means it acted like a second monitor for your computer, except one that could be drawn on with a special pen.

The one I bought is called a drawing tablet, or a graphics tablet.  The word tablet is confusing because nowadays we think of tablets as mini computers, with a display, etc.  In this case, tablet refers to the old fashioned meaning, back when kids had tablets that were in fact little blackboards.  These tablets are just dark black slabs that have to be connected to the computer.  When you draw on the tablet, it appears on the computer.  Essentially, they are like a fancy trackpad with a pen.  You use the pen on the tablet to manipulate the cursor on your computer.  It takes some getting used to, but is easier than I thought it would be.

Wacom Intuos S Bluetooth Graphics Tablet

Out of the box, it comes with a tablet (mine is the small size, 7.9" by 6.3", and the drawing surface is just a bit smaller than that.  The dotted area in the photo below is the drawing area.  The little buttons across the top can be set to do things (I have no idea what yet, lol), and the little WACOM tag is the pen holder.

Bonus Software, like an early Christmas gift!!!

The photo above is not my photo; it's the one they use to sell the tablet but I wanted to show you the thing that made me so thrilled to get this thing.  BONUS SOFTARE.

The whole experience with this tablet was just so much nicer than the Huion experience. With Huion I downloaded the driver and had to figure things out myself. 

With Wacom, I went to their website and signed in and they welcomed me and walked me through everything.  How to download the drivers, how to set up the tablet, and they gave me a library to keep my art software with links to download the free software.  

Free Software

The software was totally free, no hidden costs.  

1. Corel Painter Essentials sells for $49.00.  I was thinking of buying it last week, in anticipation of my Huion and I'm so glad I didn't as I now have it free courtesy of Wacom.  I'm just starting to learn how to use it, but it looks very cool.

2. Corel Aftershot 3.  This is photo editing software sells for $59.99.  I've taken a quick look and it looks like fun. I do enjoy photo editing.  They're having a sale where I can upgrade to the pro version for 19.99 but I'm going to stick to standard for now.

3. Clip Studio Paint Pro: This comic and manga style art software sells for $59.99.  I got a free 2 year subscription to it, which is very cool.

So, I went from feeling almost broken hearted about the beautiful big but broken Huion to feeling happy about the tiny but mighty Wacom.

I sat down this morning with a cup of tea to work with my new tablet, to watch videos and lean and try to follow along and the next thing I knew it was after 5 and I hadn't noticed the time flying by.  I was hungry and really needed to run to the ladies room, but that's probably tmi, lol.

So, as long as Ebay follows up on their promise to get my money back, my tablet buying saga will have a happy ending :-).  And if I get good enough to justify it, maybe in a few years I'll upgrade to the Wacom Drawing Display tablet, which is called the Wacom Cintiq.  But for now I'm happy with my small Intuos.

It's Here! My New Huion Kamvas Art Tablet Arrived!

OMG I'm So Excited!

My new Huion Kamvas GT 156 HD Drawing Tablet arrived today!

I kept checking the shipping tracking number and this morning it said it had arrived in my hometown and was getting processed, so I figured I'd get it late today or tomorrow. But I went down to make my morning coffee and it was ALREADY here!  I am so excited!  I can't stop smiling.

This is what greeted me when I went downstairs.  My family members had accepted the parcel and not told me, thinking I was sleeping, lol.

Package waiting for me this morning 

Woohoo!  I was so happy to see this.  I was super tired because I've been sick with bronchitis and was up until 4:30 AM, unable to sleep.  So I took the time to make my coffee (decaf, but it still helps; probably works like a placebo, lol). 

Then I brought the package and my coffee upstairs and opened it and found another box inside the first box.  A very nice box though, lol.

Huion Kamvas GT 15.6 HD DrawingTablet

I was so excited my heart was racing.  I haven't anticipated anything like this for a long time, lol.

I opened the box and found this:

And this: 

Unboxing the Huion Kamvas GT 15.6 HD Drawing Tablet

Sooooo happy.  It came with the tablet, all of the various wires and multiple plug in adapters for various countries, a driver disc, instructions on how to download the driver if you don't have a disc drive on your computer (does anyone still have those?), a warrantee card, a very sturdy stand that can be angled in different ways for ease of drawing, and a little case with a pen and extra nibs. 

They even threw in an extra gift pen!  

I'm super excited and can't wait to set everything up and try it.  I'm not an artist and have no idea what I'm doing, lol, so this should be fun :-). 

New Art Tablet on the Way!

I've always been an arty/crafty person, but I'm not an artist.  I love art, and I've dabbled here and there, but never took classes or anything (beyond a 6 week intro to watercolors, about 20 years ago, lol).

I've been wanting to give digital art a try, but the price was out of my reach.  Until 2 days ago, when I saw a drawing tablet on sale on ebay at a drastically reduced price because it's used.  It's called a Huion Kamvas GT 156 HD Drawing Tablet Monitor, which is a mouthful, lol.  It has a 15.6 inch work area, and the overall unit is 16 inches, so nice and big for my poor eyes, lol.
Here's a photo from the seller:

So, I'm super excited, but because the company is Chinese, I figured I'd have to wait a month or more for it to arrive. Then yesterday the sent a notice saying it had been shipped and I discovered they were shipping it from Quebec.  I kept clicking on the link like a maniac yesterday to see where it was, and it had made it to Montreal Quebec before I went to bed last night.

Then this morning I clicked on it and it had made it to Sudbury, ON.  Woohoo; that's only a 4 hour drive from here!  Of course, they'll have to sort it in Sudbury and put it on a truck to the Sault, the small northern Ontario community where I live, but it should be here tomorrow.

I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning, lol.  I hope it will work ok, since it's not new.  The seller is actually the company that makes the unit, so it's probably a return.  The seller said it's 90% new, works well, and just has a few scratches and the box has been opened.  I hope the scratches are not on the screen, and are just on the outer portion. I only paid 234 Canadian and these sell for more than double that brand new, which is not something I could justify paying since I'm not an artist.

I'm so excited, lol. Off to watch more YouTube videos on how to use the free art software programs I downloaded.