There comes a time for artists that we put down the traditional pencil and paper for a digital drawing tablet. This is happening more often especially as technology advances. I’m writing this post to make that transition as smooth as I can!
Switching from traditional art to digital art is a medium and tool change not a change of the art itself. You will need the appropriate PC or tablet, and software for your art. Then you need to re-learn the art fundamentals while adjusting to using a stylus and tablet or a mouse instead of a pencil and paper.
Digital art is not harder than traditional art, it is actually easier and you can actually convert your traditional art to digital. In this post, I’ll explain how to switch from traditional but also the benefits of why you should switch.
Switching from Traditional Art to Digital Art: A Guide
Traditional art is what we all start with as babies and young children.
Drawing, coloring, and finger painting are skills we spend a lot of our early years developing.
We notice we can’t get the same detail using our fingers compared to when we draw with pencils.
This is very similar to what happens once we decide to make the switch to digital. We need to understand that as it is a different tool we have to adjust the way we create art with it.
A stylus is just a pencil with a plastic nib instead of lead. Tablets and screens are just a plastic paper on glass.
A mouse is just a pointer so it is much more difficult to learn and adjust to. I will be creating a post specifically on how to use a mouse to create art and link it here.
For those of you that are experienced traditional artists you realize this difference between tools is an even bigger gap than a beginner or hobbyist might realize.
A calligraphers hand lettering or dip pen is completely different than a regular #2 pencil you might use to doodle in school.
Artists also spend time taking formal classes in schools and colleges or watching video tutorials on how to draw. This doesn’t include the hours and hours actually spent creating the art.
Good news is while digital art will need you to learn how to use tablets and a stylus, your traditional skill will carry over and show once you adjust.
What You Need:
- General Advice for Beginners:
The technology needed for digital art is both affordable and available online today.
I would pick multiple PCs, tablets, and programs you might use and research them. Make sure your hardware meets the recommended specs for the software you will be using.
Look up reviews or ask for recommendations by artists you follow, the more time you spend researching here the happier you will be with your purchase.
Hardware (PC & Tablets):
Digital art requires a PC with a mouse/tablet or just a standalone drawing tablet.
Decide what programs and the benchmarks you will need to run them to create your digital art.
Once you have that you can shop for a suitable PC or tablet.
During this phase, I encourage you to test out as many tablets as you’d like and can.
The best way to decide for the tablet itself is through experience as this is a tool and the PC really just powers it.
If you don’t like how one feels you can always return it, the minuscule hassle of returning more than makes up for finding that perfect tablet that eases the transition from traditional to digital for you the most.
I will advise you to stick to drawing tablets with screens to speed up and smoothen your transition to digital art. My post on drawing tablets with screens vs those without here will explain why.
Most tablets will have the pressure sensitivity you need. For most people pressure levels of 2048 are perfect for professional-level drawing.
Computer mice should be tested if they will be used as the primary tool for your art. If you are looking to create the best art the differences between mice will affect art.
Different weights, wired vs wireless, latency, all of these factors will affect your use of a mouse, especially when creating art.
Creating art with a mouse is a category of its own as I mentioned previously. I will have a post linked here detailing how to do it.
Look up tutorials by artists on how to use your specific tablets best for your type of art. This includes tablet shortcut keys setups, how to hold and use your stylus for your art.
Certain accessories can help further emulate your traditional art setup. If you are used to using an easel purchasing a stand for your tablet will help achieve similar angles to work at.
Software (Programs/Apps):
Programs are much more than just a piece of paper so make sure you take advantage of the ones you use to make your digital art.
Even if you only plan on using one of these apps, using a tablet may change your preferences for software. Just as you did with the tablets, try out as many different apps as you can. Try free programs and use trials for any paid versions or apps.
Research tutorials and walkthroughs that cover features and tools in the programs you can use in your art. These will speed up and improve your workflow creating art.
