Looking at digital tablets, trying to decide what would be the best one to use for my money. I had a Bamboo Fun tablet but it went all squirrelly on me and is now crap. Anybody know a decent tablet that I should pick up that is NOT above 200 dollars?

More importantly, what IS a digital tablet?

I think the Bamboo is probably the best "affordable" tablet if you don't want to buy a used one. I started with a Bamboo, used it for a year, then got a used old Intuos 1. For me, it's like a less buggy Bamboo... and it's much larger. The Bamboo had some features which the Intuos 1 doesn't have, but I never cared about those. On the other hand, the Intuos 1 probably has some features the Bamboo doesn't have, but I'm too lazy to find out :D So, in that price range, I'd recommend getting a used one.

Sayomi: It's a pressure-sensitive drawing board which you hook up to your computer (commonly via USB ). You draw on it with a pen, and it translates the pressure caused by the pen into digital signals which get fed into your computer and basically translate them into motion (like your mouse does), but it also captures the pressure-sensitivity, so you can control the line weight etc. And yeah, the "pen" is just there for the pressure... it doesn't really leave any lines on the board :p The ipad basically looks and acts like a tablet, only that it's also a monitor and a computer (although there also are high-end tablets which basically do the same things the ipad does).

So it's like drawing but it transfers your art straight to the PC?

I use wacom bamboo and its working out pretty fine for me

Sayomi:

a drawing tablet looks like this


you draw on like you would on paper and your stroked lines/art are reflected on your monitor

now this baby right here:

lets you draw directly on screen. This is like a dream gadget for me.

This is from personal experience, so it probably isn't true for everyone, but I found that going from a strictly traditional artist to doing line art with a graphire was ridiculously hard.

Like, it takes getting used to any tablet, but this was like relearning how to draw with my left hand or something. I bought a medium sized intous last year and it's pretty much the best thing ever. It has more of a "tooth" too it than the graphire did so the feel has been closer to what I'm used to on paper. The graphire's surface was slippery and definitely made for editing photos more so than editing art.

I know a lot of people who have has success with the bamboo, but don't have any personal experience with it. : )

If you can spare the extra cash, I high recommend upgrading to the intous. If you're a student, or taking any kind of art class you can get an AMAZING discount from http://www.academicsuperstore.com/ I get all of my tech stuff from here. : B

Also, if you're used to working larger, don't go for a tiny tablet because its cheaper. >>;

Oneblackpaper uses a Cintiq to illustrate for advertising designs and Death and Fairy. I guess this is a relevant plug: Kiseki Magazine has an illustration competition running with a Wacom Intuos4 as first prize. Their artists are sponsored by Wacom, so there's a few of these a year :)

The comp details are at:
http://kisekimanga.deviantart.com

sama
Kiseki Magazine has an illustration competition running with a Wacom Intuos4 as first prize. Their artists are sponsored by Wacom, so there's a few of these a year :)

The comp details are at:
http://kisekimanga.deviantart.com

You have no idea how much that magazine makes me wish I was from Australia. They have such cool contests. ) :
Cool EVERYTHING, really.

Ooh, I want one!

What if you lean on it with your hand over your drawing you would have to rub out every single tiny bit! Or if you go wrong, and can't erase it?

Also, can you colour it in on tablets?

Can you get one under £100?

Sayomi
What if you lean on it with your hand over your drawing you would have to rub out every single tiny bit! Or if you go wrong, and can't erase it?

They're not sensitive enough to know your hand is leaning on it, they only react to the tablet pen, so no worries. : ) You can errase with them too, usually you just flip the tablet pen over and use it like you would an erraser on a pencil.

Also, can you colour it in on tablets?

That's what I use mine for! As long as you have a digital coloring program you color on it just like you were using maker or pencil. You can even do digital paintings.

Can you get one under £100?

Bamboo Tablets start at about $100 which is like ~£60?

Dodger

sama
Kiseki Magazine has an illustration competition running with a Wacom Intuos4 as first prize. Their artists are sponsored by Wacom, so there's a few of these a year :)

The comp details are at:
http://kisekimanga.deviantart.com

You have no idea how much that magazine makes me wish I was from Australia. They have such cool contests. ) :
Cool EVERYTHING, really.

Thank you :) The Wacom Competitions they run are international (and they do send them out to other countries as well). Your skills are quite good, so I'm sure you could give them a run for their tablets

sama
Thank you :) The Wacom Competitions they run are international (and they do send them out to other countries as well). Your skills are quite good, so I'm sure you could give them a run for their tablets

Whoa really?!

I'm TOTALLY entering. : D Thanks for telling me!
(and thank you!)

so! the Bamboo Tablets sounds like a good ideal to buy because I just paid for one last night