Well the Wacom Intuos 3, which I have, is perfect... unfortunately since they released the Intuos 4, the 3 is off the market. Still, if you can find one on ebay, I HIGHLY recommend it.

The 4 apparently has some wiring issues, and the cord has been known to frequently come loose on the inside of the tablet and cut off power. Enough people have reported this as happening that it's too risky to buy one at the moment, in my opinion.

But yeah, that's all the advice I hve!

Well, it could be my advantage in the second market because, once they release a new upgrade (intuos 4), the older version usually becomes olf-fashioned and cheaper in the retailers still selling them? :3 I would love to get it new and not used, but I doubt I can find out a brand new, sealed Intuos 3, as you say.... xD;;;

Thanks for your warning abut that wiring issue, if not i would have not had a way to find out that until I try it myself, ant that would have been ... disappointing xD;;;

You can sometimes find a refurbished one, which means it was sent back to the factory, repaired, tested, and deemed worthy of reselling, for cheap.

Yeah, what obelisk said! Sadly it's all I have-- I've been using my Intuos 3 since... I first started doing digital art in 2004.

I hear bamboos can work for people... and certain Graphire models. I think other people are posting good info on stuff though!

You're old school like me, then xD;;; When I got mine, there were not so many brands or models available, it was easier to choose x)

The same thing happened to both of my Graphire 3s—twice on one of them. I've had to repair them a couple of times.

Repair them yourself, or returning them to Wacom to let them solve the problem? o__O; Because I don't think they have a tech service close to me...

Myself, with the help of my uncle. It's not complex—it just requires some soldering.

wait, i thought Intuos4 used a Mini USB to USB which plugged into the side of the tablet o.o
And i myself use an Intuos3, but the cord got chopped by the little notches that are meant to keep the cord held against the tablet D:

I got the new Wacom Bamboo fun Pen and touch off of eBay for around $120.00... Works excellently, has a nice drawing size, good accuracy and pressure sensitivity... I don't need anything too fancy, and I can't justify paying $600.00 for the more professional ones..... So for your price range, I would recommend the Bamboo Fun...

http://www.wacom.com/bamboo/bamboo_fun.php

Well, this Wacom I already use, the Graphire 2, was around $110 when I got it, so I guess it's in the same quality range :3 I dunno the sizes of Bamboo series, I should check. My Graphire 2 is a bit tiny and I was hoping to get a bigger working place, but i must admit this tiny one looks like the Bamboo and it has served me well for years xD

Have you ordered it in e-bay instead Wacom for any reason? =3

I ordered off of eBay instead of Wacom because it was 80 dollars cheaper. It was slightly used, but you couldn't tell, it came with the original box, manuals, software, and the extra nibs. And Wacom is a quality name, so I know that it probably wouldn't break and need to be sent back under factory warranty.

And I just measured mine, and it 9'' x 6''.... Not gigantically large, but there's enough room for me to work....

A 6x8" Intuos should be just great. Don't waste money on a Cintiq until you've tried someone else's THOROUGHLY. It's a totally different beast and not for everyone.

I'm using a 4x6" Bamboo Pen personally, but that's because I'm poor. :B

Do you talk about an Intuos 3, or an Intuos 4? Three comments above they said the latest vesion has some issues discouraging me a bit... x3;;

My experience with a Cintiq was just some minutes at a friend's house, and it was amazing.... still, it would be like driving a Ferrari in the middle of a crowded street, a too wild beast in my unexperienced hands (and expensive to no end, lol).

If you can do those wonders with the Bamboo Pen, then that's a powerful tool too ;3

Thanks for the info and the idea

Intuos 3, if the 4's having electrical issues. Don't know how much those are if you can find them, though...

The Bamboo works pretty decently now; when I first got it (and used the old drivers) it was a jumpy, jittery piece of crap. Upgrading the drivers helped a lot.

Maybe I will be able to find a refurbished one, or a still working, used Intuos 3 on e-bay. I'm a bit wary about second hand items I haven't been able to test myself before buying, but.... ^^;;;

Thanks :3

I got a Bamboo Pen, fiddy bux
It's not one of those super fancy tablets the hardcore artists use but it works perfectly

Believe me, i wouldn't need more than that xD;;; My curiosity came from wondering if, for some more bucks, i could get a more awesome tool worth it :3

well you could get one with a screen on it, I'm sure it'd cost a fortune though

Last time I checked it was over $1000 xD;;;;

LOL that sounds about right XP

I got my bamboo fun medium sized for free out of a raffle. I'd recommend anything higher than the bamboo series even though it is pretty decent for me.

