Tried painting with a mouse instead of a tablet for a week

Broke my Wacom pen last Tuesday and didn't want to wait for shipping. Figured I'd just use my mouse for a few days. Five hours into a portrait and my wrist was killing me. The line art looked like a toddler drew it, all jagged and shaky. I learned digital art tools aren't optional luxuries, they're basic necessities for getting clean results. Has anyone else here had to make do with bad hardware and how did you cope?

3 comments

3 Comments

emery_black9d ago

My buddy James did a whole 8 month webcomic series using only a trackpad on a 2012 MacBook Air. The lines looked like he was drawing while riding a bumpy bus but people actually liked the rough style. He said it gave the comic a "raw" feel. Your wrist pain is real though, I get that. But maybe the shaky lines added some personality you didn't notice because you were too close to it. A mouse makes you slow down and think about every stroke instead of just scribbling like a maniac. Some of the best art I've seen came from people with the worst tools.

ninas679d ago

Haven't we all got that one friend who makes art sing with a stick in the mud? I swear, half the charm in some stuff comes from fighting the tool. That bus-bumpy line thing, it makes characters feel alive, like they might just walk off the page. Too much clean vector art makes my eyes glaze over honestly. Your buddy James probably has a pile of sketches that look better than anything I could do with a fancy tablet.

olivia3987d ago

@emery_black nailed it with that trackpad line thing. I've seen guys on old forum threads do entire manga chapters with a $20 mouse and MS Paint. The trick is keeping your strokes short and committing to each one no matter how it comes out. That hesitation you get with a tablet disappears when you know you can't easily undo. If the bus-bumpy look fits your style, lean into it hard and make it a signature.