digital drawing

[Manco]

I was thinking of picking up drawing again, and it occured to me I might as well go digital.
Now my question is, does anyone have any firsthand experience with tablets and whatever?

Personally I was thinking the Wacom Intuos series looks pretty good.

[Tia]

Personally, I recommend the Wacom Cintiq line.
It's pricey, but on-screen drawing is so much easier than anything else.

[Ummagumma]

Personally, I recommend the Wacom Cintiq line.

Yeah, spend £800 - £1800 on a 'I might like it' hobby. Get whatever you can afford. Even a cheap no-frills tablet will be a revelation. It doesn't even need to be Wacom, though they are the market leaders, and producers of the highest quality products.

I started using a Graphire, many years ago. It only had pressure sensitivity, and a small area, but.. I loved it. It served me well for a few years. I upgraded to a larger Intuos a while ago, and it is quite tasty. Like everything there is a learning curve to get the most out of the new 'medium' (pen use and software).

One thing I would say though: Think carefully about what size to get. Watch your traditional media style for the size of strokes you use. If you tend to plant your hand and use finger motions, you might be better with a smaller tablet, as a large tablet can be more difficult to use for some artists. Likewise, if you draw with a loose elbow a small tablet will be frustrating. Yes, cost is a factor, but the way you comfortably make marks is more important, in my mind.

[Manco]

Yeah, the cintiq is a bit out of my price range at this stage.

Thanks for the tips Umma, I was thinking of going fairly large (just because really ) but I do plant my hand so I'll have to reconsider that.

[saxdude]

Depends on your price range, a cintiq is nice but its very expensive and for what you need it its sort of redundant, like taking a bazooka to a knife fight, paper drawing and digital drawing arent as easily transferable as you would think. Intuos might be nice on the other hand but I have heard that the Intuos 4 nibs need replacements quicker because of the rough surfice, as opposed the Intuos 3, though you might not notice and could easily adapt to the intuos 4, dont know about the Intuos 5 though.

I on the other hand, had serious budget strains and went with the bamboo series, the bamboo capture to be specific and while I was worried at first it feels great and works like a charm.
The space might seem small on some but to be very honest, in what drawing and painting is concerned it is already more than enough, even for long strokes and big hands (which I happen to own :L), although it depends slightly on your hold as well. As for pen pressure, most of the tablets already carry the average 1024, which to be quite honest you really wont be needing more, the Intuos 5 offers you double but it really isnt such a markable difference and more times than not you wont even tell the difference. Ultimatly unless you are some big time concept artist you really dont need a very big fancy tablet, especially if you are just drawing for pleasure, and giggles, and later you can upgrade to a newer setup if you have the cash, and again, more times than not I hear people that prefer ther intuos to their Cintiq, or their Bamboos to their Intuos, Etc. you get used to using your tablet.
As a rather big side note I got this little gem of a review for a Monoprice tablet from a pal when I was looking for my own tablet, convinced me enough to buy it only to realize that they dont sell these in Mexico :L, But the tablet itself seems pretty damn solid for such an accesible price.
http://frenden.com/the-little-monopr...et-that-could/