what are peoples views on the drawing tablet?

[Steve J T]

Hi,

The Wacom range of tablets are very good , I have used them for ages I had a A4 size in work and the A6 graphire2 at home.

The pens are very comfortable to use and for anything freehand they are a must.

I never got on with pens in vector editing programs though guys I used to work with did – I found the old plain mouse better for that.

At under 35 squids it’s Worth a try.

Cheers

[Martin Pearson]

I have had a Wacom A3 tablet for a few years, I have to be honest it doesn’t get used as much as I thought it would but does still come in handy from time to time. I would have thought it would be fine for messing about with and at £35 I would have thought it was worth trying.

[Ian Bingham]

I tried one for a free weeks, found it hard to get used to and no real advantage to the mouse, maybe if i had given it a bit longer
Ian

[Glenn Sharp]

Thanks chaps,

I have done some drawings over the years (onto paper) but I like the idea of drawing directly into the computer

Is the size of the drawing pad crucial…ie…if you are drawing, does the image have to fit totally into the pad screen size or is there some kind of scroll facility.

What I am really asking is if I were drawing portraits for example do I need a bigger pad size??

[Steve J T]

quote glenn:

Thanks chaps,

I have done some drawings over the years (onto paper) but I like the idea of drawing directly into the computer

Is the size of the drawing pad crucial…ie…if you are drawing, does the image have to fit totally into the pad screen size or is there some kind of scroll facility.

What I am really asking is if I were drawing portraits for example do I need a bigger pad size??

Hi,

The tablet is mapped to the screen res, think of it as a mouse that looks like a pen (but with a pressure tip 🙂 ).

But with a pen the cursor jumps to where the pen is put down on the tablet.

[LeeMorris]

I had one a couple of years ago and found them to be very hard to use, much easier with a mouse.
I’d keep your money for something else

Lee

[Glenn Sharp]

Cheers Steve …very helpful

Lee….I have never used a graphic tablet before but surely freehand sketching must be easier with a pen rather than a mouse…..hasn’t it ???

[David Rogers]

I tried one briefly at home…and went back to a mouse. The ‘amazing freehand’ was more hindrance than help for me as 99.9% of all graphic work I do is reasonably geometric in form (amazing what you can do with a few boxes & curves) so the ability to freehand was pointless as it generated spurious nodes, and rough lines – not perfect point to point lines & arcs.

Freehand will be great for an ‘artistic’ flair – but as a valid tool for vector signmaking – I’d stick to a mouse.

As far as tracing & vectorisng – that can all be done either automatically or manually (mouse) inside most graphics programs using a scan.

The last time I ‘vectorised’ with a tablet – I was 18 in Giddings & Lewis CAD dept. just before hand-held drag-it-along scanners were coming onto the market!!

Serious question – why would you want to freehand sketch – it’s an extra stage you can maybe do without…I just go straight to production artwork.

If it’s just for the sake of drawing diret to a PC then yes, a GOOD tablet is a must – cheap ones will drive you insane as the tablet can’t process the pen speed fast enough!!

[Glenn Sharp]

David….thanks for your reply

I don’t want this for work, it is purely just for my pleasure so vectors & vectorising won’t come into it….

I just like the idea of being able to sketch (animal portraits mainly) but to be able to add different effects within the software

It will just be a hobby tool rather than a important work tool but as I say I have never used one so the feed back has been very helpfull

[Nicola McIntosh]

quote David Rogers:

The last time I ‘vectorised’ with a tablet – I was 18 in Giddings & Lewis CAD dept. just before hand-held drag-it-along scanners were coming onto the market!!

this is a laugh…the last time i used one and first time was at art college…i sat annoyed why everyone was givin a computer (at that time) to do work on and was told to play games….i refused and said..im on an art course and want something constructively art orientated 😕 i sat with my arms folded and refused to move until he agreed to get the appropriate equipment….god he flew about like a headless chicken….and i got a tablet….did think it was a bit unique at the time…but didnt impress me 😮 and in all honesty ive never tried one recently…..god what and epic ive just wrote 😮

nik

[Shane Drew]

I’d buy it.

