Drawing Tablets

[Umiriko]

Hello to all ur vorish fans, need a bit of advice from you artists out there, as i hope u all know i like to doodle on flash, and am still learning how to use it properly. i was using basic methods of making lines and shapes and then bending them into shapes, but recently i used the free hand tool and found it was more efficent. so bascily i want to buy a drawing tablet for my computer, so i can use the free hand tool to draw, and i was wondering if any of you use them, which are the best makes and do u know good places to buy them all from, thanks

[Laguna]

Well the tablet i use is a graphire 4 X 5, its smaller than i wanted..but its what best buy had at the time. It came with a wireless mouse, pressure sensitive pen, and lots of drawing software. Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, Corel Painter Essentials 2, nik Color Efex Pro 2 GE, EverNote Plus, and JustWrite Office 2. Its made by WACOM, which i believe is one of the better companies out there. I would try Best Buy or maybe a Circuit City..or stores of that nature.

[FatJaguar]

I use a 4X5 graphire for all my professional work. It only cost me 100$ at best buy compared to the whopping 500$ - 1000$ ones that can break or get scratched up. Then you have to send them back etc etc. Uness you are planning on becomming a major league professional artist, I recomend the 4X5.

[Francois]

I'm not an artist, but I have an intuos 2 *gets tape measure which is conviniently loced about 5 feet away* 10x12 (it was a gift, I would have settled for a smaller one, though now that I have dual monitors, it is nice to have a bigger one, it is just a little unwieldy at times). The current model is the intuous 3. THe dimentions of the whole thing are about 17"x14"x0.5". This thing works fine for me, but you may be fine with a graphire, which is generally about 120 or so American dollars cheeper. Over the 16 or so months I've had it I've had no problems, no dead spots, or anything. other than the little LED at the top isn't veery brightanymore, but that tends to happen sometimes when an LED is on for that long. I don't recomend this, but My tablet continues to function even after being dropped on multiple occasions from hights in excess of three feet, however, it has never been stepped on. THe important surfaces do not get scratched because there is an additional heavy sheet of translucent plastic covering it.

The primary difference between the two is that the intuos is presure and tilt sensitive, and the graohire is only presure sensitive. The intuos is also twice as sensitive as the graphire. Tilt sensitivity only factors in on some programs with some brushes. This morning when I restarted my computer, it couldn't find the tablet drivers, so I need to restart before I can show you an example of what can be done with the tilt. This suprisingly the first time this has happend. This thing does a pretty decent job of showing you what would be a good tablet to get. I thought it factored in buget, but I guess not. Take a good look at what is available, and make sure you look at what software is included, because at least a fourth of your money is probalby going towards software. If you want something other than a graphire 3x4, you will probably have to order it. You can do a comparison here. You can pay 150 extra on a graphire 6x8 to make it wireless, probably not worth it.

It sounds like you probably just aughta go to best buy or whatever and pick up the one hundred dollar one.

If anyone ever asks in the future, please refer them here because I think I just wasted almost an hour of my life detailing all the aspects of a problem with a very simple solution.

[VoreFriend]

Referbished units can save you some $

[Zinou]

I use a tablet. I have a Wacom Intuos3 6x8. Though it was a bit costly, I've been very pleased with it. It responds beautifully and is far superior to the Aiptek Hyperpen tablet that I upgraded from.

Whatever your choice, I'd suggest Wacom as your brand of choice. They're very sturdy/reliable and are good pieces of machinery all around.