What Tools do Zazzle Artists Use to Create?

My newest idea for a great design tool is one of the writing tablets you connect to your computer such as what Wacom makes. The Wacom Intuos3 6 x 8-Inch Pen Tablet is the one most serious artists seem to recommend. The Bamboo has also been recommended and many are happy with it as well but from what I hear if you want to do very detailed work the Intuos is better, but the Bamboo may be ok for T-shirt designs??? Anyway I am researching these now and am sending a shout out for comments from all you artists out there!!!! What say YOU!!! Hey... I have my Intuos Drawing Tablet now and as soon as I can I will be reviewing it and adding hints on how to use it and Photoshop Elements as it can with the tablet. I have also ordered CS4 which is the full version of Photoshop because I got a sweet deal on it - half price- they have a special where you get it half price when you buy the tablet. And I am now able to get tax deductions on my stuff cause I have a business at Zazzle... come see me there

Wedding Designs by Sandra

So with my tax deduction I will get another 30% off the half price I paid- which gets it down to about one third the price!!! WOOOT!

As far as the size goes- I got a 6x8 and it is plenty big! I would not get any bigger and if I had it to do over I might get the smaller one- 4x6. But it is hard to say without having tried the smaller one but at times this one seems too big- it gets in the way of the keyboard of my laptop and the smaller one would be easier to navigate I think. I find that I need to work really zoomed in anyway so size does not matter when zooming in all the time. If I do not zoom in to work, the details of my work are very sloppy. I just cannot see what I am doing. The very first thing I did was draw the tree pictured here because that is what I really love to draw and always have! I love to draw trees and right away the Intuos was so great- loved the sensitivity of the pen! I used many different layers using different effects in Elements- just experimenting and having fun!

Now the software that comes with the tablet is a Corel Paint Program and Photoshop Elements 6. At first I did not like Photoshop Elements but the more I use it the more I like it! I thought it was missing the warp brush which I use all the time in Paint Shop Pro but I found it under fliters and then liquify - it is the warp brush under a different name! I really like the feather tool, as well as, the select tools in Elements- these tools in Elements just seems to work better for me than the select tools in Paint Shop Pro. Also under the filter- Liquify-there is this really cool mirror tool that does amazing things. I spent way too much time today just playing with that tool!!! Yikes!!! I purchased a couple Photo Shop magazines with cd's and am wanting to do a couple of the tutorials but haven't had the time yet... as soon as I do I will post again! Oh and take a look at the above Roots picture. That is my first creation with my new drawing tablet! Tell me what you think!
My other really simple hint to a newbie is to buy ready made brushes for you art program! Just search for "commercial use ok brushes for (your program name)". I use Paint Shop Pro. It is a very good program with some nice brushes available for purchase and download. My other hint is to find the tool in your program to make shapes and start with a circle and then use the warp brush to push your circle into shapes. But you can make stuff just using circles and squares too and putting shadows on using your burn tool. My favorite thing to do now is to make brushes and picture tubes. If you want to know how - just post and I will try to find time to blog about it. Another one of my favorite tools is the pen tool that makes curves and connects as you go. It is an option on the pen tool so look for it and play around with it, if you select the fill color it will fill the shape as you draw and create some really interesting designs. I am going to be adding more hints later so check back for more real soon!! Thanks, Sandy aka SaMack and Magentia on Squiddo ( I have started a new line of anime products- have dabbled in Japanese inspired stufff from the beginning- my hubby grew up in Japan- well- the last half of his childhood and we went to Japan a little over 10 years ago and plan to go again in the next couple of years! Thanks for stopping by...

I am a little overwhelmed with all my different sites and I have opened even more Zazzle stores! I have 8 stores now!!!.... and now I am on Squiddo and myspace and a few other sites/blogs but haven't figured them out so much yet-- just learning about all this computer stuff!!!! If you have any hints throw them my way please!!!! When I first started trying my hand at digital art I was a complete mess.

Here is but a sampling of over 15000 items... if you want to see more-click on any of the pictures to go to my Zazzle Store!