New to painting, but also to tablets.

[Sgt Scruffian]

Hey everybody.

So I've been drawing since I was a little kid and I have always wanted to improve my skills past sketching and into the realm of actual composition. After scoring a fine paying job I splurged and picked up an Intuos 4 to play with. I've been practicing the physical part of it (getting used to the borders of the tablet as well as the feel and proper use of the pen), but what about the other specs?

What image resolution do most artists work in when painting? What are some good brush setting to use to imitate water colors? Paint? Pencil? Do most people sketch a layer and then paint a layer?

What are the basics for transitioning from drawing in a sketchbook to painting on a computer, as far as the technical aspects are concerned?

Thanks in advance.

[ikken]

> What image resolution do most artists work in when painting? What are some good brush setting to use to imitate water colors? Paint? Pencil? Do most people sketch a layer and then paint a layer?

it depends on your habits, on your project specs, on a lot of stuff; start relatively low (1200*800, for example), this will help you not to get lost in composition; when you'll feel a strong need for painting very fine details, upscale it to, say, 3000 pixels wide;

> What image resolution do most artists work in when painting? What are some good brush setting to use to imitate water colors? Paint? Pencil? Do most people sketch a layer and then paint a layer?

what program do you use? search this forum for photoshop tutorials, get some massive black tutorials - they cover a complete illustration and expose a variety of approaches;
painter is a little bit more straightforward in that sense (you have a set of tools that are called pens, oils, etc-etc), but some people just don't get used to its corners;
don't forget to keep your traditional art skills in shape - digital art is all fake compared to real tools, that have actual physical qualities like wetness, thickness, etc.
when you'll have an idea of how a certain medium works, you'll know how to recreate it digitally.

[Sgt Scruffian]

I'm currently using Photoshop CS3, so I will indeed check some PS tutorials. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction and I will give that 1200x800 a shot. I notice when using the larger resolutions my lines seem too small and I often have to work very zoomed in, which doesn't feel right.

It's like trying to draw with your eyes pressed to the paper :P