Using+Wacom+Tablets+for+Instruction+in+Media+Arts

=Using Wacom Tablets for Instruction in Media Arts=

AGENDA

 * ====Icebreaker====
 * What is a Wacom Tablet?
 * How does it work?
 * Do I need to be an artist?
 * Installations
 * Creating your own drawing/painting.
 * How do I use it in my subject area?
 * Sharing our work

=Icebreaker=

A Historical Look at Self Expression
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Wacom Pad in Teaching
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=5 Tips for Using a Bamboo Tablet= If you (or your college) can’t afford a tablet computer, then a peripheral tablet or digital pen can be a good inexpensive option. For those who have never used a Bamboo Tablet, it’s like writing with a pen. You hold the stylus like a pen. When you apply pressure to the tablet, the mark (digital ink) //does// show up on the screen, but… It’s also //not// like a pen, in that the friction between the stylus and tablet is much different than that of ink gliding across paper. This causes an “unanticipated roughness” in the appearance of text written on the tablet. That being said, here are my 5 tips for using the tablet: 1. Use proper ink width. If you are given a choice, that is. Your choice of ink width will probably depend on your writing style. If you normally have small writing, you may want to use a thinner ink width. Likewise, if you make larger letters, try a thicker ink. [|Here] are examples of different widths:

2. Relax. Clutching the pen and writing slowly is not worth the effort. You’re better off trying to imitate what you do naturally (with a real pen) than trying to “reteach” your hand how to write altogether.

[|Here’s] what I mean.

3. Find a comfortable way to hold the stylus without disturbing the pen buttons. If you accidentally press the button, which is right where you grip the pen, it is like right-clicking with the mouse. I’m not sure why the buttons on these styluses are always in such a bad location but they are on every tablet pen I’ve ever encountered. 4. Make an extra effort to dot your i’s and cross your t’s. These don’t always show up (especially if you normally do them quickly on paper). 5. Practice, practice, practice! (Did you think this wouldn’t make the top 5?) To learn more about the Wacom Bamboo Tablet, here is the user’s manual. One more tip, if you’ve got a Bamboo Tablet and can’t find an inking program on your computer (like OneNote or Windows Journal), then try installing the free program Jarnal (see Jarnal Tutorials in previous post).

//This post was written by Christine Gardner and edited by Maria Andersen.//

=Digital Art=

=
Digital art includes fun activities such as line drawings, photo tracing, photo painting, coloring and painting line art. For some these activities are quite easy while for others they can be very difficult and challenging.=====

=Creating your own drawing from a photograph.=

I'm really starting to understand how this tablet works,
I am by no means an artist, but I cannot believe the level of confidence this device has given me in the process. In a few minutes I was able to render an amazing sketch using the tablet and Adobe Elements. Take a look at some of these tutorials.

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=Now it's your turn.=

Please save your work and email to me.
ragogli@gmail.com

=More Really Cool Activities=

Create a Digital Pencil Sketch From a Photo
Pattie Knox September 23rd, 2009 (**7** votes, average: **4.29** out of 5) 1 Open your photograph in Photoshop Elements.
 * Creating the Pencil Sketch**

Working on a copy of your original photo is a good habit to get into and ensures that the original remains unharmed. To create a duplicate of your original:

2 From the File menu, point to Duplicate, and then click OK.

Close the original photograph and continue your work using the duplicate file you created in Step 2.

3 From the Layer menu, point to New, select Layer from Background, and then click OK.

4 In the Layers palette, hold CTRL, click on the Create New Layer icon.

5 From the Edit menu, point to Fill Layer, set Contents to Use: White, click OK.

6 In the Layers palette, right click Layer 0 (the photo layer). Choose Duplicate Layer, click OK.

7 With the Layer 0 copy layer selected, from the Enhance menu, point to Adjust Color, select Remove Color.

8 From the Filter menu, point to Adjustments, select Invert.

9 In the Layers palette set the blending mode for the Layer 0 copy layer to Color Dodge.

10 In the Layers palette, select the Layer 0 layer (original photo) and set the blending mode to Luminosity.

11 In the Layers palette, select the Layer 0 copy layer.

12 From the Filter menu, point to Blur, select Gaussian Blur.

13 Adjust the effect to taste by dragging the Radius slider. As you drag the slider left or right to change the blur amount, the pencil sketch will begin to appear. The amount of blur you need depends on your particular image. The greater the blur, the wider and darker the lines and shadows will become. Adding some texture with the addition of a pattern fill will create a more realistic drawing. For this example we’ll use the Oil Pastel on Canvas (in Artistic Surfaces) pattern from Photoshop Elements. To pre-load the PSE Artistic Surfaces pattern set:
 * Adding Texture for Realism**

14 From the Edit menu, select Preset Manager.

15 Select Patterns from the drop-down Preset Type list.

16 Click the More arrow, select Artistic Surfaces from the drop-down list, and click Done To apply the pattern:

17 From the Layer menu, point to New Fill Layer, select Pattern, click OK.

18 In the Pattern dialog box, click the down arrow to open the Pattern Picker.

19 Select the Oil Pastel on Canvas pattern, click OK.

20 In the Layers palette set the blending mode for the Pattern Fill 1 layer to Overlay.

21 From the Layer menu, select Merge Visible.

22 From the File menu, select Save As, and save your creation with a new name. Looks grand doesn’t it? Don’t stop here! You’ll be astonished at the artistic results you can achieve with variations of this basic technique. Try applying Motion Blur, Radial Blur, or Blur More in place of the Gaussian Blur filter in Step 11. Experiment with various patterns applied as Pattern Fill layers for a wide array of striking effects. Stucco (in Patterns 2), or Shingles (in Texture Fill 2) from the Photoshop Elements patterns libraries are good choices for adding realistic texture in Step 18. Digital pencil sketches add artistic flair to any project. Print to a slightly textured paper, and your sketch is ready for framing as fine art. Stop at Step 12 (before applying texture) and delight the youngsters in your life by printing out one-of-a-kind coloring book pages. Create hand-made greeting cards featuring a digital sketch created from a special photo. Let your imagination take wings … the list of possibilities is endless!