Drawing – techbloggingfool.com

I frequently take my tablet to a park, museum, or other public space to get inspiration for my work. When I’m out with my Surface Go, I rarely have the keyboard attached. The Surface Pen is my primary input and control tool. Occasionally, someone will notice and ask how I am able to fully use my computer with just the pen. “What about selecting, copying, right-clicking, and all the other things you need a mouse for?” is an inevitable question during these conversations. Generally a statement like, “I can’t stand the way it feels,” also makes its way into the discussion.

The first thing most people need to address in order to be comfortable using their stylus, is the “feeling” of writing on a screen. There’s far less friction between glass and silicone than there is between paper and graphite. Some of us actually prefer the slicker strokes, but most people do not care for it, in the beginning at least. If you don’t like the slide, there are a few things that help. If your stylus has different tips, try them. Some are softer and offer more drag. They also change the contact patch size which further alters the experience.

Most Windows 10 based tablets allow you to adjust the pressure sensitivity of your stylus, which in turn changes how hard you end up pressing on the pen tip to write or draw. Setting your system to require more pressure will cause you to press harder and feel more drag. On Microsoft Surface devices you use the Surface app to change the setting. Samsung tablets have a Samsung Book app, most manufacturers have some type of settings app; look in your start menu.

The last piece of advice I have to offer around the “feeling” of writing on your screen is to add a soft silicone screen protector. A significant part of the difference between drawing on a paper versus drawing on glass, is that the paper will slightly give way to the tip of your writing instrument. Silicone on silicone also results in more drag and lessens the likelihood of over-strokes occurring. Personally, I prefer the matte options because they also help reduce glare.

Once you have the physical issues addressed, you’ll need to spend some time with settings in both your operating system and applications. I suggest that you start off getting your windows profile all squared away. Lucky for you, I’ve written a detailed post about how to go about it. The 1809 update for Windows 10 caused me to change a few of my settings since writing that guide. You can see the updated configuration below.

Great, so we’ve taken care of the way it feels to write on your screen and adjusted Windows to operate with a pen, we’re done right? Ha, don’t you wish…. Unfortunately, most applications also have specific settings that improve the stylus experience. Quite a few of the Microsoft Office programs, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc., have a setting in their advanced options that allows the pen to automatically select text. The function is turned off by default and I cannot fathom why Microsoft doesn’t turn it on for everyone. Checking this box will drastically improve the pen experience in these apps.

Word_Pen — This setting is in most MS Office apps. Go to File -> Options -> Advanced Options to find it.

Whether you use a pen or a mouse, customizing the quick access toolbar in Microsoft Office applications adds efficiency to your workflow by reducing the amount of time you spend hunting for commands. The quick access toolbar is different for each application but can literally save you thousands of clicks and taps if you spend a little time setting them up.

I wouldn’t want you to go away thinking that MS Office apps are the only ones that have specific pen settings that you may need to turn on or adjust. Of course purpose-built drawing and editing apps have all kinds of pen settings. I’ve even seen the options to use a pen show up in games. Take a few minutes to poke around in the menus of the software that you use, it’s almost always worth your time.

Photoshop_Brush_Settings — Each brush or tool in Photoshop has multiple pen settings

When I was little, my dad would sometimes entertain me by drawing my favorite cartoon characters. He would sketch them on napkins or scraps of paper while we were waiting for a table at a restaurant or sitting through some other equally boring event. I was always amazed that the Fred Flintstone, Mickey Mouse, or Donald Duck that he drew in a few minutes looked exactly like they did on the Saturday morning cartoon shows.

When I tried to draw them, my best efforts looked like stick figures that had suffered horrible head injuries. I was determined, and enjoyed the process, so I stuck with it. Art was always one of my favorite classes in school. Eventually, I had learned enough technique and developed enough motor control that I could draw nearly anything. It literally took years of practice before I could look at an object, or invent one in my head, and reproduce it on paper.

Digital Enterprise Painting — A freehand digital painting for my dad on Father’s day.

I would have given anything to be able to draw without all of the classes and practice. Many of my lessons involved tracing on a light board. It was a great way to learn how to make complex shapes, master scale, and understand the composition of objects or places. If you have a PC, tablet, or phone with a stylus you can use it in the same manner as a lightboard and I’m going to show you how easy it is.

You’re going to need a good drawing app. I like Autodesk’s Sketchbook. It’s free, powerful, and easy to use. It also runs on everything: iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, and Windows all have a version. Check your device’s app store or the Autodesk web-site. You’ll need to create an Autodesk account after you install the software, but it doesn’t cost anything either.

After you have the app installed on your device, spend a few minutes on Bing or Google’s image search to locate and save a picture of something that you would like to draw. Just right click or tap and hold on the picture you like and choose the option to save a copy. You can also use a picture that you have taken with your camera.

Watch the short video below to see the details, but essentially we are going to create two layers. One to hold the picture we are going to trace and another to draw on. Once we’ve completed the sketch we’ll remove the picture layer and all that will be left is our drawing. Tracing is easy if you reduce the opacity of the picture layer. To save time I only do a quick outline with a single tool and color below. I suggest using multiple brush types and colors to get the best results.