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Jul 2017

Practice and patience.

Also most programs have some sort of spline or path tool that can help you draw curves.

People who can draw freehand with a mouse and make it look good have spent a very long time practicing. I imagine it's more common among older generations of digital artists, who started working before graphics tablets became more common and affordable.

It's not worth spending the time to master it, though. The kind of intensive, delicate mouse work you need for drawing will put a lot of strain on your hands, and will probably lead to RSI if done long term. It will be much healthier to save up for a tablet instead.

I agree with @gateofselidor. It's not worth it. I think it'd be better to save up the big bucks and buy a tablet with a pen if you want to commit to drawing digitally.

Personally I hate drawing on computers and draw by hand and scan. I find it gives my eyes a little rest time and it's much more soothing.

You don't. It's like drawing with a rock. it's not an industry standard let alone used commonly for art anyway. Either just save up for a tablet or just draw by hand and scanning it.

I haven't been drawing much lately, but when I do draw digitally, I use a mouse because I can't get a graphics tablet yet.

I don't know how familiar you are with image editing software so bear in mind that some tips may require familiarity with them.

1) As with many things, practice plays a big part.

2) Some programs have a "stabiliser" or "smooth stroke" that smooths your lines so they are less wobbly.

3) If you're going for a "painted" style, don't worry about how "neat" it looks, especially when it's zoomed in. Trust me, it'll look just fine when you zoom out. Also, use a relatively large canvas.

4) If you want to do line art, use a vector graphics editor!! e.g. inkscape. You can easily edit the lines as opposed to a raster graphics editor e.g. photoshop.

5) Do a very, very rough sketch or outline on a separate layer beforehand.

6) If you're colouring in line art, fill in the area you want to colour with a single colour on a separate transparent layer and lock the transparency so you can't go over the lines.

It's probably still more time consuming than if you just use a graphics tablet and draw by hand (though idk because I can't compare) but it does make mouse-drawing a hell lot easier.

Edit:

7) Play around with brush settings and brushes! Because you don't have pressure sesitivity and velocity is kinda hard to do, you need to make use of the other stuff.

I can't stress how important using a vector graphics editor is. It's surprising how much easier it is to do line art with it (using a mouse anyway). Additionally, don't spend too long on a small area. If you think it's good enough, leave it.Don't waste time trying to get it "perfect".

I don't have an art tablet or anything yet, but I do have a Samsung Tablet and I LOVE using it for my art. There are so many good art programs to use (I recommend Medibang Paint) and it's easy for me.
I still have art programs on my computer, but I don't use them as often.

I'm pretty sure people who draw well with mouses use witchcraft or something.

But in all seriousness drawing constantly with a mouse is really bad for your wrists so I don't recommend it at all. It's probably best if you try so save up some money for a cheap tablet instead.

I think my mouse art was good. I have a tablet now. But I used a mouse for 8 years, so I mastered it I think LOL!

I tie a string around his neck, dental floss makes a good substitute (preferably mint). With a small hook I have him chase a piece of American cheese. While he's doing that I grab a piece of paper and pencil and start drawing.

To draw with a mouse takes practice and the right program to make it look good, in my mind. When I drew with a mouse, I used Medibang Paint Pro. It has a 'correction' that makes your lines smooth without using lines or curves. The program is free and you can download it here https://medibangpaint.com/en/pc/207

Here is what it looks like

And here are a few examples of arts I made with a mouse using this program



I would really recommend this program for anyone to use if you don't wanna pay. It works well with a mouse and a tablet and the materials in this program are just as good as any of the paid programs like Clip Studio.

Oh, I really don't know. Speaking as someone who drew with a mouse for a while- it's really really difficult and hard on your hands to control lines and colour with a mouse, because you must hold it in a death grip and inch across the table super slowly if you want any kind of smoothness to the line/not colour outside of said line.

I also used to use tiny canvases, because crisp, sweeping strokes are nearly impossible, whereas now I have a tablet and am starting to favour larger canvas sizes since the ease of movement is just so nice. So-uh, really, I'm just advising to get a tablet, even a cheap-ish one, probably from wacom since they're supposed to last a while and have quality or something? It's just so much more versatile as to what you can do with it.

I prefer using a mouse for pixel art and for when I work in Adobe Illustrator or InDesign, but for comic drawing... a tablet is a necessary investment, as is a program suited to tablet drawing like Paint Tool Sai or Clip Studio Paint.

I imagine it depends on a bit on what program you're using. I would try doing your line art with the pen tool, or whatever the equivalent of that is on the software you're using. It's' awkward at first, but it's a lot more precise than trying to use the mouse like a pencil.

What I do is a 3 step process that uses a combination of freehand and mouse:
Step 1: draw all panels by hand and scan them
Step 2: upload the scanned images and trace with mouse using Illustrator
Step 3: add color and draw backgrounds using photoshop.

Sometimes I surprise myself with the results. I'm not a great artist but it doesn't look horrible. Here's my comic:

I tried once with the pen tool XX years ago lol. But ... too much time consuming.

Practice, that's really all that can be said. I've used a mouse for years in drawing and have become so accustomed to it that it's like holding a pen. However, using a mouse more often requires you to utilize other digital utensils to make up for what the mouse lacks.

For example, a mouse can't lessen or thicken line work, Not unless you want to painstakingly go over it again with a new "coat of paint" if you will. Utilizing curves with a mouth can be difficult sometimes. There's also just typical issues with feeling. I don't know if tablet users have this problem, but I have to have a very specific feeling with my mouse, both against my hand and against the pad. Sometimes I'll get days where the mouse feels rough on the pad or my hands feel rough and I just got to move it around until I get a nice smooth touch.

There's a lot of specific things I've done to match up to the ideal feel I want with my own mouse. I've set my cursor speed at a specific level. I use different programs to help with line work including Lazy Nezumi, a practical godsend. I've set my clicker so that I only have to hold the button down for a second before it stays, allowing me to rest my fingers.

In the end, I have almost no intentions of switching from my mouse. I've even tried using tablets and couldn't get the feel of them. But to use my mouse has taken a lot of specifics directly trained for my use and its only been done after years of not only practice but utilizing different material.