Tablet advice? Thinking about buying.

[CodeRed]

I'm thinking about investing in a wacom tablet or something like it.

How is the learning curve? Looking at a screen and drawing on a tablet seems like it could be challenging at first.

What sizes/models work well?

does it make life a few hundred bucks easier, or better to stick with the pen and paper?

[Mr. Caravaggio]

As usual, it's just a tool. Somepeople can make masterpieces with it (see cgtalk gallery), some people make stick figures. I personally don't think the learning curve is bad, if anything it's better because when you make a mistake you can just erase it without making a mess. Keep the parts of a drawing you like and redo the parts you don't, and the more you draw the less you'll redo, like anything.

I've got an intuous3, 8x6. I think if it were smaller it wouldn't be too accurate, and if it were bigger I'd move my hand too much, so goldy says this is good for me.

I don't use paper anymore, and don't want to.

[Forcet]

Personally, I think that if one has gained a proficient mastery of paper and pencil (inks and brushes, etc...), a tablet can be a great tool.

But if one is just starting to get into the groove about drawing, and is still developing their own style, pen and pencil is much more rewarding. Personally, my skill level limits me to being able to only color and edit with a tablet, and not do line art very well. To me, it feels like... well, like how it is, plastic on plastic. It's slick and very different. I guess it all depends on your personal ability to adapt to new tools, as well as drawing skill.

I know there are great artists who opt for a tablet-only approach, but I'm not one of them, and from what I've pulled from the forum, not many people are (am I wrong?).

Feeling adventurous? Go for it. But by no means is it a cure-all spiffification pill when it comes to a finished product.

[Mr. Caravaggio]

To me, it feels like... well, like how it is, plastic on plastic. It's slick and very different. I guess it all depends on your personal ability to adapt to new tools, as well as drawing skill.

I've heard some people like to tape printing paper over their sensor covers to give it more of a friction feel. This also extends the life of the cover, but probably quickens the degredation of the pen nib. I've tried it a few times and it feels different, but I don't do it regularly.

[Jakkal]

Looking at a screen and drawing on a tablet seems like it could be challenging at first.

If you can do it with a mouse, you can do it with a wacom.

I've been using a tablet since 2001 or so. I don't think I could ever go back. But I do a lot of digital painting, so a wacom is damn near a necessity for me.

The wacom also cuts my comic production time in half. Where it would take forever to color my comics, I can zip up colors very quickly with the wacon and it's tool sections, as well as the pressure sensitivity.

If you do a lot of work on the computer, get the wacom, it'll be an invaluable resource, and you'll wonder why you waited to get one.

I would highly recommend getting the largest area that you can afford. I started out with the 4x6 and worked my way up. The larger the area, the easier it is to use. I also recommend the Intuous Series over the Graphire Series just because of the pen sensitivity and other options that the Intuous can provide.

Hope that helps.

[Churusaa]

What specifically draws you to the intuos over the graphire? Obviously it's a better quality product versus the Graphire, otherwise they wouldn't be able to market it at an inflated price. I noticed on their site the intuos has twice the sensitivity of the wacom (1024 instead of 512) does this significantly impact the quality of the finished product?

What are the most significant differences in owning an intuos tablet over a graphire?
---Churusaa

[Mr. Caravaggio]

I haven't ever used a graphire, so I can't comment on the sensitivity. But I can say that, personally, I've never had any use for the tilt function. I imagine I might use it at some point in my tablets life, just, not yet. So most of the time it'll get left off in any given brush option - so don't consider that anything too special.

(the one thing that is weird about a tablet as opposed to paper is that, unless you're using Corel Paitner, it's not really workable to rotate it. heh, that'll probably alienate a lot of people.)

[Christwriter]

Intros has twice the pressure sensativity that Graphire does (1000+ settings for Intros, 500 for Graphire). Sounds fancy, but I never noticed the difference.

Pen is styled differently, a little more ergonomically with the Intros than the graphire. You also get many pen nibs. Never used those either...

