Suggestions for art-geared tech gear.

I'm finishing up digging out an area of the house where I can commit a lot of time and space to getting back into art, and I'd like some suggestions from you guys as to some of the things you might be using or have heard good things about.

What I'm really looking to get is a laptop that can do photoshop effectively and isn't a hugh dick punch to the wallet, one that could later accommodate a tablet (another thing I've never used but would love to try). So also suggestions for those thingers. Also I need to get me a scanner, the last one I used was from the stone age, and I want to get something that can scan something at least a little bigger than a normal sheet of paper. I've got the physical stuff from pencils and pastels to carving tools and oil paints, but I want to start incorporating the digital aspect so I can mess with stuff in a new manner than what I'm used to and share the stuff I normally do like I haven't been able to before.

Any help is gladly appreciated, I know you guys know where it's at.

P.S. If you have a suggestion for something I didn't think of or name that might be fun to try, throw those at me too!

I probably won't have anything to contribute, but here I go.

How much do you see yourself using a computer for art? How's the computer your on now? Get playing around now with some free software like GIMP or Paint.NET and get a grasp of what you want to do. If what you're going to do is mostly cleaning up scanned pictures then you won't need anything powerful at all, and a modest rig will do fine for a hobbyist/semi-pro at painting, too. I haven't shopped for scanners in years. Any computer will work with a tablet, it's basically a more sensitive mouse, but you might want to consider the size and space on your desk to use it. I know plenty of people think a 4x6 is big enough, unless you like working big.

I've been sitting in a drafting chair all day, and my ass hurts. Make sure you have a comfortable chair.

a 4x6 tablet is plenty big.

I have a 6x8 and find it quite constraining (especially since it gets cut down to match screen ratio). Looking to upgrade, but it's so tempting to splurge on a Cintiq instead of bigger, widescreen Intuos.

I bought a Brother MFC-6490CW printer/scanner. It can scan and print 14"x17", and while it does neither in superior fashion, it was the most affordable A3 scanner I could find. For the most part, I don't need to stitch together my drawings anymore, which was in itself worth it. Printing out A3 blueline has been pretty handy too.

Wacom tablet, lots of RAM for the computer (try to max it out, you will never be able to tell you did this, but you will totally know if you did not), good monitor setup (I like two side by side, others like big cinema displays), get Photoshop (GIMP blows srsly) and mess with all the filters and buttons hardcore for a few months, then get into actually learning it with a book or youtube tutorials.

After that, go Illustrator/painter/flash/whatever suits you! Learn PS first though, good baseline for computer art.

(ps: I dropped less than $300 on a Toshiba Portage convertable tablet laptop off of eBay, put $100 in RAM in it and tripled the hard drive capacity, and it's a fine little secondary machine. Had to replace the battery inside of a year, but other than that buying used didn't hurt a damn thing. MILEAGE MAY VARY DOOD.)

GIMP is great if you don't want to spend money. Also, fuck tablets, load of expensive crap you don't need. Real men use a mouse. Real tough men use a track pad.

Photoshop is also pretty great if you don't want to spend money and have loose morals about that sort of thing!

I hate Photoshop.

No, not really, i use it nearly every day.

You can get a computer a couple years old and it'd be fine unless you're planning on getting fancy like that yellerdog. I rock a 13" Macbook with 2GB of ram maxed the fuck out. I don't usually work on computer anyway, but when i do, i can run Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver CS3 without any bogging or crashing (usually). If you get something with like 4 gigabits and floppy processors with nano-power cells, you can do whatever you want.

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Originally Posted by Dunlap

How much do you see yourself using a computer for art? How's the computer your on now?

I've been sitting in a drafting chair all day, and my ass hurts. Make sure you have a comfortable chair.

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I'd keep the comp I have now as the one to do everything else, I'd like to get a laptop solely for the art stuffs and some web browsing and maybe play a game of Starcraft here and there. The computer I have now I could probably even steal some RAM from although I don't know how that all works moving from tower to laptop...
And yeah, I have been dying for a good chair for a while now, I definetly understand their importance.

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

(ps: I dropped less than $300 on a Toshiba Portage convertable tablet laptop off of eBay, put $100 in RAM in it and tripled the hard drive capacity, and it's a fine little secondary machine. Had to replace the battery inside of a year, but other than that buying used didn't hurt a damn thing. MILEAGE MAY VARY DOOD.)

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That looks pretty interesting although it seems you got a phenomenal price on one compared to what they go for new. Still, good info, thanks all for the suggestions.

I've got this older Toshiba you should buy from me. I've used it for plenty of design work, and never had an issue.

Tablet, Photoshop, and a scanner. When I draw I almost always do the blueprint by hand and then scan it in and work on it from there.

Painter is a great program if you're looking to do really fine digital painting (better than Photoshop for rendering texture and realistic-looking artwork). Also if you're going to use Photoshop try researching how to tweak your brush settings AND also try to find good free brushes to download. Really helps experiment. Photoshop is important. Make sure you know it (and Illustrator if you can get over the initial fear of curves). Illustrator is actually my favorite program in the Adobe creative suite.

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Originally Posted by Drewbacca

Also if you're going to use Photoshop try researching how to tweak your brush settings AND also try to find good free brushes to download.

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Best non-hardware advice in the thread so far.

I used PS about 11 years ago very briefly and thats about my experience with it, so it's gunna be a huge learning process I'm sure, but one I think I'll enjoy.

My advice would be don't buy anything. I know it's tempting to feel like you need to buy a bunch of new equipment to aid you on this grand re-introduction to the fine world of art.

None of that stuff will help you just sit down and draw though. I would suggest doing that first and trying to stick to it before potentially wasting a bunch of money.

I find the best way to do that is to come up with a specific project that you want to complete, and work toward it. You always get better drawings and learn more if you have a defined purpose.

DO carve out some sort of private art cave that you can hole up in and be left alone (if possible) though.

Ram. Lots of it.

(I don't deserve to be in this thread.)

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Originally Posted by cigsthecat

My advice would be don't buy anything. I know it's tempting to feel like you need to buy a bunch of new equipment to aid you on this grand re-introduction to the fine world of art.

None of that stuff will help you just sit down and draw though. I would suggest doing that first and trying to stick to it before potentially wasting a bunch of money.

I find the best way to do that is to come up with a specific project that you want to complete, and work toward it. You always get better drawings and learn more if you have a defined purpose.

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1000% this.

Don't buy a ton of shit thinking the financial investment will make you persevere. Not trying to be a dick, but you need to just draw. The most valuable thing that you are going to sink into your art is your time. Spend a lot of time making art and you WILL get better. There is nothing on the planet more valuable than your time. You will never have more of it than you do now. The older I get the more I find myself devoting every spare second to drawing and it has paid off more in the last year in improvement than I have seen in in the previous 2 or 3. They say you have a thousand bad drawings in you. Get them out. =) If you stick with drawing every day for a year, take the money you save on going out or buying video games and you will be able to afford a tablet and a scanner and whatever else. Then it will be a sensible purchase.

JM and cigs know what's up!

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Originally Posted by cigsthecat

DO carve out some sort of private art cave that you can hole up in and be left alone (if possible) though.

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This is the current project I'm working on, very excited for when I get it done because having that space is something that has always helped me a lot.