Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
pen across the surface, it controls the cursor on screen. Most pen tablets include
pressure sensitivity
, which
means that the harder you press with the pen, the more “force” is applied digitally when painting or drawing,
mimicking the response of real artists' media. Some better tablets are also sensitive to the angle that the pen is
held at for an even more realistic experience.
The industry standard product is sold by Wacom® and their excellent reviews in a variety of publications and
online boards, as well as personal experience, show the reason why. In the context of a larger production, their
expense is negligible, but to someone producing their own short animation, it will seem high. Wacom cur-
rently makes a series of tablets called Bamboo™ that are fairly inexpensive (the smallest is under $100), and
still receives great reviews both on quality and responsiveness. Of course, depending on your skills as a sketch
artist, even this may be more than you need. A simple product search on the Internet will turn up a number
of off-brand or generic pen tablets that cost signifi cantly less and that, as long as they have pressure sensitivity,
will work just fi ne for creating simple storyboards.
Figure 4.27
My workstation setup, with very cheap pen tablet
Paint Software
In addition to the commercial-grade, relatively expensive image editing and paint programs like Adobe®
Photoshop® and Corel® Painter™ X, there are a number of free or low cost alternatives that have suitable func-
tionality for drawing your storyboards.
While the GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program,
www.gimp.org
) is the current open source option
for image editing, my personal favorite is a program called ArtRage, a natural media painting application from
Ambient Design, a New Zealand-based graphics software company. The full edition of the software is available
for Windows and Macintosh computers from
http://www.ambientdesign.com
for only $25.
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