What kind of drawing tablets do you guys use?

[charmwitch]

Having used both a Cintiq and Intuos, I can see myself switching between the two when necessary. For me, the Cintiq helps with inking and sketching faster, but I also think it's rather fragile. Er, to say- if you needed to replace your Cintiq it would be incredibly expensive. Even resurfacing the screen is about 300 USD, if I recalled correctly. I placed a screen protector on mine, but I'm still incredibly worried about it. It's not something you can take with you and the cables required for it make it a very hefty monster.

I have both an Intuos 4 and Cintiq. Personally, I think the Int4 is more than enough for a professional artist. It's a great, versatile tablet with the best functions of all tablets. I highly recommend it. The Cintiq is honestly a matter of preference, try it before you buy it. My girlfriend DEFINITELY prefers an Intuos to the Cintiq, but luckily for us we were able to borrow a friend's before we bought it. I like the Cintiq's preferences more personally, but I don't mind stealing her Intuos every once in a while.

[LVUER]

Yeah, you don't mind, but how about her? ^_^ jk

[charmwitch]

Haha, our computers are right next to each other! :>

[delta-ion]

I use an old wacom bamboo fun small. I like it especially because it works with windows and linux and I don't have to care about cells for the pen.

[Snowflower]

So, my parents decided that it was too much of a waste of money for me to buy a Bamboo Fun tablet (it's only $200! ugh!) so they're getting me the pen&touch next week, and get me the Fun if they think I'm going to use it seriously.

For people who have the Pen&Touch, does it work fine? What I'm worried about is the activity screen size. I think it's too small, but if it works fine, why waste an additional 100 bucks? But before I even bother with the purchase, I would like your opinion

[Lotus]

I have a Bamboo Pen (which I think was only like $70?) with a drawing area of around 4 x 6 inches (so not all that big) and it works wonderfully. It didn't come with Photoshop Elements but I'm cool with that since a lot of freeware painting programs are suited for tablets.

I think the only difference between the Pen and Pen and Touch is that the P&T also allows you to use your fingers, while the Pen doesn't.

[redcat]

Since I'm one of those with larger hands, the small 4x6 inches drawing area was a little small for me. That's one of the reason I choose the 6x8 version instead.
The other reason was resolution; you get better control in drawing the details with larger tablet than with smaller ones (which forced you to zoom a lot). The 8x12 version was too bulky though... and so does cintix...

[Death_HUG]

I have a Bamboo Pen&Touch for over a year and its still working great! (despite what I did to it >.>;)I agree with Lotus that the only difference between the two tablets is that the Pen&Touch lets you use your finger to draw and other stuff(so its like a bigger mouse). I think getting the Bamboo Pen would be better(saves you $30!)I don't think the drawing area is small, but that's just me.

[lordcloudx]

Here's my "Xing Zhi Drawing Tablet." The pen is magnetic and doesn't require any external power source. Neither does the tablet, apparently. It even has nifty little pen holder on the tablet itself and comes in a red and light-blue motif. The packaging makes the following bold claims, which I can personally attest to:

-Magnetic Magic Pen
-Heartbeat Experience
-Handwrite freely
-Erase Writing Without Mark

Personally, I believe the specs would be more like:
-No USB port required
-Compatible with any point and click camera or even camera phones
-Almost infinitely reusable
-9x12"
-Over 9000 levels of pressure sensitivity!!!
-Can be used as a mouse pad
-Incredibly affordable price of 1 USD!!! (or its equivalent in your currency. Bought it for 42 PHP)

In case of damage, the package says it can also be easily repaired with "502 Instant Glue."


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Here's a pic of a professional user demonstrating the "Erase Writing Without Mark" function.



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[YuukiCrossPudding]

^
LOL wut?! xDDD

I have 2 or 3 like that at my house too! easy to use actually
even my sis can use that... I really recommend this for beginners

too bad I can't erase spot as I like, without erasing everything I already draw lol

[Lumen_Astrum]

I was reading the description and I was telling myself, "Wow..." when I finally saw the pictures, and I was like O_O...

[modesty]

I alternate with a Cintiq and an Intuos3.
I don't do art professionally but I love the hobby enough that the Cintiq was worth it. Now I DO make art professionally but...I generally use my Intuos for that type of art.


I've always used Wacom products. My parents got me a little Graphire for my 16th birthday. Granted you are limited by what your parents are willing to spend. Your product should work fine.
However, even after 10 years, my first Wacom Graphire still works like a champ. My mother uses it now for her work. :3

[ushida_hikaru16]

Drawing tablets...hm!

I haven't used mine very much, even though I've had it for YEARS.

It's an old Wacom Graphire3 and it works like a pro. I use it more often now since I got Autodesk SketchBook Pro (for Mac, yeah baby :3) while I was working on a project for an elective multimedia class (and looking for inexpensive drawing software, because this class taught me that I can't draw in Photoshop worth crap! lol! I can use Photoshop for everything except drawing - drawing in Photoshop just DOES NOT WORK for me...)

Since I'm getting serious with my VN writing and I plan on being my own illustrator, my little tablet's gonna get a whole lot more use in the near future...

[Watercolorheart]

I have two tablets, one is a $250 Wacom Intuos 4 and one is that cheap $60 Wacom Bamboo one that's extra tiny.

Guess which one gets the most mileage.

Yep, it's the teeny weeny one.

I also had NO END to driver issues on 64-bit Windows 7 and Wacom tech support is just fucking terrible. I got it fixed though... somehow.

Even though I'm righthanded, I also use the left-handed option so if I Ctrl+Alt+Delete, Windows decides I have no mouse input and if it spontaneously decides to reinstall drivers after sleeping or restarting, I often have no tablet input or it's upside down. =(

Photoshop will also decide sometimes that, no, I don't have pressure or to only let me draw on like half the screen. Man, tablets are a pain sometimes...

[Junker-Kun]

Well, my first tablet was an old-old tiny Genius Wizard Pen 4x3 (oh yeah, it's THAT old. And yes, it's still alive). I was using it for about year. Then I bought a newer Genius tablet but it died after a month (T__T). So I said "screw it!" and bought a Wacom Bamboo Fun M. I don't think you can find better tablets than Wacom's. Though yeah, it cost me about hmmm... it was about 9000 rubles, so should be something about 300$.
By the way, I have no problems with it on 64-bit Windows 7.