Having Mouse Trouble?

A lot of people who are new to drawing on the computer have a lot of trouble drawing with their mouse because it’s very different from the motions of your pencil. Here are some possible remedies, from the most extreme to the least extreme.

1: Buy a Tablet – Don’t waste your money on something cheap. Get something fancy-panzy made by Wacom! Ask around for people’s opinions on what the best tablet for you is. (Tablets aren’t necessary; if your family’s automobile doesn’t have a built in TV, you might want to skip this option.)

2: Buy a New Mouse – It’s hard to draw with an old dying mouse that gets stuck easily. This option is cheaper than a tablet, and mouses can be used for more things than tablets. I have this wonderful little Trecker Wheel Mouse. I hear everyone say they prefer optical mouses (w/ a laser instead of a ball), but I don't like them, because they slide too much.

3: Buy a New Mouse Pad – The soft cloth-covered kind are great. ^_^ They provide enough friction without being too rough.

4: Clean the Mouse –You don’t really have to clean ball mouses so often. Take the ball out every now and then, blow on the inside to get the dust out, wipe the ball off on your shirt, and put it back together. Give it a more formal cleaning on occasion, but not as often. I live on a grass-less plot of land in Arizona with three dogs of the in-and-out variety. If I can get away with this little cleaning, I’m sure you can.

5: Readjust your mouse properties – If your computer works like mine, you go “Start > Settings > Control Panel > Mouse” to get to mouse properties. (If you’re left-handed, you might consider trading the function left/right buttons and putting the mouse on the other side.) The main thing is under “Pointer Options” or perhaps “Motion.” Find that and lower the cursor speed. I prefer the forth notch from the left. (On my computer…. Yours may not have the same number of notches!) This will make your mouse less sensitive, and the cursor won’t go flying across the screen upon each tiny imperfection on the mouse pad. I’ve seen many people say that this makes a huge difference.

6: Draw with the straight line – The line art section gives a bit more detail on this.

I strongly suggest #5 (and #6 too, if you need it).