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[Coz]

There's a lot of love for pixel art in the indie game scene, but I rarely hear about anyone using graphic tablets.

Now, I'm going to throw some wild guesses and say that Aquaria and Braid either were done with traditional mediums and digital retouching, or were done purely using digital painting with tablets.

But how come this seems to be so rare within indies? Is it the price( that's actually my main blocker... well that, and that waiting for tablet to be delivered to a small undeveloped country on an island would drive me mad ), or is there some other specific reason? maybe lack of interest?

[Elk]

I'm pixeling with a tablet.

[cynicalsandel]

If I could afford a Cintiq, I'd be more inclined to use a tablet. I've been considering getting a cheaper one, but I was never very good at looking at the computer monitor while drawing on a tablet. The awkwardness of it was too much to overcome.

Even if I had a tablet, I probably would still prefer pixel art though.

[unsilentwill]

Tablets are necessary for a digital artist imho. I can't draw with a mouse anymore, even pixel.

Also, there's a bunch of threads about "Why Pixel Art", so go have a look. From current personally, pixel art is more efficient most of the time because tiling looks a lot better in pixels and tiling is way, way faster than drawing full blown illustrations. I'm doing pixel illustration and feeling like a moron because it takes probably triple the time of sprite based games.

[eben_cs]

There's a lot of love for pixel art in the indie game scene, but I rarely hear about anyone using graphic tablets.

Now, I'm going to throw some wild guesses and say that Aquaria and Braid either were done with traditional mediums and digital retouching, or were done purely using digital painting with tablets.

But how come this seems to be so rare within indies? Is it the price( that's actually my main blocker... well that, and that waiting for tablet to be delivered to a small undeveloped country on an island would drive me mad ), or is there some other specific reason? maybe lack of interest?

Do you mean why aren't more indie games made with higher-res, hand drawn art? If that's the case, for me it's a simple case of time and work involved - the higher res you go, the more effort it takes to animate. As much as I love Aquaria, I still think that Naija's animation feels a tad awkward. I've tried high res sprites and environments in one prototype before, and I spent 95% of my time animating and drawing instead of actually making the game.

However, I used a tablet for all my digital art, pixels and painting/illustration. I've basically gotten to the point where it is quicker and more efficient for me to pixel with my tablet as opposed to my mouse, but I've had this little Wacom for several years now (and it still feels a bit strange sometimes).

[Nix]

When I did a lot of pixeling I used a tablet, so the two aren't mutually exclusive. I also know of a lot of people here who use tablets for digital painting. They are just as popular here as anywhere else, even if there is a particularly large set of pixel-loving artists. I have a really basic and old Wacom Bamboo with a well-worn stylus. I don't use it much though.

[Dugan]

I pixel with a mouse - but everything else (2d) tends to be on the wacom.

[Dugan]

Why would you ever draw anything with a mouse? Seriously this shouldn't even have to be asked.

I just find the mouse waaay faster for pixel work (too much Dpaint use on the Amiga you see)

[Jesse]

Why would you ever draw anything with a mouse? Seriously this shouldn't even have to be asked.

I just find the mouse waaay faster for pixel work (too much Dpaint use on the Amiga you see)

I think by "draw" he probably meant it in the traditional sense. It's pretty silly to draw with a mouse, but I think most people use one for pixeling. I still do, but I use my tablet for everything else.

I think the more interesting question is, do people generally draw with pen and paper and scan/shoot, or are more people using only digital these days? I'm the former.

[Pietepiet]

I pixel with a tablet. It's much faster.

[P-Flute]

Well actually I just meant do anything artwise, pixel art included. A tablet is just a mouse with faster and more precise control. The only reason you would be faster with a mouse is because you haven't invested enough time to adjust to the tablet. Anything that can be done with a mouse can be done faster with a tablet.

I'm a bit confused here, as in my experience: Pointing at and filling in individual pixels is just plain easier with a mouse.  I have to also question what size tablet we're talking about.  A huge one?  Sure, maybe tapping on them pixels isn't so bad.  I don't have a huge tablet though, so. 

[Noel Berry]

I pixel with a tablet. It's much faster.

[Nix]

I've got a friend (the artist I'm working with on Solar Reboot) who uses his tablet for everything on his computer. I'm not even sure if he has a mouse plugged in (or if he owns one). He claims that it's much easier and faster for things once you get used to it.

[Toom]

There's a lot of love for pixel art in the indie game scene, but I rarely hear about anyone using graphic tablets.

I think the reason you rarely hear about people using graphics tablets for indie games is because it's so common. Digital artists don't go out of their way to mention that they're using Wacoms for the same reason that chefs don't go out of their way to mention that they're using saucepans.

