Mascotts: do you do them digitally or scan mockups?
 

I haven't literally tried it for years, but i decided to think of developing the skill.
Was playing a little:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2705/...264b9c59_o.gif

then i chose that cat for some reason, I guess on this stage it has to be taken into PS for
edits.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/...aa3d214b_o.gif

and applied some pencils.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/...32f2e194_o.gif

so, I guess a tablet is a must to have.

You can color it with a mouse... it's really no different - actually I have a pad and haven't plugged it in for years, a mouse does it perfectly..just use a few more layers to fade the colors a bit easier, rather than pressure from the pen.

Don't know how you could do them without a tablet.

What do you do with the pen that you can't do with the mouse?

90% of the cleanup is done without the pen either way...the pen isn't used at all to prep the grahpic, it's all in photoshop. The colors are selected areas, layers.. select, fill, and fade a few layers in if you need to fade colors. Exactly what you're doing with the pen.

Speed, precision, & fluid motion. It's like driving a car versus pushing a shopping cart down the street with all your stuff in it. 2 different worlds.

:2 cents:

Half-animal Half-human cartoons really trip me out. I like this.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2705/...264b9c59_o.gif

I found the pens limit my speed to flip tools, layers, ect.. or be working and click the stupid button because you're trying to be so precise - it drove me nuts :)

Most web cartoons don't contain enough detail to care about a pen.. 10 colors (joking) almost all have solid lines and color fades. Kinda like driving a sports car through the grocery store when you only need a shopping cart.

I suppose it depends on what you're doing and what kind of tablet you have.
I use a Wacom Cintiq 21ux Widescreen interactive display, with lots and lots of programmable buttons, mounted on an articulating LCD arm. Personally, I could not live without this thing. All those years of designing with a mouse just seems so elementary school to me now.

But it's whatever you're comfortable with.

Ahh, yes... the toy that you have to rotate to draw on or your arm sits on the screen.. kind of an over kill for Internet graphics don't ya think?

Not at all, I love it. It makes masking images and stuff a breeze. The mouse is too jerky. Plus it doubles as a secondary monitor, and because it's on the arm, I can move or float it anywhere in a three foot spherical area, rotate, flatten, etc. I think it rocks.

Hehe, it sounds like the arm does rock :)

This guy's isn't on an arm, just the original stand mount, but check out how killer this thing is: https://youtube.com/watch?v=dLEubvE5ZQ4

Holy crap, that's awesome.

Very cool.....

But wayyy over kill for what he just made :) He actually colored the drawing like a coloring book... that's crazy, it's photoshop you don't need to do that.

He could have easily done that in half the time on a mouse, no special detail is in that picture what so ever.

Btw.. that is a very bad ass tablet.. much better than my 9" flop with a pen I can't find half the time.

I have a tablet, but still use my mouse to color...Have been using it for like 9 years now. I started out coloring with a trackball, man that was a pain in the ass.

Of course I don't do this kind of stuff professionally, though. But I still manage to do some decent stuff with it. I usually like to start out with a sketch, though

the cintiq definitely rocks but it really all depends on your skills.. if you got 20 years of drawing routine, you can do the same with ye olde broke 1st generation tablet thingy.

re the original question: personally, i first draw a few mockups using pen and paper.. doodling around.. but i won't scan 'em.. once i have the final concept in mind, i start from scratch - digitally.

I do mine with hand drawn pencils ... then scanned and line/color with a mouse. I don't like tablets. :)

Lucky sonofa!!! :D hehe... Sounds like a dream! I hate tablets on the desk ... but the cintiq just looks superb.

I would LOVE a cintiq. My tablet is about 5 years old now...It's a wacom, and it works fine for casual arting, but I'd love to have something I could draw right on like that.

As with a lot things in Photoshop or Illustrator...there are many ways to achieve the same results. Tablets can be handy for the coloring phase but not required.
You could use either program or both and start with a scan of your drawing.

a cpl tutorials to help you along
Photoshop:
http://www.melissaclifton.com/tutorial-comicbook.html
http://www.melissaclifton.com/tutorial-popart2.html
http://www.gomediazine.com/tutorials...-illustration/

Illustrator:
Create a Vector Cartoon Character from a Hand Drawn Sketch: http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/...d-drawn-sketch

Coloring images with Live Paint: http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?...icle&artid=576