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Thread: Question about Digital Tablets and Drawing

  1. Raspberry Question about Digital Tablets and Drawing

    Lately Dj has been very busy, working on his art, drawing and Flash animation. He is definately getting better, and he's been asking about Digital Pens or Tablets that can be used for drawing and sketching. I did some reading on the subject, mostly about WACOM's line of tablets, and Intuous2 model comes very recommended. Unfortunately I dont see any stores around these parts where you could actually try it out to see how it actually works, so the best next thing is to ask here

    So, what are the thoughts on these? Do they work well and easy to use for drawing? What about the tablet size (we were looking at 6x8 one)?

    Thanks in advance for all the advices

  2. I have a 9x12 Intuos, though I imagine a size a little bit smaller would still be nice to use. I don't have it at school here with me, but I also don't have a scanner, so I doubt I'd get much productive done in the area of art with one and not the other.

    Drawing direct to a tablet is a... different experience. It's a lot different than pencil or ink to paper, stylus to tablet surface is like drawing on glass. It takes a lot of getting used to, but once you do, you realize what an amazing tool it is. The pressure sensitivity is awesome, and it feels great to be able to "undo" when your hand doesn't do exactly what you want it to. I prefer to use it for coloring and cleaning up artwork I had done by hand, rather than draw to it directly, but it's perfectly good for both of those uses. It'll probably come packaged with Painter Classic, and Painter combined with a Wacom tablet is an awesome thing.

    They're a little pricey, but you can't go wrong if you want one for either work-related art or recreation. Of course, I know a lot of people who thought buying a tablet would instantly give them artistic skill. I don't think this is the case, but it's funny to hear people whine about how they can't do CG coloring right because they don't have a tablet, and expect to instantly know how when they do... heh heh.

    Oh, and as a sidenote, it will improve your iSketch playing abilities tenfold, this much is true!

  3. #3
    I have the $100 Wacom. I find that if I am drawing quickly, curves don't come across well.

    However, it was definatly $100 well spent.

  4. Wacom tablets are great. Get one for me, too, Pops.

  5. Wacom tablets are awesome. Quite frankly, if you do any sort of art on your computer, you really should invest in one. Combined with a program like Painter 8, you can produce some great, great stuff.

    If you're going to get a tablet though, I would say skip the Intuos2 and just get the new 6x8 Graphire3 tablet (MSRP $199.99). It's Wacom's entry level tablet but I think that it's perfectly sufficient, especially if you've never used a tablet before. The functions that are added for the Intuos2 vs the Graphire3 are decent, but for a typical person, the difference probably isn't enough to justify the extra 100 bucks.

    Personally, I think 6x8 is almost the ideal size for a tablet. Anything bigger and the strokes start getting too long, not to mention it starts to exceed the resolution of your monitor.

  6. Wacoms are excellent, but it depends on the work you want to do. Crisper, more professional artwork with very intergral work in the piece usually have the artists using the pen tool anyway, and using the Wacom with the pen tool is more difficult then just using a mouse.

    Putting your drawings in the computer freehand is where it'll help you out a lot. Inking your work and all of that fun stuff goes 10x faster.

    Quote Originally Posted by Icepick
    I have the $100 Wacom. I find that if I am drawing quickly, curves don't come across well.

    However, it was definatly $100 well spent.
    Is the curve quality up to 10?
    Quote Originally Posted by rezo
    Once, a gang of fat girls threatened to beat me up for not cottoning to their advances. As they explained it to me: "guys can usually beat up girls, but we are all fat, and there are a lot of us."

  7. Thanks guys. I think that he will be very happy with the tablet. He draws well with regular pens/pencils, but with the mouse its much harder to get the job done.

    And here is a very dumb question: Do you actually see what you are drawing on the tablet or its only appears on the monitors screen?

  8. Quote Originally Posted by Despair
    Thanks guys. I think that he will be very happy with the tablet. He draws well with regular pens/pencils, but with the mouse its much harder to get the job done.

    And here is a very dumb question: Do you actually see what you are drawing on the tablet or its only appears on the monitors screen?
    There are very expensive tablets that have a screen built-in, such that you can see what you are drawing (it's essentially just touch-sensitive monitor). Everything discussed so far shows up on your monitor, and is simply an input device.

    I have an 6X8 Intuos2, and it seems perfectly suitable for what I do so far. While drawing directly into the computer with it can be done, it's much more useful to me to use it for coloring scans and other CG work. I could do decent work with a mouse before I got it, but now I can't go back. Once you develop the coordination to look at the screen but draw on the tablet, you find it's much more efficient, natural, and comfortable to use than a mouse (plus pressure sensitivity goes a long way). Another big motivator for me was all the carpal tunnel stress that using a mouse for hours on end leads to (especially when trying to draw with it)...the tablet eases alot of that.

  9. Monitor. The tablet is just plastic. But you can apply pressure sensitivity to tablets so when he presses harder the line gets thicker, like in real life. It takes some getting used to but all the artists who use a tablet a lot don't even have a mouse anymore.

    Knowing how to use the tablet pen well is 10x faster than a mouse.

    Tablet PC's let you see what you draw, I think?
    Quote Originally Posted by rezo
    Once, a gang of fat girls threatened to beat me up for not cottoning to their advances. As they explained it to me: "guys can usually beat up girls, but we are all fat, and there are a lot of us."

  10. Quote Originally Posted by Andrew
    Tablet PC's let you see what you draw, I think?
    Yes. The tactile factor is much better on a tablet PC, too. The ones I tried felt as comfortable as pencil-on-paper. Of course, they're thousands of dollars, so I don't see myself owning one anytime soon. You get your money's worth, though.

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