Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating!

hey, so, I had an art related question... if all of this is too much, feel free to ignore it.

the backstory is that I've had the same laptop since early high school but recently I had a birthday (I'm 28 now). my parents got me an HP laptop, and my friend got me a tablet, which she bought off of an online friend for $30. the problem is that I haven't had new technology like... ever? none that was actually mine anyway, and certainly nothing that could handle me using it for art.

and this is especially a problem when it comes to the tablet. my friend helped me get firealpaca onto the laptop, and get the tablet set up with the right drivers, aaaaand... I cannot make one line that looks good using it. I've been using pen and paper for so long and I have a really light touch, and it feels like I have to jam the pen down to get it to register, at which point I might as well have not set the pen sensitivity to anything at all because the thickest line is the only kind I can make?? any lighter and it won't show up on the screen at all. like I can ctrl+z and it doesn't even go back a step, the line didn't get drawn. there's like a 20% chance that any line I try to put down won't actually register. and tbh this isn't really what I had wanted... it's a huion tablet, which is the brand I wanted, but I was gonna buy myself one where you can see what you're drawing on the screen of the tablet itself. not just due to coordination issues, I think I could get used to that part, but because I feel like I wouldn't be having this specific problem with getting things to register. every single line I make looks like crap with this tablet, it makes me feel like I might as well be drawing with my feet, and I've been fidgeting with settings, and it doesn't seem like anything helps. I also still don't have a mouse for the laptop yet, so I can't click and drag anything very well because it has a trackpad, so messing with sliders is already aggravating.

I feel so lost and overwhelmed, and like if I buy anything else, I'm just going to end up with more unusable stuff because *I'm* probably the problem. I just don't know anything, and trying is mentally fatiguing me so quickly... my brain knows what I want my art to look like, and my hands can do it with a real pen. I just have absolutely no clue how to make this machine produce anything.

so I guess my questions are stuff like, what equipment do you use? are there tablets that will register a light touch or am I really going to have to be this heavy handed in order to work with one? what resolution/canvas size do you usually work on? any recommendations for what program to use?

overall, I'd really like to get myself something that feels more intuitive than the tablet... honestly, I was finding some success drawing with just my finger on the touch screen of my phone at one point. there were still a lot of problems with that, but the nail in the coffin was that my phone's memory space filled up and I had to get rid of the drawing app to make it functional again (it's an iphone, which is why). maybe I should just get an ipad or something...? though, one more thing on the mountain of potential options is the last thing my crumbling ADHD brain needs. I've been taking a break from art in general because I've still maintained my 40-hours-a-week work schedule through the whole pandemic... I do 10 hour shifts and work overnight, so I technically have free time since I only work 4 days a week, but the type of work I do leaves me with no energy at all. so I've been in an art slump and I've been wanting to get out of it, but this is just making art feel impossible, even though the whole reason why I've always wished I could draw digitally is so that I can color digitally. I had been drawing things in pen and scanning them to color in photoshop, but cleanup takes so long that I literally can't produce finished work anymore. I'm out of options that aren't prohibitively labor intensive and frustrating.

this was probably way too much information, but if you have any advice I'd be really grateful.

Huh, well first off HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUDE!! Congrats on the sweet new tech (even if it's been a bit frustrating) and well-deserved celebration!

From the sounds of it I think the main issue is probably your tablet (this is pure speculation on my end though, so you know, grain of salt and all). You're right in that you shouldn't have to fight against your equipment. I have a really light touch too and I've never had the same issue. I personally don't have any experience with huion tablets, but if you're having trouble getting your lines to register then it might have been worn down by the previous user. It's not so much about buying a monitor (the screen one) vs. tablet so much as getting working equipment.

An iPad is a great alternative!! I've played around with the apple pencil and procreate and it's a super intuitive program with (obviously) super easy set up! You get the drawing on the screen AND really nice pen pressure. I'm really happy seeing it opening up new doors for more people to get into digital art!

In terms of your current laptop/tablet situation:

My set up rn is pretty pricey ngl; I have a PC desktop computer with a 16 inch Wacom Cintiq. Getting started in digital art doesn't mean you have to drop a bag on a ton of equipment right from the get go though! If you're looking for a safe small investment, I'd recommend getting a Wacom Bamboo pen tablet!

This lil' baby right here is what I started with!! I think cost-wise it floats around 70ish bucks, but that's exponentially more affordable than buying a huge monitor. One of my friends who's also a pro artist uses a similar small tablet because it works great! That's an alternative that might be worth looking into.