The next step above bamboo are Intuos, right? :3

I wonder why nobody mentions another brand but Wacom ^^ any idea?

Wacom IS the #1 name in tablet input devices... I've read somewhere once that they have a 90% share of the market.... Understandably, their products are good, the best in the business....

And everybody agrees, according to the rest of the comments :3 *nods*

Wacom is pretty much the monopoly of tablets. I literally don't know another company that makes tablets for professional use.

When everybody here is suggesting me this brand, I guess that's the reason. Maybe the other ones are more for .... non usual needs, office work like signing documents, or anything not art-related :3

Ebay XD

No. Really. GO look o_O A year ago I saw a few 5 inch wide ones go off for 10$ each

As a "buy it now" cost, or as a bid getting higher later? o__O;;

I have taken a few looks, but i also wanted to know if i could look for something else or different brands :3

I really have no clue XD I use a wacom, though I found it at a garage sale.

@_@ Really. You could always try updating your drivers..

well, I have a wacom bamboo http://www.wacom.com/bamboo/bamboo_pen_touch.php (can't find the pen right now though T.T)

its a VERY good tablet, especially for the money. I've never had a problem with it, with the exception of when I installed the drivers for the first time it didnt work at all O.o but when I reinstalled it everything worked fine and has worked fine since :3

Wacom and driver troubles are not new for me, whenever I update or reinstall something, I need to deal with those again.... >__O

So many people talking so well about bamboos, it's luring :3

See this? http://www.drawittablet.com/compare Maybe that helps?

If you love old tech like me (because I can't afford new things XD ), then maybe try looking for a Graphire4....? In fact I have a Graphire4 4x5, it's small but it did everything I needed it to... till the pen fell apart. Luckily the Bamboo pen (model FP155-EK) also works on the Graphire tablets, and I ordered my new pen already from Wacom. :> I dunno, I think a 6x8 Graphire (if they made them in that size) would work well. The Bamboo, I dunno, I read somewhere about the eraser end of their pens not having pressure sensitivity...but there are old but great models out there on the internet for sale...

good luck!

I thought the bamboo series was the upgrade of all the Graphire4.... and they were not for sale anymore? o__O; *shocked* Because if Graphire4 are for sale, they would be the natural evolution of my old Graphire2.... that, or their older brother Intuos :3

Nah. Graphire4s are no longer sold new, only used. Bamboos fill in the market spot that Graphires left behind. I don't know about the Bamboo ones (check to see if their erasers offer pressure sensitivity), but the old Graphire ones I thought, would be small, and especially inexpensive and easy to get on ebay or something. :>

wacom is nice, but very pricey.
Other alternatives are Aiptek (that was my first tablet, it worked really well except that it's eraser fuction was 0 and the pen was battery-powered. I don't even know why they had an eraser thing there if it wasn't supposed to work anyways, but maybe that has changed these days. Also, it stopped working within a year or 2, which sucked. I dont know if it was just my model that was broken due to resale-handling or because the makers of the brand suck.
My friend has a Genius tablet, which seems to work just as well as a Wacom Bamboo (i've seen both in action and tried them both), but is according to him, about 40$instead of 100 or so. I can ask him more about it if you want, or you can ask him Morvik
I hear Pablo's are really good, but I haven't seen them around in years, so I wouldn't count on using that.

I guess out of the ones mentioned, the best ones to go with would probably be Wacom or Genius

The good thing about Genius is, I have seen it available in some local retailers, so I think I will go and ask them if I can give them a try before deciding. Wacom seems to be only available in online-shopping mode, at least for me, and that's why I have asked here first, to get your opinions about :3

I have heard a battery-powered pen is a bit harder to use when drawing, but if the cost makes it worthy....

I have a Wacom Intuos 3, it's lovely :3

SO SNUGGLY AND GRAY

They only sell Intuos 4 now, as far as I know... T___T worse than the previous version, I have heard....

I MISSED THIS JEWEL xD;;;

eeeeeeebaaaay

About the Bamboo Series I bought a Bamboo Fun Pen & Touch 248 x 176 mm by 92 € in a department store. One question, do you do de inking process with the tablet?

Nope, I also ink in traditional ways: Thin pen, eraser, and some gouache if needed xD;;;

I'd suggest a Wacom Bamboo. It's not big, but I've seen it in action. It's awesome for it's size. And! It's cheap. Here in germany, it costs 80 EUR, which would be around 60 USD. But whatever you do, stay with WACOM. There's just nothing alike in quality, precision and durability.

