3 replies to this topic

[Maisie]

"For
my next project the customer has asked me to redraw and simplify
original maps from the American Revolution, but to keep ""that
hand-drawn look"" by recreating the hachures and tree patterns in
Illustrator CS.

The assignment gave me the excuse I've needed to
indulge in a new toy---I got the smallest (4 x 5"") Wacom
tablet/pressure-sensitive pen.

I've been noodling around with it
in Illustrator: I made a round brush at 0.5 pt, clicked off all three
brush options and set the diameter to ""Pressure"" with maximum
variability.

But I'm not getting the degree of variation that
I'm looking for. I want it to work like an old timey mapping pen where
you press the nib down, then ""throw"" it to create a short thick-to-thin
stroke.

Has anyone mastered this art? I'd appreciate any tips or leads to tips.

Martha "

[frax]

"there are some tutorials on the wacom web-site:
[url="http://"http://www.wacom.com/tips/index.cfm?category=other"]http://www.wacom.com...?category=other[/url]

I
have played around with it a little bit, but not too much (I have a
tablet pc with a digitizer built into the screen, and a Trust tablet
for my desktop) "

[EcoGraphic]

I
recently picked up an Intuos Inking Pen and Stroke Pen for my Wacom,
and find they give a bit of a different feel. The inking pen is an
actual pen, so you need to lay paper over your tablet, but it provides
the friction of a real pen on paper, and the stroke pen is more
pressure sensitive in the tip than the standard pen. You can check on
EBay for deals.

I am also curious though about better brush
settings in Illustrator for more hand-drawn looking work. Nick? Perhaps
you can shed some light on this................

[Martin Gamache]

You
may want to build custom brushes in Illustrator that are tapered in
combination with the pen. I find that for vector drawing pressure
sensitivity is not so great. In the raster world (PS, Painter) it is
much more sensitive and intuitive...Just my 2 cents and I'm by no means
the wacom expert.

I did look at the special pens a while back but wasnt sure it would be worth the upgrade....I might take a look at them again.