Buying a tablet.....

[Recca Phoenix]

I am considering buying a tablet. I don't want anything super-fancy, just Mac-compatible, enough space to draw on, and under 100$.
I don't use Photoshop, but I would if I had it....if the tablet comes with photoshop or whatever that would be a huge plus.....
let me know what you think is good.
Also, because of space issues, nothing over 10X10 inches or so.....

[Misuzu]

If your looking for under $100 dollars, your really restricting yourself.　　A 3x5 Tablet will typically run you ＄１００ or so... You might consider investing in an older model to get more bang for your buck. My experience with 3x5s were that they were just a bit too small to do anything but touch up work for photo editing and things like that. Not very good tools to do nice drawings on. get a minimum of something thats an 8x10 or something like that... but it will run you more the $100 unless you can find a really good deal.

Wacom is my suggested brand... though definitely not the cheapest.

[Mihel]

Yeah... unfortunately, the only tablet brand that I find worthwhile is Wacom, because they're the "real" brand by which other brands are measured, and the one with the most support for the most features.

The discussion in here might help

[Recca Phoenix]

Yeah, I was looking at the Wacom ones, they are a good deal because they come with 2 programs and the 6x8 runs about 150$ or so....
I have to decide how much I want it if I'm going to spend over 100$

[DaFool]

I think you might be able to get an older smaller Wacom for about US$70. At least that was my experience. It's good enough for coloring and fixups, and am finding recently that doing linework entirely on paper saves time, so a bigger investment was not justified.

[Recca Phoenix]

Used...... T_T;;;;
You can never be sure of the quality, etc. Is there a place you'd recommend buying from?

[Recca Phoenix]

I'm worried about another thing - I hold my pens/pencils funny, so that a large portion of my hand rests on whatever I'm drawing on.... would this affect the function of a tablet?

Also, I hear complaints that drawing with a tablet still doesn't guarantee well-drawn lines, i.e. shaky effect.....

Definitely if I get one I'm going with the 6x8 Wacom....
despite the cost >_<.......

[NetGenSuperstar]

I'm worried about another thing - I hold my pens/pencils funny, so that a large portion of my hand rests on whatever I'm drawing on.... would this affect the function of a tablet?

The pens for the tablets use electromagnetic current to detect the position of the pen. Your hand does nothing.

[Jake]

Also, I hear complaints that drawing with a tablet still doesn't guarantee well-drawn lines, i.e. shaky effect.....

In my experience, people never draw better with a tablet than without. It's the same hand movements, using a similar device, after all! If anything, drawing on a tablet is a little bit harder than drawing with pen and paper, because you're not looking at your hands, which takes a little bit of getting used to. It's usually only a few minutes of getting used to it before you're just as proficient with tablet stylus as pen, but it's there nonetheless. As always, the ideal option is getting to try one before buying.

On the other hand, what a tablet can improve is mark quality; you don't have to worry about your pen running out of ink, catching on the paper, the ink bleeding, smudging things with your hand, etc. Not to mention that I've yet to find out where bristol board keeps its undo feature. :/



And I'd disagree that a 3x5" tablet is no good for line art, it's just seriously restricting. In the Wacom drivers, at least, you can choose to map the tablet to a small portion of the screen, which ups your drawing resolution to a point equivalent to a larger tablet. The problem then becomes that you can't draw lines outside of this smaller imaginary-box sub-portion of your monitor, but with the number of toolboxes some graphics programs like to display these days that's not necessarily a great hardship. Bigger tablets than 3x5" are usually notably more useful, but a tiny one isn't useless. I use one at work (to avoid RSI by switching between it and a mouse on a regular basis) and have more than once spent lunchtimes playing around in PSP.

[Radhreni]

I'm worried about another thing - I hold my pens/pencils funny, so that a large portion of my hand rests on whatever I'm drawing on.... would this affect the function of a tablet?

Also, I hear complaints that drawing with a tablet still doesn't guarantee well-drawn lines, i.e. shaky effect.....

Definitely if I get one I'm going with the 6x8 Wacom....
despite the cost >_<.......

I have an Intuos2 6x8, and I also tend to rest my drawing hand on whatever I'm working on. I can say from experience that it will not affect the tablet's function.

Expect a transition period while you adjust to using a tablet. It took me about two weeks before I started getting comfortable with mine, but this is by no means universal. Could be shorter, could be longer. Daily practice will help a lot.

And no, a tablet won't guarantee any better lines than what you can draw by hand. Once you adjust, you will probably* be no better (or worse) than you are with pencil/paints/pastels/{insert your choice of media here}.

_
*I say 'probably' because you could end up being more comfortable with digital media than traditional, which will probably result in better artwork. That could just be a matter of practicing more with something you prefer, though. Correlation does not equal causation and all that jazz.

[Zarcon]

In my experience, people never draw better with a tablet than without.

I draw infinitely better with a tablet than without...haha...

As for shakiness...yea, can't fix that...unless you work on a MASSIVE scale. The larger you work at, the easier it is to get away with shakiness/messy lines. Once you shrink down to your desired size you won't notice much, if any, shakiness in your lines. You'll notice most artists online work on a huge scale...at least, if you ever look at ridiculously high resolution art scans you'll see the lines are shaky as hell.

I love my tablet and I don't know what I'd do without it. I'd certainly cry if it broke one day since it would mean I wouldn't be able to draw anything decent for a while. >.>;;

[lordcloudx]

after reading everyone's input here, I've just been convinced not to try buying a tablet.

[Recca Phoenix]

I just got my 6x8 Wacom tablet everyone, and it is my new LOVER!!!! Guess it's time to edit the list...

MY LOVERS
>>1.)My Wacom Tablet
2.)Takoyaki
3.)Ren'Py
4.)My bass
5.)My BOSE speakers
6.)Target

It did NOT come with real photoshop, btw, it came with like a half-ass version. But it also came with Corel painter 2, a mouse, and some photo filter program I haven't messed with yet.

It was definitely worth the 200 bucks to get it new with those things...

[yvanc]

I recommend WACOM Tablets.

Its easy to use and battery free. Its really worth your investment