I feel like I haven't posted in here forever!
Zozobra said:
I'm now doing pretty much all of my work directly in PS and after poking around on the Wacom site, I'm wondering if I should upgrade from my Bamboo Fun to an Intuos4 tablet.
I don't know, though. The descriptions make the Bamboo seem like more of a casual tablet for stuff like photo editing, not so much for digital artwork. Contrast that with the Intuos4 details which make it sound like a much more precise tool, better suiting for drawing/painting. I plan to do quite a bit of digital stuff in the future, is anyone able to provide some insight as to whether it's worth making the switch? At this point I'm just a hobbyist, but it's turning into a pretty serious hobby.
Zozobra, I guess it depends on what size of Bamboo tablet you have? I think the Bamboo works pretty well for most purposes, especially if it's the medium or larger sized tablets (it should be on par with the discontinued Wacom Graphire line from what I know--I used it for a long while to make decent stuff, and so have a lot of other artists).
I switched from a small Graphire 2 4"x5" or something like that to an Intous 3 6"x8", and that made a HUGE difference in comfort while colouring on the computer. The Intuos line also has a really nice feel, and if you want to get into getting more painterly effects, its sensitivity and detection of tilt/angles are much better for that. The Intuos 4 tablet also has that cool rotation wheel to rotate the canvas in programs, and other convenience bells and whistles (e.g. programmable buttons, touch strips). It's just really pricey!
I'd say, just like any other hobby or passion, it depends on how much you want to invest into it. Your Bamboo will serve you well for a long time, but the Intuos is definitely the better tablet, although you may never use all of its features (I know I still don't!). For me, it was worth it because I was seriously getting hand cramps from colouring so much on a small tablet, and I want to get more seriously into digital colouring anyway.
Anyway, I've been pretty busy with school, so I haven't really drawn much that is of amazing quality, but I have made many doodles, so here are the "gooder" doodles that i later added some fast colour to (which by the way, were mostly made while on the bus traveling to school and such!):
More concrete character designs for a project I'm working on with my cousin. We're going to try to do a collaborative web-comic of some sort. Yes, they look like generic magical anime girls for now...
Another original character with uniform design partially inspired by the new Fire Emblem custom character.
And a series of drawings of original male characters. The reoccurring male in each of the images is named Heimdl. Hopefully I'm keeping him consistent enough that you can tell it's the same guy despite hair and clothing changes.
I also did some fanart so my cousin could practice inking with them:
My favourite Naruto characters minus Gaara. XD
Hopefully when I FINALLY graduate and get my masters degree, I can get back to more serious drawing!