Xara Designer for artist that draws by hand

**amitairos** · 28 May 2011, 07:49 PM

Hi.
Someone I know is an artist that draws with pencil and paper.
He wants to know whether or not Xara Designer would be good for him for drawing, coloring, inking, illustrations, etc.
Also how would you recommend him to start using Xara Designer and how would he adapt?
I would like to know what you think and what to tell him.
Thanks

**Soquili** · 28 May 2011, 08:04 PM

Hi Amitai you can send him this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Cy2sfFRCA

The link is to one of Bob Hahn's YouTube videos where he uses Xara Xtreme (now called Xara Designer Pro) and a graphics tablet to sketch within the application.

Bob uses the name Sofafire on YouTube. He has other videos showing how he inks and colors his drawings.

**handrawn** · 28 May 2011, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by amitairos

He wants to know whether or not Xara Designer would be good for him for drawing, coloring, inking, illustrations, etc.

no one can tell him that - he'll have to try it

**Albacore** · 29 May 2011, 10:22 AM

You must explain to your artist friend the difference between vector a bitmap. If your artist friend like drawing on a A4 piece of paper and then transposing that work onto a much larger canvas then using vectors is the way to go.

**masque** · 29 May 2011, 05:49 PM

This was drawn using a wacom pad directly into Designer from life (ie an onion on the desk), as are a number of my drawings. Its almost exactly unlike using a pencil on a piece of paper. However I draw less and less with a pencil as I quite like how you draw with Designer though it might not suit everyone by any means.
The trick is to download and try it.
Derek

**amitairos** · 29 May 2011, 06:23 PM

Thank you for all the replies.
I talked with him and he wants to know how to start using Designer-
from where to start, what tools to use, and how to make the change from what he's used to.
What do you think?
Thanks again.

**handrawn** · 29 May 2011, 06:37 PM

but we don't really know what he's used to do we?

you say he draws with pencil and paper - just that?

what sort of art, that's very important - if you want art that looks like a photo Xara could well be the bunny, but if he wants art that looks like Cezanne or van Gogh then he'd be better off in raster IMO

does he have a tablet - if he wants to get close to pencil and paper 'feel' he'll need one

**amitairos** · 29 May 2011, 06:49 PM

I should've explained more.
He likes to draw illustrations- of characters, cartoons, and comics.
He also wants to color them but currently doesn't because it requires extra work and he doesn't want to do it.
He can use a tablet.

**handrawn** · 29 May 2011, 07:58 PM

so what does he use the tablet with at the moment?

**Albacore** · 30 May 2011, 09:46 AM

If he looks at any of the work done by Bob Hann or Zeb he will notice that all bring in scanned pencil or pen drawing and trace the scanned drawing using a mixture of Shape Editor and Pencil. I know that I can work faster using this method rather than starting with a blank frame or trying to trace directly from a tablet from a sketch on the tablet. These methods or working are very personal and it is all dependant on what the person finds what suits them tell him to try all and not only once.