its magic, i think.

yes, that's exactly how i work. i used to scan sketches and work them up but once i was familiar enough with illustrator i stopped bothering with the sketches and now i draw from scratch with the pen tool. you get to learn where you'll need to put a point to get the right bend in a bezier to create the line you want. do it enough and it becomes second nature.

I never start off drawing on the computer, but I do love using the brush tool for freehand drawing in Illustrator, and then go over the paths with the pen tool to tweak and correct imperfections. You can't freehand draw with the pen, but it's a hell of a detailer. If I start with the pen, it's always going over a scanned sketch.

I do a bit of both...I use the pencil tool for freehand (& a Wacom tablet) & then tweak or smooth the paths if necessary...or for greater control, I use the pen. It seems like a nightmare when you start out, but as d3d said, it becomes second nature pretty quickly & you know just where to put the points to get the curves right...I generally go round once with the pen tool & then go back & refine the path. As for starting from scratch digitally...very simple objects (like my logo) I just draw without a template...otherwise I scan in pencil sketches & use those.

I definately have to draw out the design with pencil and paper first... all u people that start out straight in illustrator have my respect... you have like Illustrator zen or something

yes, i just did that with my "rock lobster" drawing and "hollaback fasho" drawing and the "not your average house cat" sub i have. started with the pen tool, ended with the pen tool. nothing more.

You can totally tell when people just use the computer as a tool...

I just use my wacom tablet and flash, sometimes with a sketch and sometimes without.
I never got the hang of Illustrator.

I'm glad to hear you can use flash and get results like that! I tried flash and I liked how easy it was to draw with my tiny 2x3 tablet, but it's very quirky and kind of a pain in other ways. I like how illustrator handles moving/ordering objects and fine-tuning and everything but its not so good for drawing with a tablet. Oh, what to do.. Adobe bought macromedia, didn't they? Maybe they will release a program like Illustrator-With-Drawing-Like-Flash-For-Hoborg CS3

" You can totally tell when people just use the computer as a tool..."

I always used to think the same, all these people thinking they are l337 w3bdesign4rz because they pirated illustrator and now think they can draw! But a lot of people here have really impressive shit done from scratch straight to illustrator. Maybe d3d and karena ARE magicians. I should probably just draw more stuff and practice instead of spending my non-work time dicking around making stupid comments on threadless subs =p

Thanks for responding. I was curious as to how this blog-device would work out...

i should probably buy a wacom tablet too, i'm used to draw everything with my mouse ( using the pen tool ), sketches are on paper, no cpu programn ever beats paper and markers, but they're so damn handy.

The only time I design from scratch in illustrator is when I'm creating simple characters out of geometric shapes such as circles and rectangles. I don't have a tablet so I wouldn't know if it were easier to draw from scratch using that. I may have a go when I get one though, sounds like it'd save a lot of time (and paper... although I like to have something tangible in my hands that I created myself)

As ICD2k3 said, much respect to those who can draw from scratch in illustrator (or any software package for that matter)

Drawing from scratch in illustrator is easier if you've got a tablet.. Especially if you're doing figurative stuff as opposed to simpler forms. You can bash out the main shape then zoom in and finesse it with the mouse.

Theres something in Illustrator CS that lets you convert scanned drawings straight into vectors apparently though.

Thank YOU! sometimes I think my head will explode reading some of the comments I get. Thank you thank you.

Corel Draw has a really great pen tool, I wish Adobe would pick up on it. It's so much easier and faster to use.

For inked/painted covers I tend to use illustrator to trace, but for threadless designs I just draw directly in illustrator- with customized calligraphic brushes. I also have a wacom tablet.

and the thing that converts drawings to vectors is called "live trace" pretty cool, but the vectors are hard to customize beyond tracing...and its not always nice and smooth