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Try to create as much of the art on paper as possible. Drawing complicated shapes with a mouse can be quite challenging. Therefore, it is best to at least draw the sketch on paper, where you have more control over your hand. I’d also recommend inking the drawing on paper as well, however, it is possible to ink a drawing and add changes to the lineart using a mouse, which brings me over to the next point.

When drawing with a mouse, the stabilizing tool is your best friend. Although it’s possible to draw without it, the stabilizer allows you to control your lines a lot better, and prevents them from being wobbly. The only downside is that when using it, you cannot draw as quickly as when you only have basic smoothing turned on, but overall, the benefits vastly outweigh the downsides.

Avoid overly painterly styles. From what I’ve realized, creating painterly drawings can be extremely difficult when you don’t have access to a tablet. Without opacity variation in brushwork, a digital painting just doesn’t look good. Therefore, I’d highly recommend keeping your drawings relatively simple. Instead of adding complex textures, stick to cell shading. Use gradients if you want to add a smooth passage from one color to another. Instead of advanced brushwork, make colors, proper anatomy and good-looking lineart the main focus of your pieces.

The lasso and wand tool are your best friends. They allow you to quickly select different areas, and fill them with colors. Transparency masks are also useful, especially if you want certain parts of the image to be more opaque.

Exploit the programs tools to their fullest potential. Back when I had access to a drawing tablet, I mostly used the brush and eraser. Currently, though, I use a whole variety of tools and effects to achieve different results. For instance, if I want to create a glowing light, I draw it’s base color in on a separate layer. I then select it, duplicate the layer, select the new layer, grow the selection by a few pixels, fill it in with the base color again, deselect the area, blur the new layer out and set it to hard light. Prior to learning to draw with a mouse, I’d just add the light with an airbrush. The last few months have taught me a lot about using the various tools offered by my software, which will definitely come in handy once I get a drawing tablet. So, experiment, learn, and don’t let the lack of proper hardware limit you!