A drawing tablet, is an auxiliary electronic input device made for computers that is largely used by artists, engineers, architects and other professionals that need to design images that are accurately scaled.
Drawing tablets typically have two main parts – a flat pad that is rectangular and where the drawing is done and a mouse-like puck or stylus that is used to draw the shapes or designs. The drawing and painting software is controlled by the tablet to give a wide range of technical and art images.
You must be wondering how exactly does a drawing tablet work. Well, not to worry, we will explain below.
Tablet
The tablet’s main area is used for tracing and drawing. This is made possible when you utilize a stylus or a mouse-like puck that moves the cursor that’s on the screen to the point that you need it. The pad’s surface has some assignable areas that can be used as special function keys which when used with the stylus to tap any area can control the software or make the computer open up a menu on its display.
Puck and Stylus
Most smartphones usually have a stylus. A stylus is ideally an electronic pen-like device that you use to make sketches on the surface of the tablet. When using a stylus to draw on the tablet, the computer’s software follows all your movements and produces an image on the screen of the tablet. However, some tablets allow you to use a puck or a tablet cursor which is an alternative to the stylus. The puck essentially resembles a computer mouse. It has a target crosshairs implanted onto it. These crosshairs are used to directly trace out drawings, photos or maps that are placed on the tablet.
Software
A drawing tablet doesn’t work alone. Instead, it works with the software that’s in the computer. When a drawing tablet is first connected to the computer, there is a Windows control panel that you have to open on the computer that will allow you to configure the drawing tablet. Besides the configuration, you will also need to ensure that the software you are using such as Adobe Illustrator, Autodesk’s AutoCAD or Corel’s Painter should utilize and must accommodate the techniques and features of your drawing tablet. The operating system of the tablets can range from android to various proprietary softwares.
Interface
Most drawing tablets usually use a Bluetooth connection which is the same interface that’s used for mice, trackpads, keyboards and other devices for connection on wireless computers. However, other tablets use the Universal Serial Bus that gets connected to the computer using a cable.
Pressure Sensitivity
Depending on the drawing tablet that you choose, certain tablets are designed with a pressure-sensitive mechanism that allows artists to add variations to the computer drawings. For this to work, you will have to press the stylus harder on the surface of the tablet and the software will respond either by making a given line darker or wider. There are however additional effects that this feature allows you to achieve such as copying traditional techniques like airbrushing.