MDO2010 posted at 2:42PM Thu, 01 September 2016 - #4278613

I really want to learn to use the tablet since everyone says you need one, but I cannot find a comfortable place to put it on my desk, cannot comfortably draw even a smooth line with it - I can't even get the settings to the point where I can smoothly sign my name with it. If I can't write with it or sketch with it I certainly can't paint with it.

You're probably expecting too much from the tablet. Pretty sure nobody can do a precise line or make a signature with a tablet. (That's one reason people pony-up for a Cintiq and why some drawing programs have hand-steadiness compensation.) You can however change your technique to get closer with less effort than with a mouse. Adapt to the tool: it's not going to adapt to you. As a pup I'd see someone good at inking with a rapidograph pen and think it was the easiest thing in the world to do. Right up to the point I tried to do it.

As for finding a comfortable position, if you have a small tablet, have you tried your lap?