Graphics tablet??

Hi everyone ^_^

It's nearly my friend's bday and I thought I'd get her a graphics tablet since she's studying to be a media designer.

Anyhow, I was looking through some models, but I'm not too knowledgeable in this type of electronics. I've noticed that Wacom is a big company and that they have a patent on the battery-less stylus pens, but they're also pretty expensive.

So I was wondering what you guys would suggest me?? I'd be willing to go up to maybe 150$CAD.

I have a few questions in case some of you use tablets:

1) Does the size of the tablet matter? I mean, I see wacom tablets at 4''x6'' yet I see other brands for maybe 30$ more at 9''x12''. Is the size difference important or do you rarely use something that big??

2) Are there any particular brands I should look out??

3) I see some tablets come with mouses(and double as mousepads), do I need ot use the mouse that comes with the tablet?

Thanks in advance

 

I myself am not an artist, however while I was working with my previous employeer I dealt with artists on a daily basis. From what I understand now, Wacom is the industry leader when it comes to tablets. I personally haven't used a tablet that wasn't made by Wacom, so I am probabliy a bit biased here. However I believe that Wacom makes a very quality product, so I would recommend you get a Wacom tablet.

Now when it comes to tablets, bigger might not necessarily be the better choice. It really depends on the person using it. If your friend is an artist that has been trained to use her arms more then her wrists and oftens uses large sweeping motions when she is drawing/painting etc, then a larger size is probably preferred. Otherwise from experience I am sure a 4x6 or 6x8 tablet would accommodate her very nicely. I have two friends that were artists in the video game industry for years, and they both preferred the 6x8 tablet over anything else... until one of them got a cintiq.

One thing to mention, there is a learning curve when it comes to tablets. It is a bit awkward at first but in time it comes quite natural to many. I hope any of this will help you with your question.


Edit: I think those Wacom Bamboos might be a good choice for a beginner to get well adjusted to using a tablet to see if she likes it or not.
Ennova Snap

P.S. You aren't required to use the mouse that comes with the tablet. Although if you do choose to use it, it will help eliminate the need for both a tablet and a mouse pad on your desk. The mouse that comes with the tablet uses the same technology as the stylus, thus making the tablet required if you plan on using THAT mouse. However if you don't like using that mouse, you can use any mouse you prefer. It doesn't limit your options, just adds one to them.

 

I agree with the above poster,
I have a wacom intuos and cintiq, the cintiq is awesome but expensive the intuos is very nice but is a bit less natural as in you need to look at the screen while you draw on the pad next to you (you get used to this fast tho).
Personally I like the a5-6 size it depends how you draw if you use your wrist mostly while drawing a small size tablet is better suited if you make big gestures with your arm a bigger size is more suited.
One golden rule: graphics tablets=wacom (wacom themselves sell refurbished demo models which have their prices cut a lot so that's interesting to look into it's on their website).
A lot of cheap graphic tablets have or: wired pens or pens with batteries which weigh down or restrict movement of the pen wacom doesnt use any batteries only usb in case of the intuos (the cintiq uses a big wad of cables which is the only bad point of the tablet imo) wacoms tablets are more (pressure/tilt) sensitive which is a big plus.
Noone can deny wacom makes the best graphics tablets period, that's not an opinion but a fact.

 

I had a Wacom Intuos3 9x12" for over a year and it was the size of a 20" monitor. You need a really big desk for it. I personally thought it may have been a bit too big since I never really used the whole surface while drawing. I think the 6x8" would be be a better fit for most desks and people. I sold my Intuos3 9x12" and will likely eventually buy an Intuos3 6x8" at some point, but I haven't been doing much design work at home lately to rush into getting it.

The mice that come with the tablets suck, and I'll tell you why. The position of the cursor on the screen is absolute based on the mouse's position on the tablet, not relative to the mouse sensor's previous position like normal mice. Absolute positioning makes sense with the pen, but with the mouse, that means if you want to move the mouse cursor precisely in one direction, it also needs to be moved precisely in that direction on the tablet surface, and you pretty much can't do that quickly without looking at the tablet. Also, if for whatever reason you want to reposition your mouse for better comfort, you can't just pick up the mouse; you also need to reposition the tablet as well.

Unless you can get used to using the pen for everything, even when not in a drawing application, use a separate normal mouse.

 

Okies so nobody's got any experience with non-Wacom tablets? I suppose they really are the biggest and most popular brand.

Hmm Snake's talk of absolute positioning got me thinking....
You said the pen's positioning on the screen is dependent on the positioning of the pen on the tablet, which makes sense, but if you're working with a 4"x6", wouldn't that make positioning a bit hard on a document with say 1920*1200 resolution?

One last question, would 4"x6" be enough for digital painting? A 6"x8" wacom would be a tad too pricey for me... I know she's into that and I know her canvases can get a bit big(since she likes emulating her rela life 24"x36" canvases).

 

Try out Wacom Bamboo. It's the so-called "entry level" tablet.

Regarding the size, it's really a matter of personal preference (and amount of cash :> ). I personally cant stand anything smaller than A3, as I like to do large strokes with my hand.

On the other hand, with smaller tablets you can simply zoom out and do large strokes on the screen while performing only small moves with your hand.

If I could afford it, I'd get Cintiq, haha. Thing is amazing.

 

What size is A3?

I guess I'll have to try and see. The ''actual size'' image on the back of the box isn't exactly too helpful, btu I think a smaller one should work for her as she also does hand drawings on regular paper so I don't think she needs that much sapce.

