I used to feel the same, but I've now spent so much time using a stylus that a regular pen feels strange to me.

I feel the same! Maybe because I always do more polished art digitally so my brain has been programmed to only do that. It's like there's this switch that just turns on when I sit in front of a computer.

I only doodle when I'm bored in class but I'm rarely bored in front of a computer. I'm not bored, therefore I cannot doodle.

I'm not sure what'll work for you, but for me I have different brushes that I use to sketch than I use to "draw".

I use a "marker" brush in SAI at a 60% opacity, then lower the layer opacity more and doodle over it with a different "pen" brush which isn't the same settings as my regular line brush.

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I almost exclusively make a point to doodle in navy or a darker blue, and then after adjust it to a dark gray-blue. I'll leave it a blue shade if I'll be making it a finished work.
I also used to try doodling all on the same piece and ended up with weird sized art that would frustrate me. I suffer from the 'out of paper' traditionally, and doodling on the same "page" digitally causes me the same stress so I don't do it anymore. But when I did...

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pencil on paper is lit!!!!!!!!!!!!

I struggle to doodle at all, whether with pen or digitally. I just...don't. It's like inspiration for drawing only strikes when I have a story to tell with it. Otherwise, I just can't think of anything to draw. It's very irritating! I wish I was a doodler

I draw traditional because it's easier for me too. I animate digitally though.

I think my hangup with doodling digitally is more about how doodling on paper was about a lack of "permanency" to the results. I would go through reams of copier paper a month...aimlessly.

With digital, the process has layers of saves and files... It just feels differently

I just don't draw digitally at all (aside from coloring) because I never really took to inking digitally. I did for years because I weirdly thought it was what I as supposed to do but I would stop drawing for months at a time because it just kinda stopped being fun for me.

It took me forever to realize that more than half the people in my niche of comics work mostly traditional. And once I made the switch back I just haven't had any problems getting into it.

Yeah, sketching and doodling digitally still feels a little weird/harder than traditionally for me (granted I've only really been using digital a lot for about 2 years now, and have like 20 before that in traditional practice xD)

Like part of it is the temptation to zoom in even though that messes with my sense of proportion massively while setting up the basic shapes for my drawing. I also feel like i should start doodling with my pen pressure turned off because, for me at least who is used to doodling in mechanical pencil and ball point pen, having the line fluxuation while doodling feels weird.

Buuuut i def prefer doing the sketch phase of drawings that I'm planning to develop digitally, even if i end up printing them out to ink with my light box. The ability to fully erase and marquee and rotate and reposition things is a god send when penciling. I've started doing my comic sketches this way and have def noticed a difference in efficiency and speed

That's happened to me from time to time. I'll draw something in my sketchbook, want to use it for a page and can't get it right. Sometimes I just take a picture of my sketch and ink it over digitally

Only a few times though. My sketchbook is mostly used for thumbnailing and quick character/scene ideas. I find physical drawing easier for my in-the-moment brainstorming. Likewise when it comes to more "official" art like character models and comic pencils to more natural on digital. Probably because I can fix mistakes easier and my inks come out clear on computer.

Overall I'd say I'm better digital since I've spent more time digital. If I had the money and time I would like to practice traditional inking again.

Oh yeah, doodling digitally is harder for me. Mostly because of the pen flow and the difference in stroke I can't really get via digital. I haven't been drawing on paper lately bit when I do, it usually finished quicker then when I draw on digital

I dont have issues doing either- but I do have issues doing either one at various times...sometimes I'll do well with drawing digitally and I'll struggle to draw traditionally for a spell- and vice versa.

yeah, i significantly prefer doodling physically, and esp sketching i now hate doing digitally. smth abt pencil on paper is more immediate and physical for me

You can change the nib of your tablet pens you know? Some of them feel more like pencil on paper when using them. It's really interesting to try different nib tips.

I can relate to this thread... I got my first tablet almost 3 months ago, and I'm still not used to drawing on it It just doesn't feel right. But it's kind of opposite to OP's problem; I actually can make doodles with it, though it doesn't feel as natural as it does on paper, and turning them into something more finished is extremely hard.

Keeping track of proportions, making fluid lines, adding details, etc. - all that is so much more difficult for me digitally, even though it is already plenty hard on paper... I go through multiple layers of rough sketching and it still doesn't look even half as good as it would on paper. Does anyone else have this problem? Like, not with doodling, but with doing "finished" digital works?

I spend many years wishing I had a tablet, and now I'm just frustrated with how the transition to digital art actually made my poor skills even worse

At first drawing felt differently. People would just say, "Just draw the same way you would draw traditionally" but it's really is a different mindset. I needed to respect the fact that it was naturally a different media, so I made a habit of leveraging layers a bit more than normal since it's the most obvious difference.

After that its just picking out personal tendencies and drawing habits that dont transition as well.

although I've had a stylus for over half my life, and I'm good with it, I still find doodling in my sketchbook is one of the best ways I can brainstorm. Not that I can't on a computer, it's just a little bit slower to do it. The pencil is more instantaneous.

Doodle a lot. My first arts with my tablet looked pretty bad. All of my coloring's looked pretty bad too, and I feel like they still look bad. I just can't color the same way I do traditionally. It requires too much effort to duplicate what a colored pencil or copic can do - especially when you're used to being able to make your pen point as fine as you want with pressure and digitally it's just like "I R ROUND EVEN IF YOU FLICK". me: gdi
Also: really? you can't swap out apple's stylus nibs? that's so weird to me lol what happens when it wears down!?

I feel the same! I think it's mostly because I can't get into a creative state at a computer. When I can curl up in a blanket with my sketchbook, I'm relaxed and I can doodle a bunch of stuff.

The computer is where I ink/color, which I feel is not as creative of a process; the color scheme and stuff comes to me while doodling on paper.

oh yeah, i love tinkering with the settings to make things Feel Right, but thats the thing: you always have to code the intuitive actions into digital brushes, whereas with pencil and ink you can just draw and be like 'oh, i wanna do THAT' and then do it. i like working rough and splatty and with lots of random utensils, smth digital cant rly replace

though i also like experimenting with new digital brushes. its not one or the other

To the people who struggle with sketching digitally: are you using a screen tablet or a no-screen tablet? I couldn't sketch properly on a tablet until I got a screen tablet.

Once you have one, use a pen nib that creates lines that ease your mind for sketching. For me, I tend to relax more both when inking and sketching if I use bright clear colors and a maru inkpen nib. I think it's because it feels like I'm using red/blue ballpoint pens and just making little pictures in my sketchbook for my own use. Removes the whole stress of "this has to be representable!!!!!" (you know, that stress that ironically enough often renders the work less representable). What works for you will probably be different due to individual associations.

Use low/no stabilization for sketches, use stabilization for inking if you are aiming for a clean look.

Sketching digitally can be very beneficial, especially if you plan on publishing a finished piece because you can quickly fix any anatomy problems. As for doodles, it's once again nice to be able to do it digitally just in case you end up liking the doodle so much you wanna finish it up with some lineart and coloring.

I tend to use pen and paper when I'm travelling or away from a tablet. I use pen and paper more for mind maps and first character design idea doodles than anything else.

Word. I only started getting better coz I started drawing stuff that I wanted to draw/ink/color.