Guild of Writers

Can any digital artists out there recommend a good pen and tablet? I've been trying to make textures in Gimp, but my mouse control is terrible!! I've also thought of making them on paper then scanning them, but this turned out badly the last time I tried it.

I spent some time looking at tablet systems online, but am not sure which one is best for the money. I'm not rolling in dough, but am not opposed to investing up to $50-75.

Any suggestions?

I own this one
http://www.wacom.com/bamboo/bamboo_pen_touch.php
Its works very good and sensive .

Sometimes however i have problems combined with setpoint of logitech,
i don't have these isues when i use the native windows 7 driver for my logitech mouse instead.

The pen of the wacom does not contain a battery!
afaik all the other manufacturers do have active pen's.

If you want a cheap but good performing tablet look for the Trust, Widescreen Mini Tablet.

ZURI wrote:Can any digital artists out there recommend a good pen and tablet? I've been trying to make textures in Gimp, but my mouse control is terrible!! I've also thought of making them on paper then scanning them, but this turned out badly the last time I tried it.

I spent some time looking at tablet systems online, but am not sure which one is best for the money. I'm not rolling in dough, but am not opposed to investing up to $50-75.

Any suggestions?

Tablets are pretty expensive and there isn't a whole lot of choice. There's really only one brand: Wacom (there are some others but they are difficult to find). For 70$ you'll only fin their smaller tablets (6"x4" or A5, or even A6)) but they are a good option to start if you have never used one before. Or you might look at Ebay where you may find them for a more reasonnable price. Currently Wacom's offering includes the Intuos 4 line which is pretty much the standard but they're quite expensive (the smallest one is around $200), you may find some Intuos 3 or even 2 online for much more reasonnable price.

They also have the 'Bamboo' series which is much more affordable. I've never tried one though so I can't say what they are worth but looking at the technical specs (link) they look very decent. My first tablet had inferior features and I was happy with it for many years; so it might be a good choice.

[edit]Ha, Dendwaler beat me to it.

Of course, if mouse control is an issue, you might just want to look at getting a high resolution laser mouse. Unless you already have one, that is.
(Just in case: if you're still using a ball mouse, you really should upgrade )

All you need to know is to try to get a tablet that is close to your screen size or the translation from what you draw to what you see will be too great, sensitivity is key, added functions are gimmicks but get a stylus with as many buttons on it as you use on your mouse (including the stylus pressed to the tablet button thing), and lastly, buttons on tablets = useless.

Wow, thanks for all the advice! I had a tablet and puck (with the crosshairs), but it's since gone on to computer heaven. I really didn't like it though. I'm neither right nor left handed. I throw, bat, shoot basketball, and use a mouse right handed - but I write left-handed. I have a 1600 dpi laser mouse, but can't use it left handed..... Needless to say, this is why I'm looking for a tablet.

I watched the video of the Bamboo dendwaler. It looks really nice. I'll check around and see if I can get a deal on one.

Aloys, those nice ones make me drool. I'd love to have a $200 tablet, but I don't think one is in my budget. Perhaps someday....

Oh, and I wish I could afford a tablet as large as my display. I have a 23 inch lcd. Now THAT would be cool!

ZURI wrote:Aloys, those nice ones make me drool. I'd love to have a $200 tablet, but I don't think one is in my budget. Perhaps someday....

Honnestly, unless you are a proffessionnal artist a $80 tablet will probably cover 90% of your needs.
What more expensive tablets will get you is:
1) Larger size
2) Buttons on the tablet. And I agree with Linger, those are really not needed, you never have enough of them anyway so you might as well use your keyboard.
3) Better pressure sensitivity.. They (Wacom) keep talking about it like it's the holy grail, but 90% of people (even professionnal artists) can't tell the difference above 1024 levels..
4) Stylus tilt sensitivty. Only really useful for specific airbrush uses.
5) Stylus rotation sensitivity. This one is more useful, but again you can live without it.

As for the size question this is actually pretty subjective, most people are more at ease with large tablets but there are others (like me) who enjoy smaller tablets...

Aloys wrote:

ZURI wrote:(like me) who enjoy smaller tablets...

Do you find that the 'stylus movement to screen' translation took a bit to learn to control? Maybe it was just me, when I got my own tablet I was using a much larger one at Uni.

I will keep that in mind Linger. It does make sense that the tablet size could effect how it looks on screen. I looked on Ebay and there were several for sale. There were a couple for about $50, but they appeared to be off-brands.

Linger wrote:

Aloys wrote:

ZURI wrote:(like me) who enjoy smaller tablets...

Do you find that the 'stylus movement to screen' translation took a bit to learn to control? Maybe it was just me, when I got my own tablet I was using a much larger one at Uni.

It does take a bit to know how to use a tablet, especially smaller ones. But I started with a small tablet so I got used to it.. I worked with large tablets occasionnally, but I'm not at ease with them somehow.I've met several people who also dislike like tablets.
I think it's very much like people who have their mouse sensitivity settings set very high so they only need to make very small movements.