drawing tablet

What is a good, but inexpensive, drawing tablet to use for designing clothes. It is very hard drawing with a mouse.

Hi Urusula

I bought my hubby an Intuos A5 tablet for Christmas, and he loves it. I did a bit of research before I bought it and that name seemed to come up the most as being a good brand.

It cost me just over 200GBP including delivery. If you want any more info about it, catch him in world this weekend - Scorpio Galatea.

Personally, I'd never give up my mouse. Though not as dynamic, it's very accurate.

As for tablets, I've always trusted Wacom. Though they do oever price even the smallest tablet.

www.pricewatch.com is a good place to start looking for good deals on hardware if you're really looking into such an investment.

-Ren S.

I have pricewatch.com bookmarked. I just never thought about the tablets being on there. I was looking at motherboards, CPUs and that kind of thing. Thanks.

Hello! I rescently bought a drawing tablet and i LOVE it! It's a Wacom graphire3 6x8". I haven't had a drawing tablet before this one so I'm not really sure what it compares to but i think the quality is awsome! As for the price, I got it for about $150 or $160 including shipping! In CompUSA I believe it goes for $200 though. I'm not sure if this is the price range you were hopeing for but there is also a smaller one(4x5" for about $80-$100. I hear that Wacom is one of the best if not the best drawing tablet company out there...further more I think it is too...well I haven't owned any other drawing tablets but i love it! It was worth the money. I hope this helps you make a decision! Good luck!

-DragonChiq

I also use Wacom and love it. Now that I'm used to it I'm seriously thinking about ditching my mouse for a lot of surfing, etc. tasks to ward off the ol' carpal tunnel.

Wacom is like, the Microsoft of tablets. I mean that in a good way. Overall, they're still quite highly priced for general consumer usage, but for serious art -- it just adds SO much expression. I've used an old Graphire and it's great... drawing with a mouse afterwards is like wrangling a BRICK. Dang.

Wacom tablets are worth every penny! Get a size that you feel comfortable using. I prefer a tablet about the same size as my monitor so that my hand movements are at approximately the same scale as what I'm looking at. They sell refurbished tablets if you're interested in trying to save some money, but no other tablet comes close, at least that I've used.

a friend of mine has an expensive wacom tablet, and i have a really cheap UC-Logic tablet, i've used both and theres no diffrence except in the weight (wacoms are a bit heavier) and the price (UC-Logic was about $40 while wacom was about $100)

i think it has more to do with the programs you use it with, make sure it can adapt to the tablet

I bought a Medion 12" x 9" tablet at ALDI'S for $39 right before Christmas. Its pen is pressure sensitive and the tablet is something like 7200dpi. When I bought it, I did not expect it to perform so incredible. It was one minor pain though and that is after using it straight for about 6 hours the cursor will jump to the upper left hand corner whenever you click, taking whatever you were doing with it. Rebooting the computer fixes the problem, which tells me its a problem with the driver and the tech I talked to on the phone said they have only been able to reproduce the problem on one system in-house and have only had a handful of reports of it.

ANYWAY, it's a great tablet -- 12 x 9 is huge -- comes with mouse and pen and I got it at ALDI!!

ALDI!!! *gasp*, runs to the nearest NETTO! to see if they have such bargains!!!

I got a small and I mean by small A5 one for Christmas, the quality is good, but

a) I am a tard that cannot draw anyway and just thought this might make it easier, I was very very wrong
b) being A5, its a pain the ass, my hand goe's everywhere I would suggest as chip did, getting one the size of your monitor
c) SOMEONE HELP ME USE MINE!!!

I have a small Wacom - never had a problem with it. Works great.

First of all I'm also a Wacom user. Just wanted to jump in and say Wacom's are *not* overpriced. They are a little more expensive but they are the best tablets youre probably going to find period. SHoppig around on line will help you find a good deal, odering directly from Wacom is a poor idea as you incur overseas shipping charges and whatnot. That said, it is immediately compatible with photoshop, and when i say compatible, I mean photoshop was created with the intention that you would be using a wacom tablet. The power is immediately noticeable. As for size I recommend going small, I bought a small tablet and cant imagine now how the big tablet users need that much space so size is largely a personal prefference and you will grow into your size. Cant say enough about these little jewels, theyre sturdy, reliable, easy to install and deal with, and theyre super easy to clean to boot.

Wacom totally rocks. I've been using my little 3 x 5 Intuos 2 for a couple of years now, and it's one of the best computer peripheral purchases I've ever made. I love the small size because I can easily transport it between home and work, and it doesn't take up so much of the desk that I can't use my regular mouse beside it (it's a smidge too small to comfortably use with the mouse it comes with).

Wacom might be a bit more expensive than the bargain tablets on the market, but I think it's worth it. I've never had a lick of trouble from the tablet or its drivers, and it's so responsive that I can use a lot of the same techniques I spent years developing with old-school pens and pencils.

I got one of those for Christmas, but I can't get the pen to work reliably. I contacted Medion and they sent me a new one, but I'm still having the same problems. Before I even touch the pen to the tablet, my cursor is jumping around wildly. I've tried uninstalling 3 times, calibrating the pen, etc. without any positive results. Do you have any ideas on what I could do to try to fix this? I'm stumped, and Medion is no help at all.