Price isn't necessarily a huge barrier; it's no big thing if you're serious about the medium, and besides, small tablets are actually pretty cheap. I remember Meredith Gran saying a couple of years ago that she used to get hundreds of emails asking "omg how can you afford a Cintiq on a webcomic artist's income?"; her answer was invariably along the lines of "because I don't own thirty video games, champ." Priorities.

Edit: for the record, I tend to switch between stylus and mouse when pixelling, but the majority of the rendering tends to be done with the stylus; the mouse is for precision pixel placement, not drawing. I can barely even remember the last time I did a piece of commercial work that wasn't nigh-entirely drawn with my Wacom.

[Jesse]

There's a lot of love for pixel art in the indie game scene, but I rarely hear about anyone using graphic tablets.

I think the reason you rarely hear about people using graphics tablets for indie games is because it's so common. Digital artists don't go out of their way to mention that they're using Wacoms for the same reason that chefs don't go out of their way to mention that they're using saucepans.

Well said.

Edit: for the record, I tend to switch between stylus and mouse when pixelling, but the majority of the rendering tends to be done with the stylus; the mouse is for precision pixel placement, not drawing. I can barely even remember the last time I did a piece of commercial work that wasn't nigh-entirely drawn with my Wacom.

This is how I work. I still switch to the mouse for pixeling. I'm not sure why, I'd like to use the tablet for everything. One of my old bosses thought it was ridiculous that I still even owned a mouse, even though my mouse came with my Wacom. He told me to throw it out. 

[Toom]

This is how I work. I still switch to the mouse for pixeling. I'm not sure why, I'd like to use the tablet for everything. One of my old bosses thought it was ridiculous that I still even owned a mouse, even though my mouse came with my Wacom. He told me to throw it out.  

Styluses are wonderful, natural-feeling drawing tools, but they suffer from never being truly static when held - I don't care how much diazepam you've necked, most people have a little bit of hand-jitter*, and that affects the all-important precision of individual pixel placement (and, to an extent, fills). This is also why I tend to use the mouse for stuff like marquees, polygonal lassos, Photoshop's warp tool, stuff like that.

As far as I'm concerned, the handful of artists who still refuse to use a tablet for pixel art because it's "cheating" or whatever are clearly either frothing madmen or self-defeatingly stubborn.

*It is possible that your old boss was a Terminator.

[P-Flute]

I've used both a small 6x8 and a large 8x12-ish one that I currently have, and they are about equal speed. I was actually kind of disappointed with the large one because there is really no difference performance wise.

My point is that a tablet is the exact same as a mouse, except it is designed around the way humans naturally draw/write, which makes it easier to control. I don't understand how you could think a mouse could be better. Sure, it's usable because generally pixel art is like illustration except boiled down into a series of discreet decisions instead of broad, loose strokes, but that doesn't mean its better.

And how much have you used a tablet anyway? What you're saying sounds like something a person who has not used one much would say.

I've been using them for about 12 years actually.  But mostly for illustration-type things and drawing online, to be honest.  I frankly haven't tried to do much pixel art with it, (not that I think there's anything wrong with that), but I do agree with Jesse: A stylus is never going to be entirely static, which is why I at least insist a mouse still has a place.  I also won't deny that my pixeling -entirely- by mouse might be a smidge unnecessary or inefficient.

[godsavant]

I got used to drawing with mouse for two years before buying a small tablet, and while I agree it's a bit overkill of average pixel art, it does wonders for other digital mediums. Granted, I tend to use mine in Mouse mode, so the tracking tends to be slow, but I find it much more convenient in terms of hotkey/button accessibility. A luxury, nothing more.

[Coz]

As someone mentioned before, I actually meant using tablets not with pixel art, but in general, possibly more traditional art.

However, if even in pixel art a tablet seems adequate, then I guess the correct answer is the one pointed out as 'because everyone assumes you are using one'.

[Jesse]

I've been trying to go all day today without using my mouse, to see how I like using ONLY my pen, and I've realized one big problem for me: going between keyboard and pen.

Since the mouse never changes orientation, as in it's always laying in its home position whether it's in use or idle, you can go between navigation w/ mouse and typing on the keyboard instantly, back and forth, with no lag. But when you use a pen you have to put it down, or put it in its stand, and then type, and then pick it up again to navigate. This is frustrating me beyond all belief, as when you're sketching you may put down your pencil once in a while, but you don't put it down/pick it up a hundred or a thousand times.

How do pen-exclusive users deal with this problem?