I was wondering, in fact, about the brand: So many people advice me to get one of their products, I felt curious about others, like cheap models I saw on best-buy or brandless tablets :3 I can't find Wacoms in spanish shops, at least not the ones i have visited live, so I guess I can order it online in the cheapest shop (or country) possible ^^

Well, all other tablets that weren't Wacom (I've only seen 3 or 4 different brands besides Wacom, though), were bad alltogether. Every of them very imprecise, and many of them starting to crash after very short, which cause a nice perfektly straight line across the whole screen while you try do draw. Have never seen such a problem with a Wacom, so far.

And well, shipping within the EU shouldn't be that expensive, even with extra ensurance. Germany and the UK seem to be a cheap choice for the product price, both coming to the same.

BTW: I just saw someone suggesting a HP product instead of Wacom. HP is not part of all the bad experience I've made with graphic tablet, so maybe that's worth a consider, too. Though mind the pen: Usually, you have either a wire or batteries for your pen. With wacom, you hove neither of them (patented technology).

I didn't know that technology was Wacom-only... I have worked with a Wacom pen before, and I guess it may be less confortable with a heavier pen because of the batteries, or one with a wire ^^;;

My tablet was only $80 .00 "bambo wacom" .... 6x4 I believe. It works like a charm and I've had it for a good while, not quite as 8 years long, but it came with corel painter which is one of 3 softwares I always use and adobe photoshop elements.

It seems many people use that, and they are quite happy with it, that lures me to place it high in my score board :3 Thanks for sharing your experience with me!

I have a cintiq 12x costed around 600euro on ebay but they are hard to find.

And have you noticed a big difference with the tablets you have used before, or is not worthy for its cost?

hardly depends on what youre looking for, to draw its perfect, coloring is good as well as you can work a lot detailed and quick since oyu bascilly draw on a paper.
I bought it and made comission and now have the exact money back so....yes its worth it but ONLY when you really think you have a use with it.

Thanks

Lawl, everyone here suggested a Wacom.

Go against the trend, get a HP TC1100 XD

Lol xD;;;

But what's your experience with it? x)

I do all my art on an old one and a "legit" copy of Adobe CS4... :D

Then that proves it works fine ;3

Hehe, in your talented hands it probably would! :D

Talented hands? xD;;; Where? where?

I'm not too knowledgeable on the subject, but my Wacom was only around $150 and after three or four years, it still works like a charm!

I think the only thing you need to care about is how the pen tip can get too used and degraded :3

Mine came with replacements, but I haven't had to use them yet.

My first experience with a Cintiq was with you, when we were visiting our friends in Long Island xD;; I dunno if Oro had his Cintiq already when you visited it...

I dunno if you had an old tablet you gave away a few years ago (an intuos? an old graphire?), and how it worked and why you changed. :3 All in all, I would love to try the experience of doing the whole lineart of my pics in a digital way: You have seen me working, and I suck when drawing with the tablet, i only do it well when inking in trad media and then scanning everything... xD I'm afraid of the change!

Hahaha, I feel really jealous when I see you OCing and you do such an awesome lineart in the screen making it look so easy... xD;;; I was wondering if you still keep using your sketchbook for the basic drawing, or if you evolved to the digital work for the whole artistic process since I haven't seen you working live :3

I think the cats killed the tablet... knowing how much they love to chew the wires around... I better not ask how many pets do you have there in Philly now xD;;

Thanks for the advice, Seel-sensei ;3

I'm saving up for a Cintiq someday, myself. For now I'm using my old school Intuos2 (from 2003-ish?) and it's never let me down. If you want something like a new Graphire, look for Wacom's "Bamboo" model. As far as I can tell it's just a re-branding of the Graphire for the hobbiest/amateur market. They're very good quality if you want something less expensive. Otherwise I'd say go for a gently used Intuos as your first upgrade.

My advice is to get a cheap wacom. Just try it out. You might or might not like it. If you do, then buy a better one when time allows, you have more cash, and you have improved in digital arts. Right know don't you want to get rid of that rust in your hands. Maybe take up some traditional arts? Pencil and paper is always cheaper.... :D

As far as Intuos go, I'd suggest an Intuos3, though the new Bamboo has just as good of specs, at a lower cost. And I myself would love to upgrade from an Intos3 to an Intuos4, seeing as how my Intuos3 is having wiring issues at the moment :/
but yeah, as far as cost, go for the new bamboo, or if you're willing to pay $350, go for the Intuos4

i would recommend an HP TC4400 its a tablet laptop so you can draw on the screen. i have one and it works well you can snag them on ebay for about $250~