[Gimp-user] Beginner's questions about Gimp & Wacom on Linux for a kid-friendly setup



Hi there,

my 8yr old child draws (a lot).

She recently went to a comics workshop and learned from one of the professional
comic artists there that they are using graphics tablets to colourize their art.
Now she's hooked on the idea.

I found a cheap used Wacom tablet in pristine condition which will now be this
year's Christmas present for her. Yay!

She already has her own Raspberry Pi 3, which she mostly uses to do simple word
processing on LibreOffice. It was easy enough to setup the Wacom tablet for the
RPi, we have a printer and a scanner, so for simple graphics editing and
colouring, this should be fine and straightforward.

(I'm aware that the RPi is pretty slow, but when I tested this setup, Gimp
seemed to be fast enough. And it's a good thing when she knows that this is
"her" computer.)

As her software-developing nerd dad, I know computers but I don't know drawing,
graphics or digital artwork. I'm a casual Gimp user for simple graphics editing
needs, but never used a graphics tablet before.

So now I have a lot of questions and hope you can help me answer them. Please
keep in mind that I'm looking for a *kid-friendly* setup that makes things easy
for her.

1) Wacom as a mouse?

Is it "normal" to have the wacom tablet double as the screen pointer device? The
default setup seems to be that the graphics tablet also controls the mouse
pointer on Linux.

I tried to find out if I can somehow setup the pen to be used in the Gimp
graphics window only, but while possible, this seems difficult to do. Is the
default setup also the desirable setup on Linux or if not, what do I need to
change?

2) Different Wacom pointers?

There's the pen, the eraser, those were easy to setup and work as expected. What
about the other two options offered, finger touch and pad? Should I disable them
or what are their use for a digital artist?

3) The Wacom buttons?

There are four buttons on the graphics tablet - by default they are used as
mouse clicks. Can I use the button to choose tools? If so, how should I
configure them for productive use within Gimp?

4) Wacom & Gimp on Linux?

When you use Gimp with a Wacom tablet on Linux, what is your workflow, what are
your shortcuts? How do you use the Gimp toolbox while using the Wacom pen - do
you use keyboard shortcuts or do you use the pen (as a mouse pointer, see
question 1) to access the toolbox?


Thanks in advance. I appreciate everyone giving this non-drawing dad some help
here.

Kind regards,

hz

-- 
hzulla (via www.gimpusers.com/forums)


[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Thread Index] [Date Index] [Author Index]