 

well a3 is double a4, you know a4 is the size of the paper in your printer (well most printers anyway)
a3 is huge imo, a4 would be too big too I think a5 is perfect for most people (1/2 a4).
Will she be painting with the tablet or drawing on paper, scanning it in and coloring etc.? I think a smaller tablet would do fine.
and wacom isnt only the biggest and most popular brand, they are the best in what they do period

 

A5 would be 4"x6" I suppose(since a full paper is roughly 8"x11")?

Oh I have another question; what's the difference between a bamboo and an intuos except for price??

 

Half the pressure points (512 v 1024), does not sense pen tilting, lower resolution.

 

AH okies thanks

Would it be worth it to get an Intuos for those features then? I can get a 4"x6" Bamboo for about 65$CAD while an Intuos of the same size would cost me 240$CAD.

 

As far as positioning goes, that's why the zoom function is there.

Seriously, when I had my Intuos3 9x12", I was using it with dual 1400x1050 20" screens, which meant that I was essentially splitting the tablet in half vertically and not using the bottom quarter to third of the tablet surface at all. Even then, I still thought I was moving my hand around too much. Unless I'm working on a tablet PC (or a Cintiq, which I haven't had the luxury of trying), I don't want the tablet surface to be that big. My hand will comfortably adjust to a smaller drawing surface if it's not directly manipulating the screen.

Ultimately, you'll end up adjusting your range of motions to what you're looking at on the screen instead of the size of the tablet. For example, I could write on the Intuos3 and make what I saw on the screen look like my normal handwriting, but if at the same time I could put a piece of paper on the tablet and the Wacom pen could dispense ink, I would have had completely unrecognizable crap on paper.

Don't underestimate the pen tilt. That's something that any artist will find useful. I've also read that the Bamboo doesn't draw as smoothly as the Intuos, meaning that the tablet surface is more prone to scratching as well as wearing out the pen nib sooner.

If you can pick up an Intuos3 on clearance, or if you don't mind buying used or refurbished, that can save you some money over a brand new Intuos4. The Bamboo is more of a writing and simple sketch tool. The Intuos is an artist's tablet that is more precise and flexible when it comes to drawing. The Intuos comes with a few different pen nibs in the box and you can also buy other accessories for it such as other pen and nib styles.

 

Yes, I'd go for an intuos(2/3) too take a look at wacom's homepage they sell from their internet store refurbished/demo models which are checked and cleaned thouroughly by them and have full warrenty and are a lot cheaper

https://direct.wacom.com/stores/5/Refurbished_Intuos3_4x6_P1322C71.cfm

 

Hmm triple the price of a Bamboo; that's pretty steep, but if Intuos' are really that good(as in 3 times as good), then I suppose I can look into it... I'd have ot check with that Wacom refurbished center because it's for SAmerica(not Canada specifically) so idk if the prices are in CAD or USD and if applying exchange rate and taxes/shipping would end up costing as much as a new one.

Btw, those Intuos' on the site Athinu gave me seem different than the ones I saw in store. Are they different models?

 

The current line is Intuos4 which has a new set of express keys and a touch ring on the left side. The Intuos3 is the previous generation of Intuos tablets. Instead of a touch ring, they have a touch strip.

 

The intuos has more options and you'll get more natural lines with it (more sensitive to pressure and has the tilt option as in when you hold the pen at an angle your lines will get thicker if you want to) and alternative nibs etc. for simple coloring after scanning work in or (simple) photo touch up f.i. you could go with the bamboo.
Tbh I think a lot of people won't notice that much difference between the intuos and bamboo, most people won't miss the extra options the intuos has (except maybe for tilt) and won't notice the extra sensitivity.
The bamboo is a nice product but more aimed at the hobbyist, it depends how serious your friend is about drawing/painting on the pc.

 

Well she's studying in media design so I'd say media design is relatively important to her(although she's been more of a fan of traditional art mind you). I know she uses a big tablet at home. The reason I wanna get her one is so she can bring it along to school with her(and her notebook) to work on her projects.

 

They say size always matter....

 

Start Cheap & Small is all I can say.

So you can see how you like it and grow from there rather than overspending.

My Graphire4 4x5" held me over doing pro photoshop for over 3 years now. I want to upgrade to a Intuos4 Medium but they cost too much, and I may find that medium size makes it harder for me since I will have to move from the arm rather than from the wrist for drawing.

 

So which size wold matter most then?

Yeah I plan on starting by getting a 6"x4" for her since I figure that should be good enough.

Btw, we just got the new Wacom bamboo touch tablets, would those be worth getting(I'd get the one with both touch and stylus pen)?

 

Ive used a wacom intuous3 and an intuos4. I own an intuous4 and it is a large step up from the intuos3, the extra pressure sensitivity and the actual feel of the pen on the tablet is very natural and takes some of the difficulty in learning how to use the tablet out of it. Overall, i would reccomend the intuous4 if you can obtain it. If it is out of reach get the intuos3.

 

Well basically Intuos models(even the older ones from Wacom) are outside my given budget(like 50% out of it). Oh long live Canadian prices lol

I think I'll get one of these basically( link) I'll get the version which has the pen included though. I haven't found much info so I guess they're new; we just got them at work, so they're pretty cheap(like 80$CAD).

 

I think that even with 512 levels of sensitivity it was already more sensitive than my human hands could conceive, to double that and then double it again with the newest intuos4 model I cant see how that would make my work different.

Now the texture of the new intuos4 I can see that making a very real difference and its one of the main reasons I am holding out for a nice inutos4 deal rather than making an incremental upgrade from my graphire4 to a nice refurbished intuos3.

The lightup keys and toggle wheel and the smooth black finish that matches my notebook perfectly are nice bonus's.