[Blind]

I read in one of Phil's tutorials that he likes to use the pencil as opposed to the brush or air brush. It occurred to me that I had never used the pencil before, for anything. I even had to go looking for it, not knowing it was in there under the same button as the brush! Can someone perhaps tell me what the differences are and maybe some pros/cons between the two? They seem very similar, although my edges are pretty jagged with the pencil.

[Dedalus]

If yer talking about Photoshop the biggest difference is that the pencil tool does not produce anti-aliased lines. That's pretty much it. You can apply 90% of the options that the pen tool has to the pencil tool. Virtually the same tool with out the 'blur' that the pen tool lays down.

That's the technical difference the artistic difference is up for opinion. I have seen some really nice art done using the pencil tool. I use the pen tool a lot when I'm creating graphics where I'm restricted in size. ie. icons, sprites, model textures. It allows you to know what is exactly going to be put down when you click the mouse. But for larger images ,where your not concerned about exact pixels, I use the brush tool.

Just pick the tool you like better and go with it. I hope my little speel helped.

[eyewoo]

For the most part my images are at least 4000 pixels wide or high. At that size the jaggies that are associated with the pencil tool just don't exist.

I like the clarity of line that the pencil tool offers rather than that soft nondescript mark that the brush tool makes...

If I'm working on a quick sketch, I'll often use the pencil tool at close to 100% opacity, but normally, for finished work, I have the opacity set low for any given stroke - 25% to 45%. Stroking over stroke with low opacity produces a vibrant wash look as if very translucent glazes were laid over each other, layer on top of layer. I use the ALT key to quickly pick up existing colors in the area I'm working on and stroke over whatever hard edges need softening -- leaving some hard and others softer.

Until recently, I would also have both the pen size and opacity set to preasure sensitivity, but I've now discovered that I like just the opacity set to preasure sensitvity and not the size. Then when the preasure is set low (those settings between 25% and 45%) there is great control over just how much color or glazing is in effect.

Love digital painting....

[Light]

I tried making an image 4,000x4,000 and used the pencil tool to paint. My response time was still pretty slow at any brush size over around 200-300.

Do you only use this resolution for print images? If not then why? What is the best resolution to use for digital images?

I've been using 9x12 or 12x12 inches but I know a lot of professionals use the mega resolutions for primarily printing.

But could it also make painting better/easier?

[Light]

One more thing.. have you tried Satori?

I'm downloading the trial now but I don't have much expectations.

.. Time to try out the new PShop.

[eyewoo]

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I tried making an image 4,000x4,000 and used the pencil tool to paint. My response time was still pretty slow at any brush size over around 200-300.

You need a fast CPU and a lot of RAM so that Photoshop doesn't spend time swapping. The brush speed is probably most directly effected by CPU speed. I use a machine with dual Athlon 1.5s. I also rarely use a brush size above 100 pixels. If I need to cover a lot of space, I'll use the lasso tool in combo with quick mask to add texture or gradations.

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Do you only use this resolution for print images? If not then why? What is the best resolution to use for digital images?

Yes... just for print, but that is the intention for all of my artwork. However, when I'm designing websites, then I generally work at a much lower resolution for the graphics.

[Blind]

Thanks for all the replies, fellas... as usual, this place is a great resource for tips from pros.