Our Tools:
How We Do It 
A graphics tablet, sometimes referred to as a "digitizing" tablet, is the essential tool for rendering artwork on the computer. (We use the Wacom Graphire tablet.) The mouse is a crude instrument when it comes to the fine motor movement required for artwork. If you attempt to do this kind of work with a mouse, repetitive motion injury is a great risk, so get a tablet. The tablet comes with a special pen that you hold and use just as you would a regular pen---even left-handed, if you want. The tablet connects to a USB port. You do NOT disconnect your computer's mouse when you're using a tablet. Just leave them BOTH connected, especially on a PC, which doesn't recognize the tablet as a mouse substitute. But you can use the tablet 100% of the time instead of a mouse.
A "double-click" is performed by tapping the pen twice on the
tablet.
The software programs we've used to render most of the images on this website are Corel Painter Essentials, Adobe Photoshop Elements and ArtRage. The Wacom tablet Bamboo Fun comes with the programs Photoshop Elements and Painter Essentials as part of its software bundle. ArtRage is a very inexpensive, yet full-featured painting program that only costs $25. as a download at: www.artrage.com. We use Photoshop's layering capabilities for collages such as our kaleidoscopes and our Found Florals scans collages. TIPS for getting your own tablet: We've seen the tablets for sale at Best Buy and COSTCO. The Wacom Bamboo Fun is the version that comes with the software. The Bamboo comes in two sizes, but the smallest one is all you need. Price comparison shop at: Google
Enter "Wacom Bamboo graphics tablet" into the search request.
web page developed by
Salinas Valley Digital Art Guild All Artwork and Graphics © 2003-09 |
The Wacom tablet is
"cross-platform", so you can use either a PC or a Mac. It works fine with both Windows XP, Windows Vista and W7 and
Mac OS X. No matter what system, you'll want plenty of RAM in order to
have the freedom to create, using the full capabilities of the software. The tablet itself doesn't
require any extra RAM to operate—the image rendering on the screen does. And of course, the faster processor you
have the better as well. But you don't have to have an expensive CPU for creating still images.