i can has tablets?

[williamthebloody]

so who all here has one o' them digital art tablet dealies?

i will admit that me and my art stylings are positively ANCIENT, what with the use graphite pencils and inking markers and all, but i have been curious about these tablets for sometime.
recently, the artist of a webcomic i like (VGcats) posted how he got a new tablet and it was this kind:
http://www.coolgraphicstuff.com/wacom-c ... r-191.html
it does look awfully purdy and functional and all, but when it comes to tablets, i have no idea what functions are good or what to look for in one.

so, i was wondering if any of you folks have tablets what do you think of them? is it easy to use? what kind do you have? would you recommend it to a first timer/computer ignorant type person? how does yours stack up on price? the one i linked to above currently has about a $1000 price tag on it, is this typical? does the functionality of the tablet more than make up for the price in terms of ease of use and the results one sees in converting their art to digital?

basically, what i'd like to use it for would be to be able to ink my pencil sketches digitally. i'm a pretty heavy penciller, and i spend quite some time cleaning up pencil remnants when i scan an inked drawing for digital colourization. i'd like to think digital inks would save time in this respect. also, if i get good at using it, maybe for some pics i'd skip the pencils and go straight to drawing on the tablet.

any advice/comments/reactions/responses to questions/suggestions would be appreciated!

[Teim]

The one I have cost about €50 and doesn't have a screen or anything. It's taken a hell of a lot of getting used to and I've fallen out of practice.

My one has no screen on it, I'm not sure if you can get one like that for cheap, but I'd recommend it just so you can see what you are doing instead of having to learn to look at your monitor and draw.

If you can't get that at least try and go for a larger drawing area, mine is teeeeeny tiny and I sometimes draw off the area by accident.

Oh yeah and make sure you get one that doesn't need batteries!

[Candy]

Yeah, they take weeks to get used to (for me, anyway), and tend to be a bit of a pain in the arse. I wore the nub on my stylus down and I have to order new ones from the Wacom website - no store in my city actually carries the damn things.

However, if you keep in practice, it is pretty nice to have a tablet. You can skip all the time-consuming steps like scanning, digital media is immensely forgiving as long as you remember to save often and use layers, and the results can look really amazing.

It took all my will power not to drool when I saw the ad for that Cintiq.

[Teim]

I want one

[williamthebloody]

It took all my will power not to drool when I saw the ad for that Cintiq.

that advert made me giggle a little because it's all showing like these "sexy" images of the stylus and such.

also, how do these things work when it comes to art programs? do they work out of the programs you already have (re: adobe photoshop or whatever) or do they come with their own and you have to work with what they give you? or both?

i honestly have NO IDEA about these thingies.

[Slinker]

Photoshop works good with them.

[Candy]

Well, mine came with some near-obsolete software.

However, every program works with them as far as I know. I use mine as a mouse sometimes (or use the actual mouse that it came with, if I'm in a program where I need to right click and command-clicking doesn't work).

William: But Cintiqs are sexy!

[tearoomengland]

i have a really old school TINY wacom graphire. Roomie has one of those bigassed intuos deals. GOD I WANT. yeah, i'll be getting it. when i get my Mac laptop. and when pigs fly out of my butt.

[subobeyliminal]

I'm an old-school artist too, Will.

I've tried to use my friend's tablet, and I am still practicing, but it's miserable.
However, my friend has a Tablet PC, which is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life, as far as laptops are concerned.
You can draw DIRECTLY ONTO THE SCREEN.
None of that weird hand=to-screen gap, just straight forward drawing.

But they're awful pricey. Upwards of $2000, for sure.

[williamthebloody]

I'm an old-school artist too, Will.

I've tried to use my friend's tablet, and I am still practicing, but it's miserable.
However, my friend has a Tablet PC, which is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life, as far as laptops are concerned.
You can draw DIRECTLY ONTO THE SCREEN.
None of that weird hand=to-screen gap, just straight forward drawing.

But they're awful pricey. Upwards of $2000, for sure.

yeah, the direct on the screen thing is what made the cintiq look good. but the cintiq does seem kind small-ish. but then, i dont really know. which is why i asked.

and thanks everyone!

[Relenz]

After seeing that ad, I now want to learn to draw so I can justify getting one of those.

[Teim]

I'm trying to use my tablet, it's too damn slippy, not like drawing on paper at all! I've no resistance!

Everything I draw looks like a retarded childs scrawlings

[williamthebloody]

I'm trying to use my tablet, it's too damn slippy, not like drawing on paper at all! I've no resistance!

Everything I draw looks like a retarded childs scrawlings

ooh that's avery good point you bring up! having never used one, i was naturally thinking it would like on paper but different. but yeah, i can see how that would happen. i wonder if it's the sort of thing one could get used to and compensate for when drawing?

[Teim]

I taped a peice of paper to it, which helped a lot. I need to get the co-ordiation thing down though.

I'd gotten used to using it like a mouse, but using it like a pen is hard.

[Paradox]

I'm an old-school artist too, Will.

I've tried to use my friend's tablet, and I am still practicing, but it's miserable.
However, my friend has a Tablet PC, which is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life, as far as laptops are concerned.
You can draw DIRECTLY ONTO THE SCREEN.
None of that weird hand=to-screen gap, just straight forward drawing.

But they're awful pricey. Upwards of $2000, for sure.

I'm still gonna get it, once I get enough money...DAMN YOU LOW ALLOWANCE!!!

I used to have the same problem as Tiem, I'd draw a line, it would turn out be a scribble. Also, the space on the tablet was small... -__-