Buying a graphics tablet

[Yora]

I decided, after many many years, to get myself a graphics tablet to do some digital drawing. And this time a decent one.

A long long time ago I had a pretty cheap graphic tablet with which I had played around a bit but really wasn't happy with how imprecise and unresponsive it felt. I still liked it a lot more than using a mouse, though. I feel reasonably decent at drawing and it's a much more comfortable and intuitive form of input. I actually have no idea what happened to it, so I can't tell you which one I was. And other than that, I really don't know anything about this type of hardware.

Knowing myself and would say there's a more than 50% chance I will give up before I fully get the hang of it. As such, I don't want to spend a huge amount of money on it. But at the same time, I want to get something solid that doesn't make the experience needlessly unfun, or that I would want to soon replace with something better if I stick with digital drawing.

Can you give me any advice on how to make a choice?

[factotum]

The graphic artists at the place I used to work swore by their Wacom tablets, but that was more than a decade ago and I don't know if those are still the artist's choice.

[gomipile]

I have an older small Wacom Graphire 4"x5" and a new large Huion tablet. The Huion feels like garbage in comparison. I only use it when I need the larger size for tracing.

I'd get the 7.9"x6.3" Intuos Wacom sells now. It should be nicer and more versatile than my old Graphire, which is already nice enough to recommend. Plus, it sells for about the same as my Graphire cost in the 2000s.

[Brother Oni]

What are you after? A graphics tablet which is just an interface device like a Wacom Intuos (https://www.wacom.com/en/products/intuos), or a graphics tablet with a screen you draw directly onto like the Huion GT-220 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/HUION-GT-220-Silver-Linearity-Positioning/dp/B01LEZH8P4)?

With both types of tablets, the program and drivers make a critical impact on the responsiveness, so try changing programs, updating your drivers and playing around with the sensitivity options. Available system resources can also affect responsiveness, so check that your system has sufficient RAM/CPU speed/hard drive space.

My wife uses Clip Studio Paint and a Wacom Intuos (I'll ask her the exact model when I get back) for her job, so I'll see if she has any more advice.

[Yora]

Screens look fun, but probably increase the price several times. I don't think that's worth it for me at this stage.

So consensus still seems to be "Wacom is king", good to know. Wacom also probably gets you pretty good odds to get good linux drivers, being such a dominant brand.

For those who have worked with them, what do you recommend as a good size? I think larger ones probably make sense if you want to do long continous sweeping lines. But for other purposes, what makes sense?

[Brother Oni]

For those who have worked with them, what do you recommend as a good size? I think larger ones probably make sense if you want to do long continous sweeping lines. But for other purposes, what makes sense?

My mistake - my wife uses a Wacom Bamboo CTL-470, which is a discontinued model now. Amazon reports the current version of that tablet to be a Wacom Intuos Art Small.

She doesn't recommend anything smaller than this (active surface of ~6"x4" / 152x95mm so the size that gomipile has now) and you'll only need larger (and more expensive) ones if you start getting serious.

If my German is up to scratch, Amazon.de has the Wacom Inutos Art Small for between 55-78 euros (there's a catch somewhere, but I'm not seeing it).


Speaking of programs, you'll want to invest a bit to get the most out of your tablet - she started off with free programmes like Sai and while they worked, they weren't great. I got her Manga Studio 5 (now Clip Studio Paint) and the expanded sensitivity options completely transformed her tablet.

[KillianHawkeye]

We use Wacom at the place I work at. I believe the model is Intuos 4, and it's pretty big. I think it's an older model, so you probably can't get the exact same one, but these things last a pretty long time in my experience.