For most of my life I just assumed that my current process with the scanner and the pen mouse was just temporary...that once I grew up and got some income, I'd buy myself a tablet like all the cool kids.
But now that that time is drawing near, and I know more about how tablets work, I'm starting to have second thoughts. =/
One thing that bugs me a lot is when artists talk about how difficult linework is-- y'know, when you try to trace over a sketch, and you draw a line but the angle/curvature is wrong, so you try again...and again...and again...
And it's all 'haha lol #artistproblems' until I realize that at this moment in time that's not something I have to deal with. Like at all. And if I did have to deal with it, it would probably be a big issue for me specifically.
I'm a very instinctual artist, my thought process is less 'here's the goal, and I can make it happen if I do this and this and this' and more 'here's the goal; I'mma just do my thing and modify it until I get close enough'.
Drawing itself is one of my main 'things', and it's really hard to replicate when my hand isn't allowed to move naturally, and/or my tools won't cooperate.
Simply put: with a normal pencil in hand, I can draw a head that looks "right" in one stroke.
If I have to rely on my pen mouse, it'll probably take me several strokes, a couple shape tools, a preliminary sketch, and at least 5 minutes...and it probably still won't look as good as what I can do by hand.
And if what I can expect from getting a tablet is to have to do that 24/7, then it isn't worth it. =/ I'd be trading time, quality, and overall spatial awareness (basically, I work better when I can see the whole piece at once) all for the 2 minutes a day that it takes me to use my scanner, and 10-ish dollars a year for physical art supplies. That's a bad trade.
I'll probably still try to get a tablet for animation purposes (the quality of the individual drawings matters less, and the efficiency tradeoffs are much better). But as for art in general...do you think I'm overreacting? Or is it really not worth the trouble...?