Graphics tablet or Mouse?

[Bradok]

I'm no where near competent enough to call myself an artist, yet I do love drawing and working with Pixel Art. The two, however, have always been separate things for me. Spriting/pixel art I've always done with point and click mouse work, while drawing Manga characters I typically stick with my old graphics tablet. I've recently learned though that many people use graphics tablets or drawing pads when creating pixel art as well as started drawing. My question is this, is it easier or better? I mean I just can't wrap my head around trying to fine tune edges on a sprite without using a mouse. I don't know, what do you guys think?

 

[mjshi]

Though I am no pixel artist myself, I think it'd be a lot faster with a tablet, but for that speed you'd be sacrificing some accuracy, and will probably have to erase a lot more. Point and click for pixel art is probably the most accurate method, but may be fairly slow depending on how you do it. Its slowness might actually contribute to its accuracy, now that I think about it.

 

[Maomi]

I use mouse for Pixel modification with Photoshop and illustrators. I also use a very cheap Wacom tablet for some painting. In My opinion, The tablet is very easy to use and very precise in a lot of situation(e.g selection tool etc.) and once you get use to the tablet it is like drawing on a piece of paper. But you can work anything out with your mouse like pixel art creation and other stuff. it just harder and more work. If you just use for pixal art and want to save money then you don't really need tablet. but if you do more like comic and speed painting then i would say yes to get a tablet for sure.

 

[Celianna]

Probably a mouse is better for precision with pixel art. You don't need to freehand anything for a smooth curve that a tablet could give you.


But it's really all about how comfortable you are at your own tools. If you like using a mouse, go ahead, if you like using a tablet instead, go for it.


Me? I draw all the individual leaves on a tree using a mouse.

 

[Kes]

This forum is for discussing general principles of game making, it is not a forum to discuss which tools to use for art, for which a specific forum does exist.


I am, therefore, moving this thread to Resource Support.

 

[Rukomura]

I used to use a Mouse for my drawings until they gave me my first tablet.


I now use a Wacom tablet and I'm since used to draw with it (to the point I can't draw properly on a mouse anymore!).


What I can say is: if you want to have more control on what you're doing, then use a tablet. Unless you practice with the mouse a whole lot It's difficult to be able to make decent art.


As for pixels... I both use a Mouse and the tablet. Specifically, I roughly sketch what I want with my tablet and then place pixels with a mouse (or a tablet to have rough lines I can always fix later.)


As many others said before me, it really depends on your way of working. If you're more comfortable with a mouse and can't afford a tablet anytime soon (and if you specifically work on pixel art/sprites only), then go for it. You don't really need a tablet at all.