Hello all!
So today we have a frustrating issue that most digital artists know very well. The stigma of tablets ability to fail to work just when we need them is something that is known by pretty much anyone who has one. Over the past few weeks I have been having an issue with my tablet and I finally found the solution today. I have been getting so frustrated because every time I had the desire to draw, my tablet would fail to work. For those of you who know, usually the issue is something so small or obvious you honestly just want to smack yourself.
For those of you who have the same issues as me in just getting your tablet to work here are a couple of things that you should try first before freaking out.
1. Check for new drivers.
If you haven't been keeping a close eye on the site your tablet is from, there is probably a new driver that has come out that you just haven't seen. I had this problem when I first started using tablets. It's not something that you know about right off the bat when getting a tablet.
2. Restart your computer!!!
OK seriously, this is not a joke. If you're like me and don't like to turn off your computer or restart it then you need to do try this if you are having tablet issues. Whether or not it needs an update, I've found that just restarting your computer can help your tablet refresh and get going again. I honestly couldn't tell you what it does, it just fixes a lot of problems.
3. Uninstall and Reinstall the driver.
Yes this is annoying and can possibly take a long time but sometimes this helps a lot. It refreshes the program entirely, and puts everything into it's default settings. Be careful to write down the settings of you pen or tablet preferences beforehand so you can manually adjust them back when you reinstall the driver again.
4. Check the program you are using.
Now this is the one that literally kills me every time. As I said earlier I have been having an issue with my tablet for the past couple weeks. it seemed that my calibration was off on my pen. I have been googling and searching through forums and asking friends and they have all said the same thing. "Fixing the calibration should be easy! Go into the Pen Properties and re-calibrate it!" My tablet doesn't even have a calibration button and so I had to go through Windows itself to try it. This route didn't work either. I tried all of the above, and then I thought of something. I usually use Autodesk Sketchbook so when testing if the current calibration was fixed or not I always used this software. It wasn't till this morning when I thought " maybe I should see if this is still and issue in a different program." What do you know? I opened up Photoshop and it is perfectly calibrated! I was so mad at myself for not checking other programs! So all along my issue wasn't the tablet, it was the program I was using!! Take my word and learn from my experience. Sometimes, whether you believe it or not, the tablet isn't always the issue. Check different programs to see if the issue persists. If it does, then you know the problem is in your tablet and not your programs.
Alright guys that's all for today! I hope this helps you a bit in all of the struggles that come with owning a tablet.
Karina
