Best Buy: Drawing Tablet - Please advice this poor soul.

ChronicleCrawler

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Okay, I'm planning to save up and buy a drawing pad or anything. Any good recommendations out there? Budget $100-200 (scrap that I have no idea, how much does those friggin things cost anyway).
 

Stratothrax

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I've owned and used a myriad of tablets, over a dozen in wacom's range over the years.

If you are new to digital painting I recommend buying the 'Wacom One' small or medium on amazon. Costs something like 40-60 dollars.

I'm using the small version right now while my 2k$ tablet sits idle, it's really a very very good tablet for the price, I use it casually all the time.
 

lnv

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I've owned and used a myriad of tablets, over a dozen in wacom's range over the years.

If you are new to digital painting I recommend buying the 'Wacom One' small or medium on amazon. Costs something like 40-60 dollars.

I'm using the small version right now while my 2k$ tablet sits idle, it's really a very very good tablet for the price, I use it casually all the time.

How is the texture on that? Part of the issue I have with LCD drawing tablets that I've tried is the texture of the glass screen is too smooth. Which makes it hard to draw accurately and there always ends up some slippage.

Does it offer some paper like resistance?
 

YeetusFeetus

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Okay, I'm planning to save up and buy a drawing pad or anything. Any good recommendations out there? Budget $100-200 (scrap that I have no idea, how much does those friggin things cost anyway).
I bought my tablet for like 20$ on wish, though to be honest it isn’t bad, it’s just that I myself am not really good at drawing. The tablet is called ‘XP-Pen StarG640 6x4 Inch OSU!’, I straight up copied that from amazon, but it was the one I bought. Though it’s meant for Osu, you can still draw with it, though it’s very small.
 

steryx

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I use the Huion H640P since it was cheap in my country's currency (RM 160) and I haven't changed yet since I lack the funds but its good for beginner like me. Right now, I'm saving for 16 inch drawing tablet.
 

tiaf

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Rather than just giving us just a price range it would be easier to make a recommendation when you give us information on what you're searching for:
-display or pad
-wireless or not
-size
-how many hotkeys
-battery-free pen or not
-nibs
-pen pressure (2.048 / 4.096 / 8.192)
-surface

I had a Wacom intuos 4, Wacom intuos draw and now Wacom intuos 5 Pro all size M.
Wi4 was great and the nibs held out very long, sadly the surface lost its paperlike texture after a while, but this one isn't sold anymore.
Cheaper intuos was light and did its job. The surface was a bit to smooth for my taste and the hotkey position on top ticked me off. Quite good for beginners though. Price should be around $90. But seriously, search for a graphic tablet with keys on the side.

Wacom intuos 5 Pro is out of your price range, but I appreciate the turning wheel on it and that you can buy different surface plates to change/replace the old one. The nibs, however, go down as fast as a traditional pencil. :blob_catflip:

I'd say most high-end Wacom products are overpriced and competitors like XP-Pen and Huion are way cheaper. Can't say much to their quality and service though.
 

yunano34a1

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I always buy mine at facebook marketplace around $25-30 second hand or at least good condition wacom ptz intuos 3 and it usually lasts for 1-2 years (cuz I have to replace the nibs)
 

ChronicleCrawler

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Rather than just giving us just a price range it would be easier to make a recommendation when you give us information on what you're searching for:
-display or pad
-wireless or not
-size
-how many hotkeys
-battery-free pen or not
-nibs
-pen pressure (2.048 / 4.096 / 8.192)
-surface

I had a Wacom intuos 4, Wacom intuos draw and now Wacom intuos 5 Pro all size M.
Wi4 was great and the nibs held out very long, sadly the surface lost its paperlike texture after a while, but this one isn't sold anymore.
Cheaper intuos was light and did its job. The surface was a bit to smooth for my taste and the hotkey position on top ticked me off. Quite good for beginners though. Price should be around $90. But seriously, search for a graphic tablet with keys on the side.

Wacom intuos 5 Pro is out of your price range, but I appreciate the turning wheel on it and that you can buy different surface plates to change/replace the old one. The nibs, however, go down as fast as a traditional pencil. :blob_catflip:

I'd say most high-end Wacom products are overpriced and competitors like XP-Pen and Huion are way cheaper. Can't say much to their quality and service though.
The bad thing is, I don't have a single clue about those things. I got no idea at all. I'll hit youtube to gain some infos :blob_shock:
 
D

Deleted member 29316

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Okay, I'm planning to save up and buy a drawing pad or anything. Any good recommendations out there? Budget $100-200 (scrap that I have no idea, how much does those friggin things cost anyway).
I bought my tablet for around $120. It's a Wacom Intuos way back in 2014.
 

shiopan

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I bought the cheapest wacom intuos for about 5000 yen last year (in japan) ... and about 7000 yen a year before that (in my country). Oh and it's before they launched the wireless one.