Intros comes with buttons that will spoil you rotten. Shift, alt, contrl and space have equivilant buttons on the tablet, on both the left and right sides. There's also a slidy-scroll bar...thingy that works off your finger. Touch one end, it'll zoom in/scroll up. Touch the other, it'll zoom out/scroll down. Much fun. The Intros mouse has four bottons+ scroll wheel. The two aditional buttons are back/forward buttons, back on the left, forward on the right. Helps with surfing the net, as instead of having to go to the back button on the browser whenever you want to go back and forth, you just click your mouse. I had to help my brother out on his computer the other day, and I kept trying to find the back button on his mouse.

CW

[Mr. Caravaggio]

Intros has twice the pressure sensativity that Graphire does (1000+ settings for Intros, 500 for Graphire). Sounds fancy, but I never noticed the difference.

Pen is styled differently, a little more ergonomically with the Intros than the graphire. You also get many pen nibs. Never used those either...

Intros comes with buttons that will spoil you rotten. Shift, alt, contrl and space have equivilant buttons on the tablet, on both the left and right sides. There's also a slidy-scroll bar...thingy that works off your finger. Touch one end, it'll zoom in/scroll up. Touch the other, it'll zoom out/scroll down. Much fun. The Intros mouse has four bottons+ scroll wheel. The two aditional buttons are back/forward buttons, back on the left, forward on the right. Helps with surfing the net, as instead of having to go to the back button on the browser whenever you want to go back and forth, you just click your mouse. I had to help my brother out on his computer the other day, and I kept trying to find the back button on his mouse.

CW

Oh yeah, I forgot about the buttons, they can kind of tilit it. It should also be mentioned they can be re-mapped to things beside cntrl/alt/shift. I've got mine set to alt-tab and change songs in winamp.

Never used the mouse personally.

[[AlmightyPyro]]

I love tablets. My Tabby is my bestest friend ever! It take a bit to get use to, but after a day or two it gets really fun. MSPaint is fun to doodle inwith a tablet.

I have a Intuose II 9x12 and it rawks!

[Mon Ami]

I recently acquired my first tablet: Intuos3 9x12...I am never going back!

Not to mention a great price of $470 CAD >3

[Corgan_dane]

If you can afford it, I'd suggest a Wacom penabled tabletpc.

You can see the exact point in my comic where I switched from hand-drawn scans to making the comic with the stylus, and it's been nothing but up graphically from there.

Also, it really can be a time saver. I can whip out a complete comic in a couple of hours now, where it used to take me at least 6 hours per strip, from start to finish.

[Subhuman]

I use the Graphire and it works fine for what I do. The pressure sensitivity is excellent and using the tablet makes coloring a snap.

[Cutething]

It took me a while before I could afford a tablet, but I LOVE mine. I use a wacom, 4x5, and it's awesome. My comic is drawn using the tablet. It was extremely weird at first, acclimating to looking at the screen instead of my hand, but it's easy as pie now.

One thing I don't think people have mentioned here, is the program you plan to use with the tablet -- I don't know that it matters *that* much, but I have a blast using Flash with it. If I use photoshop, I'd get different lines based on pressure. I personally prefer the uniform line thickness, but you may feel very differently depending on your style.

Overall, if you're looking for a good tool and a good price, the smaller wacom tablet is awesome. It has many of the features of the more expensive ones, for a fraction of the price. If you have more money to spend, go for the larger tablet, rather than the higher end one.

[Rinzu]

if you wanted to experiment with a tablet try a wacom, 4x5 which is what i use. it's somewhat small but after using it after a few days you'll get the hang of it. it's a very smooth and slippery feel at first, and until you get used to it your drawing style might change alittle. but if you can draw with a mouse like me, you'll do fine.

edit: i also use open canvas for inking, but it works with adobe as well.

[Juergen Hubert]

Buy it. I've had the cheaper Wacom tablet for two weeks, and I have been enthusiastically drawing with it ever since. It is a lot faster and more convenient than conventional drawing, at least in my experience. And coloring something with it is a joy rather than a chore.

[Phalanx]

Personally I find my Graphire 2 (it's old, I know) awesome for colouring, but not so good for pure drawing.

All that said, here's stuff I did that's pure tablet.

Never tried an Intuos, but sounds like a nice thing to blow my paycheck on when my Graphire wears out.