Guide to getting a Graphics Tablet

When drawing, to get natural curves and flowing lines, nothing beats the good old hand drawn method. Which is fine when you have a pencil and paper, but on the computer things aren't so straight forward.

So when it comes to buying yourself (or someone else) a tablet, it can be a bit daunting to start. What brand, what features and most important of all, what is your budget?

Budget

Brand

Features

Other Considerations

Budget
When buying a tablet, set out with the maximum you're willing to spend, and then a more reasonable price of what you'd like to spend. Because different countries have different prices that change all the time, I can't quote specifics. But tablets will always scale up in price with the larger sizes and extra features that come with them.

Brand
Most professionals will agree with me when I say to stay away from anything that isn't Wacom. I'm not saying this to be a suck-up to Wacom, but there are a few smaller reasons. Wacom are the artistic drawing tablet business, yes there are competitors and other devices that you can draw with a pen and it appears on the screen but that doesn't just make it a good tablet. Most competitor's products focus around more office oriented tasks; such as jotting down notes, capturing signatures, crude diagrams. Wacom have been in the business for years and they both know their audience and they deliver products that work for artists.

Lastly, all the latest Wacom tablets contain their battery free technology (dubbed Penabled), and anyone who has used wireless technology only to have a battery die on them at a critical moment can probably feel at that point that the money they saved isn't worth the hassle of dealing with buying new batteries, having the tablet fail on you when the batteries get weak, and even in some, the weight of the batteries.

Addition:
Since the writing of this article, there has been moves by alternative companies with now comparable products entering the Art/Tablet Market. You'll have to exercise caution, as some are designed for office scribbling & handwriting, not artistic work.

Features
Sometimes you might find features that sound useful, but in reality might not be so practical for you. The most common features include:

Pressure Sensitivity (None, 512, 1024 and 2048)

Tilt Sensitivity

Screen (So you can draw directly onto the screen).

Size & Aspect Ratio

Touch Strips

Pressure Sensitivity
Generally, the most important feature for an artist is the Pressure sensitivity. In programs like Photoshop or Flash you can configure a brush's pressure (how hard you're pushing down) to be relative to either the size of the brush, the opacity and various other settings. Just from personal experience, beginners to tablets will get along fine with at least 512 sensitivity. A step up to 1024 is Wacom's Intuos 3 & Cintiq range, and if you do a lot of brush type work in Photoshop, you will appreciate the extra sensitivity. Lastly is in Wacom's 2048 range, the newer Intuos 4. Many artists who have switched from the Intuos 3 to Intuos 4 say that the extra sensitivity is noticeable and change for the better. However I feel that many artists have done just fine with the Intuos 3, so don't let the pressure sensitivity be the only option in your decision.

Tilt Sensitivity
I'm not extremely familiar with the Tilt sensitivity features, so I can't comment in elaborate detail, but basically the angle you hold the pen is supposed to affect the brush. If you need this feature you probably already know more about why you need it than I do.

Screen
One feature that has become quite a discussion point more recently is whether to get a tablet with a screen. One of the biggest drawbacks of using a tablet is the learning curve associated with moving your hand while looking on the screen. Unless you absolutely need this feature, you may want to rethink your reasoning as the Cintiq range have a few problems which need to be taken into consideration before you invest in such an expensive product. - First and foremost is heat, you will need to invest in a glove or two while using the screen otherwise the heat from the backlight will cause sweat on your hands to rub off onto the screen surface. - Second is dust & scratching. Take GOOD care of your Cintiq if you do buy one, most come with an acryllic screen cover to protect the LCD, however Acryllic is a soft plastic and is prone to scratching, especially if dust gets trapped under the pen's nib. They are not covered by warranty. - Thirdly is the issue of size and flexibility. The Cintiq 21UX is large and has cables for the Screen, Power and USB. Trying to place it in your lap will not be easy, whereas say, an Intuos 3, is lighter and can be moved around with a bit more ease. - Lastly, and something many don't consider is the colour reproduction of the Cintiq model. Last I checked the specs it still used a CFM backlight and TN panel, meaning the quality of the

However, that being said, if you can afford a Cintiq and you feel you can take good care of it, invest and share the feedback!

Size & Aspect Ratio
The last issue of features is the size, and aspect ratio. Tablets can be tiny, only a few inches wide and tall, spanning up to gigantic sizes. Make sure you will have ample desk space for the tablet, and your keyboard and mouse. I know some people double the tablet's space with the mouse's, just make sure you use a nice mouse pad on top of the tablet so you don't scratch your tablet!! Make sure you stick with what you can afford as well, and for most artists, a size around 6x8" or 6x9" is reasonable. However, there are now "widescreen" tablets which will make better use of those who have a Widescreen (pretty much anyone who has bought a new LCD monitor in recent years) or the orignal 4:3 aspect ratio. There is the Intuos 3- 6x11, and I believe all the the Intuos 4 range are widescreen tablets.

Touch Strips
The Intuos 3 & 4, Cintiq 21UX and 12WX all contain Wacom's "touch strips". For anyone who has used a tablet, only to flip to a mouse or drag the pen around to do things like adjust brush size, zoom in or out will tell you that it can become slightly tiresome. The touch strips are programmable and are meant to represent keyboard presses or gestures (such as a slider for zoom, or angle) while your hand is in a more natural position.

This is probably the best reason to go with an Intuos over a Bamboo if you were considering it, but remember to stick to your budget.

Other Considerations
Using a tablet can help reduce repetitive hand movement strain and promote a better posture.

Also, another thing many don't consider is how a tablet works on your computer. The Wacom drivers are considered the best for both PC and Mac, and have better support for gestures in Windows Vista and 7.

Reasons to get one
If you're stuck with pencil and paper and you don't see the value in a tablet, think again. Programs allow you to manipulate and layer your artwork in ways that are just not possible or take an extremely long time on paper. With layering, you can draw over the top of something else, and if you don't like it you can erase or even just delete the whole layer and start again, something not easily done with pencil and paper.

Afterthoughts
I've since purchased a Intuos4 Medium since writing this article and have had considerable time to use it for practical purposes. I just wanted to provide some valuable feedback.
The biggest and it is now a really big deal-breaker for me, is that the nibs on the Intuos4 wear down extremely quickly, compared to previous nibs. This is due to the delicately coarse 'paper feel' to the tablet's surface. As a result, your shiny new Intuos4 won't stay like that for long. After just 3 hours of work in photoshop, drawing and colouring (I have a relatively heavy hand when colouring), the nib showed signs of noticeable wear, including scratching the surface of the tablet, and having a flattened edge on the nib.

After this experience, the Intuos4 is not by any means a bad Tablet, certainly better and smoother than my old Graphire3, but unfortunately, the nib wears far to fast, and there aren't many spares to compensate for the wear that I go through (I'm up to my 3rd black nib).
I guess I'll have to tolerate a scratched Intuos4, I can't get a refund. But the real shock here, is that a pack of 5 yes five, felt nibs (grey)
are AUD$15 at the time of writing. Blatant ripoff. I can't find my preferred 'black' tip nibs.

I would take pictures, but all I have is a bad Cameraphone.

Article by Netrosis Thursday 3rd December 2009.
Revised Friday, 19th March 2010. Full thread with comments here.