Drawing Tool:
Digital art allows you to use the same physical tool, a stylus or mouse, to get access to an infinite amount of pencils, brushes, sprays, etc.
Note that most digital art programs will refer to all of these as brushes for the sake of simplicity.
While the physical method of use for a stylus remains closest to a pencil you can produce the same exact strokes and output of watercolors, paintings, sprays.
Make sure you take advantage of this and research brushes that match your original traditional medium closest to help further ease your transition.
Once you’ve developed a familiarity with your program of choice depending on its capabilities and features you can even create your own brushes.
Photoshop, Illustrator, Krita, and GIMP all allow you to create custom brushes. Take advantage of this ability as it will really maximize the translation of your existing traditional skills over to digital.
Art Fundamentals:
Okay, you’ve got your hardware and software so now it’s back to basics.
You have to start here to visually see the difference drawing on a tablet individually makes for you.
Do iterative exercises covering all the basic skills: linework, shapes, shading, coloring, forms, etc. Study the exact changes occurring when you go through these exercises digitally and adjust for them.
How Do I Make My Traditional Art Digital?
While I’ve gone over how to transition to digital art from traditional, creating digital art using traditional art may be another path viable to some artists.
Instead of switching to digital art completely you can continue to create traditional art and make it digital afterward.
Are you finding learning digital art techniques too frustrating at the start?
Do you not have the time to learn how to create digital art from scratch because of deadlines?
This could be a great compromise to keep producing the same exact level of work with the added benefit of it being in a digital form.
Below I will provide a basic step by step process to convert your traditional drawings to digital art.
Use a clean white paper or canvas and black pencils, ink, or paint.
The goal here is to make your traditional art clear with the most contrast possible to make it digital.
This step is crucial as the more simple preparation you do at the start here will save you exponential amounts of time on more difficult work later on.
Bonus tip: If drawing with pencil, inking over your lines will also optimize the conversion to digital as ink is much darker than graphite.
Scan your traditional art.
Scan your art at 300 PPI and higher if possible. PPI stands for pixels per inch, so the higher this is the more pixels per inch making your scan as sharp as the original the higher it is.
Trace over in digital.
Using your program of choice trace over the scan of your traditional art.
This can be as simple as literally tracing over with your cursor or you can implement some techniques for efficiency.
Using vector programs like Illustrator and Inkscape you can fully automate this process for simpler drawings with clean lines that are spread out. This is done using Image Trace functions in the programs and works very well for this use case.
Complex drawings with a lot of lines or colors will need to be done manually but can be sped up through tools like shapes, selections, masks, and paint buckets.
Depending on how much you are willing to learn, this process can be sped up considerably. Here is a great in-depth guide from Shutterstock on the exact steps for this process in multiple programs.
Should You Switch to Digital Art?
YES! You should switch to digital art if your goal is to create more art. While there is nothing inherently wrong with traditional art (I draw in a sketchbook often) digital art for the purpose of creating art is simply better.
Benefits of Digital Art:
- Efficiency: Tools like shapes, selection, masks, color, lighting effects, layers save a ridiculous amount of time compared to traditional methods.
- No Permanent Mistakes: Iterative file saves and the undo button allow you to easily correct and backtrack your art.
- Versatility: the same tablet and stylus can be used for drawing, watercolors, painting, ink.
- Convenience & Affordability: No physical materials needed, everything is digital and unlimited.
This is just a short and simple list to illustrate some of the main benefits of digital art. I will be creating a more detailed post on these in the future and link it here.
Traditional art will always have a place in art.
The most famous artists to this day are almost all traditional.
For me, traditional art is something I could never give up. The break from a computer screen is something I relish more and more as I get older and spend more time working on computers.
Traditional art is definitely a more intuitive and simple way to introduce art to people. No programs or computers are needed, just a pencil and paper.
But for the purpose of making art in terms of efficiency and ease, digital beats traditional every time.
It requires virtually the same skills but offers so much more benefit.
