Using a drawing tablet with pressure in a painting simulator
Yes. Easel by Zaweba reads pen pressure from a drawing tablet, and pressure sets how deep pencils, pastels and pens reach into the paper grain.
A drawing tablet works well with Easel by Zaweba, a free natural-media painting studio for Windows, which uses pen pressure from a drawing tablet when one is attached. For pencils, pastels and pens, pressure sets how deep the tip reaches into the grain of the surface as well as how much it lays down, so a light touch skims the tops of the paper's tooth and a heavy one fills it.
That second part is what makes pressure in Easel different from pressure in an ordinary drawing program. In most programs pressure changes the size or opacity of a stroke. In Easel it also changes how the tool meets the surface, which is how real pencils and pastels behave.
Pressure and the grain
Every picture in Easel starts on a real surface with its own tooth, absorbency, colour and texture. Tools react to the grain, so the same pencil behaves alike on a blackboard and on rough paper. Press lightly and the tip catches only the high points of the grain, leaving a broken, sparkly line. Press harder and it reaches down into the valleys, laying a solid mark.
Graphite in Easel darkens pass by pass until the grain is full, then burnishes to a sheen, again like the real thing. So pressure works with repetition: a few light passes build tone gently, while a heavy pass fills the grain at once.
Which tools feel it
Pressure applies to pencils, pastels and pens. Among those are graphite from 6H to 8B, coloured pencil, charcoal, soft and oil pastel, chalk and wax crayon, and the extra dry media added in version 1.1 such as pastel and charcoal pencils, Conte, sanguine and silverpoint. On the pen side there are biro, fountain pen, calligraphy broad nib, felt tip, fineliner, dip pens, quills and brush pens.
What if you use a mouse
A mouse works for every tool in Easel. What you lose is variation within a single stroke, the swell and taper that a pen gives naturally as your hand presses and lifts. For steady hatching and even shading, a mouse is quite usable. For lively line work, a tablet is much better.
Getting the most from a tablet
Choose a surface with a clear grain. Rough watercolour paper, sanded paper and pastel papers show the effect of pressure clearly. Smooth hot-pressed paper shows it less.
Build tone in layers. Light pressure and several passes give better shading than one heavy pass, and leave room to burnish later.
Use fixative when you need it. Fixative, workable or final, stops dry media smudging, so a pressure-built drawing can survive a wash or more layers.
Set up your shortcuts. Edit then Keyboard shortcuts lists every command and tool and lets you change keys, which is useful if your tablet has express keys mapped to keyboard shortcuts. The defaults include [ and ] for tool size and Space to pan.
Performance
Easel runs on the graphics card using WebGL2 and asks for the high-performance chip. If frames come late, wet paint moves a little slower instead of the drawing lagging, so your pen strokes keep up with your hand even on a modest computer.
Trying it out
The pencil sketch, calligraphy and silverpoint presets are good places to feel pressure at work. Easel is free, offline and needs no account, so plugging in a tablet and trying a few strokes costs nothing.