My wife has just purchased the A5 version, and although I’m really impressed I doubt I’d use it for work. But the reason for buying it is that my wife and daughter both have artistic flair, are into scrap booking and the tablet is right up their alley, to make personal one off stuff. That combined with the robo cutter they bought with it, I never here a peep out of them in the evenings now …. 😛

For mucking about, and perhaps some freehand design concepts, if you’re handy with a pencil and paper, you’ll get a kick out of the tablet.

I think given the reasons you’ve given to try one, you’ll not regret spending the money.

[Glenn Sharp]

Cheers Shane,

I think I’ll give it a go….I’ve wasted more money on paints, pencils & pastels over the years so if it dosn’t work out at least it will be somewhere to rest my cuppa :lol1:

Thanks for all the comments

[Harry Cleary]

I’m quite interested in this as well, just wonder about the subtlety achievable….could somebody post some work they have done using a tablet?

[Glenn Sharp]

Harry,

I’ll keep you posted on how I get on…I’m going to have a look today.

My only worry is that the pad size might be too small but I’m not going to pay for a bigger one so I think I’ll just take the gamble

In all the blurb I’ve seen none of them seem to advertise them as sketch pads so to speak….I’ll have a chat with the ever helpfull people at PC World to see whats what

[Bill McMurtry]

I have an A4 version and, like others here, I rarely use it. It seemed like such a good idea at the time. It is useful for certain things but it takes time to learn how to use it properly and I find switching from mouse to tablet quite cumbersome.

[Jeff_Brown]

If you have any artistic skills…. They are a must! Don’t bother with the Small ones…. I wear mine out, at about 1 a year.

[BernardHibbs]

Hi,
This is my first post – it’s great to be part of such a busy forum.

I have recently bought a Wacom Intuos 3 (A5) and it’s great. I use it for vectoring images, making carvable pictures etc.

Here is some work I have done with it:

The gold horse is vectorized off a photo of the customers horse. The horse was on a cluttered background so you couldn’t do anything automatic.

• Time to vectorize with a mouse: 30 minutes
  Time to vectorize with my Wacom: 6 minutes

Here is another:

The Wacom doesn’t make more things possible, but does make many things faster. Here is some advice:

• Buy a Wacom – not a cheap Tablet
  The A5 is large enough for most things.

Hopefully I didn’t make too many mistakes on my first post. Let me know if I did. [/list]

[Cheryl Tissington]

I have a wacom.

Its great for vector work, but also creating good art, drawings & paintings in corel painter.

I prefer it to the mouse for fiddly work and I find its easier on the hand.

Cheryl

[Andrew Boyle]

I’m getting one…………..can you replay your moves in a mpg way..? and re edit?

Cheers

[Robert Lambie]

i have one sitting next to me… its a wacom also… i bought it to free-hand draw doodles/sketches in vector format using illustrator to then be cut in vinyl. from memory it wasnt working exactly how i wished so i shelved the idea. never got back round to using it. i keep swearing to use it with photoshop but dont see that using anytime soon.

andrew, im am sure all you would need for that is a screen recording software like camtasia. that will record everything in real time. lets you cut out delays and mistakes and export in lots of formats. there are lots of cheaper alternative onscreen recording software, some only about £30 dollars. i think the cheaper you go the less editing functionality you have.

[George Kern]

When i bought the Wacom Graphire I thought it was terrible. Didn’t keep up with my drawing therefore crippled the workflow and the whole reason I purchased it. When the Intuos 3 came out my friends father who does architectural CAD drawings had one and I used it briefly. What improvements from my previous model. Since then I have bought 3 of them and purchased the Cintiq 21UX and haven’t looked back since. Don’t be discouraged though, it takes time to get used to. Took me about a month and I have drawn my entire life, you need to get used to the feel of it in different programs too.