Wacom is definitely the way to go. Super reliable, built in eraser (great feature), drivers already present in Photoshop, PSP, Maya, lots of programs, what more could you ask for?

The Graphire3 line is really cheap $99-$199 US list price. You can find them for pennies on the dollar on Ebay, and i think Best Buy and CompUSA have them on sale from time to time starting at like $69. The Intuos line is better, but not worth the extra bucks unless you are very serious about your art (more than worth it if you are). If you're looking for an inexpensive tablet that is super dependable, you can't go wrong with a Graphire3. If you want more advanced features like angle sensativity in addition to pressure, higher resloution, more buttons, go with an Intuos3. Any way you slice it though, Wacom, Wacom, Wacom. You won't regret it.

I bought an Aiptek Hyper-Pen a few years ago, it works quite well and is vastly cheaper than the expensive Wacom's with the tilt and bearing sensitivity and also cheaper than Wacom's lower priced models. My daughter uses it to do Manga with. It's a 9 x 12 and I find that to be a bit large, it's awkard finding a space for it along with the keyboard and the monitor all put together. I suspect that for many people the next size smaller than a 9 x 12, which is probably an 8 x 6, would actually suit them better as well as saving money.

One nice thing about the large Wacom tablets (I use a 12x12) is that you can change the size of the active drawing area to whatever you want on the fly while still having a tablet large enough to trace a piece of paper. Wacoms have a clear overlay that you can put a piece of art under. It's a nice feature if you prefer to sketch something with an actual pencil before using the tablet. When I draw without the computer I've always used a lap board. I like the large tablets because I can use it in my lap and draw the same way I would normally

I have the Hyperpen tablet as well and it is a good, cheap tablet that works well. Mine is the 9x12 and it is way too big for what I use it for. If you can find it, get one with the better pen because the standard one is a bit too cheaply made although it works just fine.

Check out ebay, you can sometimes find great deals on slightly older Wacoms. I recommend only going with a USB tablet because they are a lot less hassle.

I have a 4x6 Inuos Wacom and I love it. It's not like I couldn't use the Hyperpen but I love the feel of the Wacom. Sort of like the difference between a bic disposable pen and a nice chrome executive pen. Both get the job done.

Wow! I never expected so many replies. I will check these out, although I have been leaning towards the Wacom. Thanks for all the advice.

I swear by Wacom myself. I owned a 4x6 Graphire 1 for years, and it worked great until I outgrew it. It just didn't have enough levels of pressure sensitivity. About a year ago, I splurged on an Intuos2 6x8, and it's fabulous. The Graphire has 512 levels, mine has 1024. I will say though, that I got on for almost three years with the Graphire before I started to need more. Which is not bad for a $160 tablet. (You can get them cheaper now, but that's what I initially paid. I'm also Canadian, so that equates to paying about $135 US)

I've seen the imitation tablets out there, but I wouldn't trust them, personally. Maybe in a few years, they'll be equal, but right now it's worth the bit of extra money to buy a Wacom. If you can find an older model, they usually work just as well. The only difference seems to be some ergonomic styling and weight.

As others said, any graphic program that works with a tablet was designed to work with a Wacom. Any of the cheap ones can make a pen work on the screen, but it's the ability to change the weight of the brush stroke based on how hard you press that is the true benefit of a tablet.

Since I read this thread when I was looking into buying a tablet, I wanted to add my 2 cents now that I bought one. I bought a Wacom graphire3 recently for $100 and I love it. I use it with Photoshop. I've done oil painting, so I was curious how well I could "paint" with a tablet, and it works fine. I was concerned that it would be too small at 4x5, but it hasn't been a problem. I do notice that I feel constricted in my movements; I'm used to using my whole upper body to draw or paint, basically. But it hasn't been an obstacle. The only thing that I'm concerned about is that my hand feels unusually cramped after I use it. I don't know if it's because the drawing surface is lying on my desk rather than on an easel, or maybe the size and shape of the pen, or what.

Anyway, for $100, I think it's quite a deal.

Cadroe i had some of the same hand problems when i first started with tablets. for me it's more comfy to lay the tablet on my lap and prop it with my knees to get the angles right for my hand. takes a lil bit of getting used to looking at the screen and moving your hand out of sight but you get it pretty quick. and i used to get crampy hands all the time but i figured out i was just holding the pen too tight since i wasn't used to the tablet and concentrating so hard. just took some time of consciously making my hand relax and i got over it. hope that helps.

Yeah... I use an Intuos 2 6x8 -- no regrets. I use it all the time now for pretty much everything.

Thanks for the info, Zuzi. I tried relaxing my hand more when I used the tablet yesterday and that did help. I was clenching it for some reason. What I've been thinking of getting for a while is a drafting table. I think that would make the tablet more comfortable too.

Yesterday I started watching "The techniques of Ryan Church, Vol 5: Architectural Interior" from Gnomon and I'm finding it a good introduction to digital painting and just a general workflow with a tablet. I'd recommend it (I don't know about the rest of the series).