Wacom Tablet and general art doodles/dump

[Shrike]

So, a couple days ago i finally got my Wacom tablet (Bamboo). my first thought was 'great!' my second thought was 'now what?' i was just wondering what are some of the good ways to take advantage of it. Could i have some help?im also making an avatar right now (With my wacom tablet) and id like some C&C on that and various other doodles made with my Bamboo.
i need a lot of help. 

heres my avvy, still in pre-alpha stages:

I know the eyebrow looks like crap, but i don't know how to fix it..  and i know its ugly, still sketchy lines... also, i didn't add skin folds or anything, ill do these things that next update!
i know there isn't much to critique ATM, but i do need to know how to really take advantage of my Bamboo...
Cheers!
~Coran
 

[Corsair]

Remember that an eyebrow isn't a big solid chunk, it's a mess of hair. I can see the attempt at texture but - and i mean no offense but it's textured like feces would be :\

Try using a bunch of smaller strokes to get the idea taht your'e looking a t a collecton of hundreds of tiny,fine hairs.

And generally, an eyebrow will have a smoother outline.

[AdamAtomic]

I'm not sure what you mean by "take advantage" of your tablet.  The advantage of a tablet is quite simply that it is not a mouse.  That's all.  As for crits, um, everything?  Go get some refs and start over.  Also think very seriously about whether or not you want to work at this large size yet!

[TrevoriuS]

Well the advantadge of a wacom tablet is that it is a pen instead of a mouse. A pencil can be used for drawing with far more accuracy than a mouse. Another advantadge is that with a wacom you can take advantadge of previous pencil drawing skills when starting in CG. Now on pixelart, you can basically make minor adjustments so easily, that I do not see the point in using a wacom (most of the times). However, sometimes it can be used to draw solid poses without taking hours and hours of work to adjust the pixels agai nand again - however, this does require you to be able to draw poses in the first place.

Artists say that wacom tablets are great not because they improve their general art quality, but because it saves them time and annoyance as opposed to when working with a mouse. Also when an actual quality increase IS visible, it is because the artist at that matter is probably skilled with the pencil but you just never saw those pencil drawings (but only his mouse-used computer drawings).

Shortly said: pixelart is small enough to use a mouse - a wacom only gives advantadge to people who know what they're doing - a wacom can help you with sketching out in pixelart too.

Hope it helps,
TS~

[Shrike]

Ah, thank you all. answers my question. 
I don't get many chances to use my wacom tablet, as the computer i am typing on right now is so old and horrible the installed features of pressure sensitivity and such don't work after installation.   

so this won't be updated extremely often.

@TrevoriuS:
Thanks for taking the time to say that, it really helps. i would consider myself a pretty talented pencil-and-paper artist, but Pixelart is a new medium for me.
                                                                                                                                                                                     
@AdamAtomic:
this is true. i need to get better at smaller before i go to larger...
i pretty much suck right now.
                                                                                                                                                                                     
@Corsair:
Thanks, i should have used a reference in the first place to avoid the feces eyebrows.
                                                                                                                                                                                     

More to come!

[AdamAtomic]

I do not see the point in using a wacom (most of the times)

This is CRAZY TALK.  A mouse is a fine instrument for pointing at buttons, but for artistic input it is just another layer of abstraction and obstruction.  My point about the advantage of a wacom being not a mouse is exactly that.  It makes the barrier between you and your computer art that much lower.  Do you still need art skills?  Of course!  But with a tablet, you no longer have to cope with being handicapped by a mouse.

To sum up, using a tablet for pixel art is a GREAT idea.  Do it all the time!  However, there is nothing inherent in the nature of the tablet that will improve your art skills, nor is there any specific pixel art practice that "suits" a tablet better.

I would suggest, if you need something more concrete, to drop the image dimensions by 1/2, and try working with just a few gray tones.  This seems to help people (including myself) focus on the volumes and shapes without getting distracted by colors and the finer points of shading and rendering in pixel art.  Try like 3 tones of gray, and see if you can still render an eye in a recognizable fashion.  Think about the shape of an eye, in all 3 dimensions, and how light will hit it, and how the surfaces vary (skin surface versus the shinier, smoother eye surface, etc).

[TrevoriuS]

I do not see the point in using a wacom (most of the times)

This is CRAZY TALK.  A mouse is a fine instrument for pointing at buttons, but for artistic input it is just another layer of abstraction and obstruction.  My point about the advantage of a wacom being not a mouse is exactly that.  It makes the barrier between you and your computer art that much lower.  Do you still need art skills?  Of course!  But with a tablet, you no longer have to cope with being handicapped by a mouse.

My words...

To sum up, using a tablet for pixel art is a GREAT idea.  Do it all the time!  However, there is nothing inherent in the nature of the tablet that will improve your art skills, nor is there any specific pixel art practice that "suits" a tablet better.

Again, those are our opinions. I do not see what pencil-accuracy can add to working on small pixel sizes (32x32 and less), nor can I see what a wacom can add to improve or fasten up shading, dithering and anti alias techniques in pixel art. Of course when making large pixelart a wacom comes in handy, but then again, when sticking to few colours I find it often just as easy to work with a mouse to create more perfect transitions in a piece I can't resize to smoothen up afterwards.

[skw]

actually, while working with low resolutions on a pixel level, I find using a tablet quite annoying. say what you want, but an average optical mouse handles better for such a kind of stuff.

. . . the fact I own only a small, shitty Volito2 may have something to do with that.

[Doppleganger]

I think that using a tablet for smaller resolution pieces is a matter of preference, though I do believe that an optical mouse requires less dedication to enjoy. Unless you have a very large tablet- the controls will not be as pixel perfect as an optical mouse's would be, and it would take some amount of effort to compensate for that. Furthermore, if the mouse buttons are used in any way during drawing that is just one more task that takes getting used to. I find that the buttons on the pen are in an incovenient place in comparison to how I hold a pencil or pen. I'm apt to believe that I am not the one exception.

As for your avatar, coran, I believe you should study some images of human eyes in order to get a grasp on how they look. Also, per Adam's suggestion, shrink down the size and work in a few gray tones. This will help you better appreciate the conciseness of pixel art, while understanding the importance of shapes, contrast, and lighting.

[skw]

I've done a quick Google research and this YouTube entry popped up as one of the first:

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=GAi7cHiaf-U

maybe it's not perfect, but still shows you how to draw a human eye using a tablet properly. in two perspectives!

I find that the buttons on the pen are in an incovenient place in comparison to how I hold a pencil or pen. I'm apt to believe that I am not the one exception.

so do I. can't just get used to it. anyway, nothing can substitute the finesse you can achieve using a regular pen(cil) IMO.