You can also get free trials on other drawing programs (clip studio paint is a great one!) To test and see if it's a software issue with firealpaca.

You could also try checking online forums to see if anyone else is running into similar issues, or watch some YouTube videos of people reviewing different tablets. I know this might be even more overwhelming, so I'd try and narrow the scope to focus on one thing at a time.

My best advice right now would actually be to get a mouse, or any other accessories you need. I've also been in your shoes where I was completely overwhelmed, and I can say that checking off all the small easy things makes a HUGE difference! It makes you feel more in control of the situation, and even if you're still having trouble with digital art you can at least get more comfortable using your laptop in the mean time.

You got this dude!! I believe in you!!

EDIT:

Thanks @wooliebirds!

talkin abt school stuff, yet again

so i technically really didn’t have to go anywhere today because my only class on tuesdays is the painting one but since i already went to the monday session i didn’t have to show up for the same introductory first day stuff a second time right

so i could’ve just stayed inside of my lovely air-conditioned abode and avoided the 110 degree heat but since i love 2 die i decided to check out the computer art class instead, even tho it was supposed to be my last resort in case i didn’t get into the other classes (which i did, so there really was no need) 

i hadn’t actually registered for the painting class yet because i was waiting for my teacher to get back to me with a new add code so i was just like ok......... im just gonna check out the computer class and if i like it i’ll take that one instead of painting because like

my main issues with the painting class are that it starts so early and that im not all that into painting anyway, right, and the computer class seemed like it might be the perfect solution because 1. it starts at 11:30 and 2. it focuses on digital art programs, which are directly relevant to my interests

but..... i dont think i’ll be taking it..,,.,,..... ahhh

because ok so basically the computer art class is about teaching u how to use adobe illustrator and photoshop, and like yeah those are two very useful programs to know, especially as a digital artist, but like. idk, we started today by messing around with illustrator and the teacher didn’t really.... explain things enough? like he showed us the pen tool and some selection and transform shit, super basic things, but he didn’t really give us a proper tour of the program, it felt more like “here are some things you can make, you can do this and this and this” but he wasn’t very thorough and went kind of fast and mostly was just silently messing around while the rest of us kind of just ended up doing our own thing

and the way he put it was that rather than guide us through the program he wanted to just throw us into the deep end right off the bat and help anyone who seemed to be floundering and boy did i flounder today

i mean overall the way he teaches is probably fine and i’d probably get the hang of it eventually, like today was the very first time i’d ever used illustrator so of course i was gonna struggle, but. it seems like it’ll be more struggle than it’s worth??? like okay, here’s the thing

first of all, when am i ever gonna use illustrator or photoshop outside of this class. i mean, probably if i end up going to art school i will, but that’s not even a definite thing at this point. right now the main art program that i use (or am at least learning) is clip studio paint; adobe programs cost money that i don’t want or need to spend, and honestly, when it comes down to it, if i ever need to learn those programs for any reason i could just look up fuckin youtube tutorials and get all the same knowledge for free and with a more straightforward teaching method

like, this class might be convenient, and i even talked to the teacher at the end about my situation with digital art and what i was hoping to gain from this class, and i mentioned that i usually use a tablet to draw and he was like “yeah we have tablets in here that we rent out to students, we even have cintiqs” like, it would be cool to try out a cintiq right

but then he showed me examples from previous classes of the types of assignments we’d be doing, and just...... they looked incredibly fucking boring ok they didn’t look challenging at all, i feel like the most challenging aspect of the class would be wrestling the program to get it to do what i want, and that doesn’t.... appeal to me at all....... like i think this class would eventually teach me a lot about illustrator and photoshop but i’d be bored to death the whole time and frustrated constantly (and besides i pretty much already know a ton about photoshop anyway?? i mean my version is so basic and watered down but i get the gist of it)

so yeah i think i’m just not gonna even bother with this class, though i feel kind of bad because i got an add code from the teacher and everything,;,,,. i told him i needed time to think it over & decide whether i’d be taking his class or painting but at that point i’d almost pretty much settled on painting,,, i shouldn’t feel bad tho bc im literally just this random student he’ll forget abt in like 2 seconds but i still feel guilty like i Lied by being there or smth

anyway the computer class was a nice fantasy with its connection to digital art and lovely late-morning start time but i guess now it’s time to face reality, break out the art store coupons & set my tuesday-thursday alarm for 6:50 am with the caption “rise and fuckin shine, BITCH” for the next three and a half months oh boy