Reader Question: Why do Flash drawings look so ugly?

Sari writes:

"Hi, When I try to draw in Flash, it looks nasty. I use a graphics tablet and even with that the lines are jerky and I can't sketch. It looks like I drew it in crayon when I'm done. How do I make my Flash drawings look good? -Sari"

I think part of the problem here is that you're thinking of Flash like any other graphics application, and it's not. It's a vector animation program that can be used to produce detailed art, but the methods are significantly different. You won't find many options for brush strokes and shading styles in Flash; nor will you have a very fine level of control painting on-screen with the brush as if you were using Photoshop. When it comes to creating detailed artwork, Flash is comparable to Illustrator in that you'll get your best results and the highest level of control using paths rather than brush strokes. That can be a little hard to adapt to for someone accustomed to using pen and paper drawing styles on screen, but once you get used to it you can produce some fairly smooth, detailed artwork.