• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Tablets - drawing implement, what one to have?

Corpse Cruncher

Unregistered
C
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Messages
3,754
For me niece's birthday, arriving next week, she asked me to buy her a tablet for drawing on the computer with. She used one at school and during an art lesson and she now wants one.

What or who is the best tablet and features - drawing aid for a computer to have. Price limited to a reasonable £70/$70 maximum amount, preferably less than that. Must be simple to use, so she can get the hang of it but nothing to simple that she finds it cumbersome and lacking too soon.

I did asked what they used at school and she said it was a grey plastic flat thing with a funky pen.:confused: She didn't know if a mouse was included as there was one by the tablet. Do they all do on screen handwriting?

I have tried looking for one but I am clueless. Tablets made by Trust seem affordable but are they any good?
 
I use a Wacom. Their Graphire line is cheap, but still good, and they do come with a mouse.
 
I agree, Wacom are the *only* choice really. I use the Platinum which at the time was top of the range and a bit out of your budget, but as rustyp says, the Graphire are cool. The mouse bottoms get gunged up though.
 
I think we agree here.

The Graphire line is the most affordable, and the smallest, 4"x5" is around $130 Canadian. Plus it come with a copy of Photoshop Elements, at least here.

They make up to 9"x12", in both the Graphire and Intuos.
 
I like the idea of the Wacom Graphire for the battery free pen. Now I noticed some come with a mouse and some do not:confused: Which isn't a problem as I just found out you can buy the mouse as an add on.

Does size matter, the graphire 3 or might be a 2 range seems very tiny?
I'll pass on the Intuos range, that is out of my set limit. Having said that, now that I am searching for them; the price range differers immensely between the product ranges. How can one item have some many different pricing.
I've just seen the price for the top of the range Wacom.:jaw-dropp I could buy a car with that amount.

Now do I buy a new Wacom graphire 4 classic (very basic package) or go for a used/refubished graphire 3 studio, both have no mice. Both are near enough the same price. Then again I can have a brand new A4 trust scroll v1200 with a mouse?????
 
About the mouse... I was cleaning up and I found the mouse that came with daughter's* tablet. It is still in its box. She does not use it since she finds using the pen much easier.

*Note: This is not strictly speaking her tablet. It was given to two kids... but she is the sole user right now. Well, except when I borrow it.


:boxedin:
 
Probably more than anyone wants to know, but I bought one just last week so it is pretty fresh. I wanted to try a drawing tablet but was not sure I would really use it enough to justify spending a lot of money.

1: old fart stuck in his ways of spilled ink and nibs
2: have to answer for the kids going without food
3: Have a somewhat impulsive streak makes me cautious sometimes

I figure if/when I get better I can always use amazing artwork to convince my wife I'm worth it.

So I picked up the Wacom Graphire "4" 4x5. Wacom (pronounced more like "wockum") seems to own this little niche and has a huge line of products.
There is an ugly PC style all gray model, and a cool Macintosh-styled white and gray model. I didn't need to be hit with a rock to get the cool looking one. This will go great with my transparent illuminated keyboard if I ever get one.

The bundle included Photoshop Elements 3, Corel Painter Essentials 2, and nik Color Eflex Pro 2.0 GE. Versions for window or mac OS.

Also included are Evernote Plus 1, and Justwrite Office 4.1. Those only work with Windows. Those are not art packages and since I already have MS Office I did not load them.

The bundle was US $99, which included a $20 rebate coupon I need to send in for cash back. So about $80.

This would be a great bundle for a student or beginning artist.

The rest is just rambling crap.

Things to like:
The drivers are easy to install. Includes a wireless mouse that works with the tablet. USB rocks.

The 4x5 drawing surface is the right size for me, no complaints.

I've never used the Corel Paint programs before and was impressed with the ease of use. This works awesomely with the tablet and is what you will want to use if you are just drawing or painting. the program is very fast compared to Elements, and has more of what you want for drawing/painting.

The Graphire line has 512 pressure levels. This seems like enough so far.
I still have my ink pens so can always draw and scan...

The nik Color Eflex is an add-in filter for Photoshop. I've never used one and it is a good example of what a good set of filters can do. Leaves you wanting more.

what not like
What the Graphire pen lacks is angle and rotation of the pen. The higher end lines have optional 'artist' pens with those features, in addition to 1024 levels. I would probably still go with a 4x5 tablet unless I was doing tracing. I never trace anything (I suck at tracing) so the 4x5 is fine.

Photoshop Elements 3 is MUCH slower than Elements 2. I'm not sure this it worth upgrading if you already have 2 unless you have plenty of memory. The organizer feature is just plain annoying.

There is an Elements 4 I have not tried yet. Maybe it is faster. Maybe it lacks organizer.

I use Photoshop CS at work but am happy with 'elements' for home work.

I probably need a memory upgrade next.

If I had 3 or 4 hundred dollars more to spend I would look for a bundled Corel Paint / Wacom package. The program I'm already drooling for is a full version of Corel. Some of the bundles are priced so good the tablet is free.
 
Yes. My daughter uses hers with MS Paint, and I use it with a PE Design (a specialty program for automatic machine embroidery). When it is attached to the computer it acts very much like a mouse, but you can jump locations rather dragging it across the screen (one reason my daughter prefers it to a mouse when she is in her forums).
 
I use a wacom graphire at work and My Wif bought me a off brand one for Xmas to use at home (at of all places Alldees foods (super cheap supermarket) for 39.95)
 
Why is it you finally go buy one and along comes better ones? I finally brought a Graphire 3 includes a mouse and 2 spare pens. All in all, including postage etc, it cost roughly under $58.

Then two more, Intuos3 A5 USB, for the princely sum of 120 I was offered after the first buyer failed to complete, the second a Graphire 4 studio XL for 99.99 for the same reason.

It really pays to hunt around for these products, some sites I was shocked at the over-inflated prices they charge. I will not be buying anything from those kinds of sites.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom