Need advice on drawing tablet

[Gabrelik]

Hi!


I'm trying to track down a good tablet to begin work on a custom tileset for MV. I would love to hear any recommendations from people who have some experience with this? I'm an established artist, but I'm a charcoal or Prismacolor guy; haven't worked digitally much. I've done some research, but would prefer to hear some real life experience.


Any ideas help. Thanks!

 

[kovak]

This is not about the tablet, but i'd recommend you to check Diego de Almeida paintings, he studied Performing arts and he did lots of commisions for games.
He paints everything in the same layer as if he is working on a canvas.

 

[JayTheDaniels]

I would generally say pick up a Wacom tablet. They're industry standard and pretty high quality, but can run a bit expensive. For making tilesets you won't need anything too pricey. Definitely no need for a cintiq (the ones with the screen on the tablet) unless you have a grand to shell out on it  


I'm using an Intuos Draw right now which ran me about $130. It might not look like much, but it gets the job done and it's small enough for me to carry around. I previously had an Intuos Pro, but something inside of it broke and now it sits in my basement gathering dust. I'm pretty clumsy so I've also had to replace the pen for both tablets twice. If you're only working at home and you tend to take good care of your tech you might not need to replace the pen for years.


As for cheaper alternatives, I've heard of some no-name-brand tablets costing a lot less than Wacom but running the exact same way. Thing is, they can be kinda hard to find. If you're short on cash or don't want to spend too much on a tablet, looking for one of those can be worth your time. The features you'll almost always want to make sure are on the tablet are: express keys (allows you to map functions to them, like undo), a high number of pressure levels (believe mine has somewhere over 200), and verify that it does in fact come with a pen or you may find yourself spending forever trying to track down a compatible pen for the tablet.


Happy hunting

 

[Gabrelik]

Thanks! I appreciate the replies!

 

[Pretzelbox]

About the cheaper tablets, Monoprice and Huion are decent alternatives to a Wacom. They're much cheaper (running about $30-45 for an 8x5 tablet, about a third less than Wacom's versions). Of course, they're not quite "industry" quality, but they should serve your purposes more than well enough for tilesets. Plus, if you buy on Monoprice's website, they often have sales. Nothing big, but they tend to offset the price of shipping (which is a one-day shipping for $6 - not bad!) Stay away from the absolutely no-name ones, those are NOT WORTH YOUR MONEY!! Seriously, don't do it! 


The main problems with Monoprice are that they have batteries in their pens, which makes them heavier and also requires you to purchase batteries. I currently have a Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch, the old version. It's been kicking around for a long time now, almost a decade - still works fine. Only downside is that the pen is no longer supported by Wacom. I don't recommend the Bamboo series anymore, since Wacom's rehauled them to be incredibly crappy, especially for entry-level tablets.


The tl;dr -- Monoprice/Huion if you're not sure you're gonna stick with a tablet for a long time and don't want to pay too much money. Wacom if you're certain you're gonna keep going with digital art (and they last for a nice, long time!) 

 

[Gabrelik]

Awesome! Thanks! I ended up going with the Monoprice 10 X 6.5", 4000 LPI. Can't complain for $35, just as you said. I'll give this a try and see how it goes. I really appreciate everyone's advice.

 

[eadgear]

Actually, the higher the sensitivity of the tablet the better. Some tip is pick a tablet with a pen that you are comfortable to use (there are some pen that so thick and some are so thin). But no matter what tablet are you using if you can't draw quite well you still can't draw quite well. A friend of mine is using a wacom while me using the cheapest one (genius tablet). I told her that I'm jealous to her since she has an awesome tablet but she said that it is not about the tablet it is about the skill of the artist. She told me that even she has a better tablet than mine, I'm still better than her in drawing.