I’ve always been something of a frustrated artist. Such ‘frivolous’ activities were discouraged when I was a kid. As far as the family and teachers were concerned, if you had time to waste paper by doodling like that, you had time to do real work. For whatever reason, an interest in sketching began to emerge again some years ago. I think it’s linked with my fascination for the old buildings I find when I’m traveling around the country.
I picked up a Wacom Cintiq a couple of years ago and while it’s been frustrating trying to adapt from pen or pencil on paper to drawing on an LCD screen, I think I’m finally starting to adapt.
Drawing is, in a way, like meditation for me. I find myself doing it when I’m stressed, frustrated, angry, sad. I think that’s why I focus on buildings… Clean lines, arches, logic. Simple yet complex.
grouchyfarmer 
That a great picture. Its hard to learn drawing apps.
I find drawing in a computer very frustrating. It feels like there are too many layers. I don’t mean the software layers, or I kind of do, but mostly I mean that I like the direct relationship real life drawing has with my paper and vision.
I make a mark and it exist in front of me, under my hand as I draw it.
My efforts to adjust or correct it feel less cumbersome. I’m not constantly interrupting my brain’s focus on the line to change something in the software.
I think if I spent some time, I might get over that, but it is so distracting to me that I just lost interest in it almost immediately. Bridging the gap of my frustration wasn’t worth it.
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That sounds similar to the problems I have adapting to using the computer. When the kids were young I did a lot of sketching, mostly them, using pencil and paper. Now that my interest has been rekindled, I’m having trouble adapting to using the new medium. Pencil was, to me at least, far more expressive. It was so easy to vary the density, the shape, shading, everything. I can do that with the Cintiq and Photoshop of course, but even the pressure sensitive stylus has a lot of limitations and I have to start digging through menus, selecting options, etc. to try to change it.
Don’t get me wrong; I like the Cintiq. I’ve had a variety of different types of drawing tablets over the last few years and hated all of them. It wasn’t until I got the Cintiq where I was actually able to draw on the image itself that I began to become a bit more comfortable. It’s an amazing piece of technology, but to be honest, a 25 cent pencil and a piece of paper still does a better job. So why do I use it? Stubborn, I guess Between the Cintiq and Photoshop, etc. I’ve got way too much money invested in this system, so I darned well better use the thing.
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