Common drawing troubleshooting steps

Restart the computer

Sometimes systems and drivers just get into confused states.

A restart will often clear up problems. If one or two restarts do not fix the problem, move on to other troubleshooting steps.

Are you running the latest tablet drivers? The driver software will usually have somewhere that shows which version it is.
Try uninstalling, restarting the computer, and reinstalling the latest drivers.
Sometimes the drivers you have do not completely uninstall themselves. To fully uninstall them, see Tablet Driver Cleanup tool.

Sometimes newer drivers themselves introduce new problems that were not there before.
Try installing an older tablet driver to see if that fixes the problem.

Often, the problem might be due to a specific app, so you should try other apps to see whether they replicate it.

NOTES:

I recommend always testing with Krita because it is free and has configurable brushes that let you test pen features such as pressure and tilt.

Drawing apps do complex things. My tablet tester is much simpler, and I know exactly what it does. See whether you can replicate the behavior there.

Often it can be a clue to what is going on.

If you are using a Mac, skip this section. It does not apply to you.

If you are using a Windows computer, you need to be aware of a component called Windows Ink.

See these docs:

If you are having pressure problems, check pressure in the driver: DIAG: Testing pressure in the tablet driver
In Windows, if the tablet driver detects pressure but the pressure is not working in an app, it often indicates that Windows Ink is configured inconsistently between the two.
It is important to see where pressure is working and where it is not.
- Is it working in a specific app but not working in others?
- Or is it not working in all apps?

Last updated 3 months ago