Drawing using mouse+keyboard (no Drawing Pad)

[lil1I]

Hello, not really sure if this is the right place to post this but...
I wanted to draw my own art in my game.
I want something like these, http://www.akashics.moe/ but I'm a newbie in drawing digitally.
What are the programs that I need? Is it even possible without drawing pad?
Maybe I can draw in paper, picture it, then improve it in Photoshop?
Anyone know a tutorial for newbies?

 

[ImaginaryVillain]

I use https://krita.org/en/ it's entirely free, and is setup quite similarly to Photoshop. So if you know how to use Photoshop you basically know how to use Krita, only it's far more geared towards art with it's considerably better brush system.
Also while I have a drawing pad, it's basically a glorified door stop... I never remember to use it. So I pretty much do all of my art with a mouse and keyboard. As for tutorials, I'd just YouTube drawing tutorial for whatever style of art you're looking to draw.

 

[Hyouryuu-Na]

I also don't have a drawing tablet or anything. I draw on ibis paint on my phone. It has all the tools you can use to easily make great illustrations.
You can also try paint tool sai. I's not free but you can draw pretty easiy using a mouse.

Spoiler

 

[SoftCloud]

Depending on what you want to achieve you can do it with either. An artist friend did art through vector-line work. Personally I find it to be terribly difficult to use line-tools via Paint Tool SAI and likened programs to ink in things. You can control pressure and thickness through modifying the lines themselves.

 

[alice_gristle]

Ya, don't worry about it! More important than tools is yo skills. Like think about a knife fight? Instead of fretting over what kinda knife to bring, it's far better to train lots with what you have!

 

[lil1I]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like I'll go with paint tool sai but I'm wondering if Photoshop is actually better? However, I have Photoshop but I never thought of drawing with it. I also tried drawing through phone, but I can't draw with my fingers properly. I would also like to know, what is the average time to make something like these http://www.akashics.moe/ ? From the looks, they looks very simple but detailed so I like them. But are they easy to make or actually takes time?

 

[Hyouryuu-Na]

I don't think photoshop is aimed towards drawing... it's more of an editing or retouching sort of software. But I've seen people draw using photoshop.
Time for drawing anything depends on the drawing skills of a person. While the lineart is pretty basic, I think I'll take quite some time with colouring and shading cause that's what I'm weak at. And since I'll be doing it on my phone... maybe 2-3 hours for the simple ones and longer for the more detailed ones.
I'm sure those are nothing for experienced artists though. They can probably do it in an hour or less. Who knows

 

[EpicFILE]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like I'll go with paint tool sai but I'm wondering if Photoshop is actually better?

Go with Paint Tool Sai.
Paint Tool Sai has a good lineart tool and it's a lot lighter program than Photoshop,
which means you can work faster because no lagging or slowdown.
(Although on high-end PC there might be no performance difference)

I would also like to know, what is the average time to make something like these http://www.akashics.moe/ ? From the looks, they looks very simple but detailed so I like them. But are they easy to make or actually takes time?

For me, lineart can be done in 1-2 hours, but coloring might take a longer time
(I'm not that good at coloring yet).
Honestly it depends on your skill and your comfort towards drawing particular style.
Sometimes drawing a "simple" style can take longer times than the "complicated" one.
Simply because we're more comfortable to draw certain style.

See the spoilers below:

Spoiler

We might quickly think that the anime picture is more complicated (harder to draw)
and the Mr. Bean picture is simpler (easier to draw).
But see it closely. Although the anime has better coloring and shading,
the body language and the face expression of the characters seems rigid compared to Mr. Bean.
Mr. Bean's coloring is a lot simple, but his body language and expression seems a lot more lively.

For people who often put more emphasis on color, they might have a harder time
to draw something that put more emphasis on body language (and vice versa).
In the end, how much time and effort you need depends on your skill and your
comfort toward drawing particular style.

The example you give, put emphasis on both coloring and body language.
So it might be not as simple as it seems, but of course you can still make it if you try.

 

[Finnuval]

Personally I draw using Krita (and a tablet) and for more realistic shading I then usee photoshop. However as @Hyouryuu-Na mentioned photoshop is not geared towards drawing (can be done ofcourse) but more towards manipulating pictures.

Now as far as time goed, that Highly depends on skill, experience with the tools/program, etc. As @EpicFILE points out clearly with his example.

For me the process is as follows :

A few days to figure out what I want to draw.
Line-art : about 30-60 minutes
Coloring : 1-3 hrs.

But if I am drawing in a style im not familiair with this chances a LOT!

 

[Marquise*]

Since I've changed computer and I got now a graphic tablet my Photoshop stopped totally to show me the brushes customization settings (like getting big brush and in distance getting it smaller and less opaque etc)

So if you are using mouse and keyboard you are still lucky. Also my Shift_Alt and other commands still requires me to get back on my keyboard with my huion

 

[youyiku]

I love my XP-PEN Deco 03 ( https://www.xp-pen.com/product/89.html ) wireless Drawing Pad it behaves as if I'm drawing with a pen. Then when I use the pressure sensitivity it behaves like a dip pen. I like the tablet because I'm able to draw on the computer exactly like I do on paper. For example, I can use the brush tool in Photoshop with the brush tool. If find that tablets are great for free-form work. As far as making selections and using dialogues I don't find that its the talents strong point. I find the mouse useful with the pen tool in digital paint programs.

The mouse is strong with selection tools great for making adjustments. I find that when I use a vector program I use the mouse to do most of the work. Ultimately, you have to use both and figure out what works best for you.
Btw, it took me a month to get used to using the tablet. It was awkward at first but when I got used to it I was able to create better images.

 

[Marquise*]

I've found that for all straight lines, mouse is always the way. Same when it comes to start finicking with filters and some selections. ^^

Yup, never abandon a way or another to make 2D. ^^