My friend using huion and she said it's good and cheaper
 

Ran-Ron

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I recommend Huion tabs. They're more or less as good as a Wacom tablet, but are much much cheaper. Heck, their Kamvas tabs are only around $230 compared to a Cintiq that is almost around $1k.
 

thedude3445

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The Wacom One is good and only $40-$60 USD. It's probably one of the better tablets that won't break the bank, though I feel like those real expensive ones really work wonders if you know how to use them.
 

namio

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I recommend the cheapest Wacom around (pen no touch, etc), especially given you don't seem to have any prior experience with tablets. Huion is good-- when it works. Depending on where you buy it, you could end up like me and drop $100 on one, end up with it breaking in a month and the seller never replying to your texts or attempts at contact.

Not to imply that you can use your tablet without taking good care of it (don't be like me), but Wacom's cheapest line has always been sturdy. I brought my Intuos Draw (Pen only) Small (probably a retired line?) about 5 years ago. Carried it in my bag alongside my laptop and heavy textbooks, took it with me halfway round the world multiple times, got chewed on by cats, still works great. I just had to replace the cable half a year ago, and it was $3 for phones. Prior to that I had Wacom Bamboo, and it lasted me 5 years too under worse conditions... (looks away I totally put my bowl of hot noodles on it)
 

tiaf

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I recommend the cheapest Wacom around (pen no touch, etc), especially given you don't seem to have any prior experience with tablets. Huion is good-- when it works. Depending on where you buy it, you could end up like me and drop $100 on one, end up with it breaking in a month and the seller never replying to your texts or attempts at contact.

Not to imply that you can use your tablet without taking good care of it (don't be like me), but Wacom's cheapest line has always been sturdy. I brought my Intuos Draw (Pen only) Small (probably a retired line?) about 5 years ago. Carried it in my bag alongside my laptop and heavy textbooks, took it with me halfway round the world multiple times, got chewed on by cats, still works great. I just had to replace the cable half a year ago, and it was $3 for phones. Prior to that I had Wacom Bamboo, and it lasted me 5 years too under worse conditions... (looks away I totally put my bowl of hot noodles on it)
Yes. Wacom is the Nokia under tablets. That’s the number one reason I still pay the high price for it and would not cheat with other brands.

Not to mention that XP-pen is confusing me with there x numbers of models who differ by mini specs.
 

namio

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Yes. Wacom is the Nokia under tablets. That’s the number one reason I still pay the high price for it and would not cheat with other brands.

Not to mention that XP-pen is confusing me with there x numbers of models who differ by mini specs.
Yeah... Frankly speaking, having drawn digitally for years, in the end other than possible reasons like Cintiq's screen or small size giving you cramps, you can go far with the cheapest Wacom. I find that I don't come across problems where my immediate thought is "I need better quality tablet to be able to do this", like I would with traditional medium (hello watercolors). Most of the time I find myself adjusting to its limitations and still get by anyway, all this without really realizing it. If you want to splurge the extra money on a digital art thing as a beginner, I recommend doing it on a program, like CSP or get SAI 2 or something. Specs might go a long way when you're a professional artist making a living with art, but as a hobbyist or starting out? Get something that can take a beating.
 

Ai-chan

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Okay, I'm planning to save up and buy a drawing pad or anything. Any good recommendations out there? Budget $100-200 (scrap that I have no idea, how much does those friggin things cost anyway).
Not sure if you still need an advice, but Huion's drawing tablets are very cheap. They perform just as well as a Wacom, but much cheaper. A large Huion drawing tablet is cheaper than a Wacom tablet of half its size. Ai-chan has a big one and been using it on an off for over a year. Unfortunately, being cheap it also feels like a cheap hardware. The tip kept getting loose after a couple weeks of using it and it had to be retightened regularly. Ai-chan doesn't know if the newer models still have this problem back Ai-chan bought it like 5 years ago. It also doesn't have some of the advanced features of some Wacom tablets.

Thought frankly, if you're really strapped for cash, Huion is a good alternative. Huion tablets are more or less pretty basic compared to Wacom, but it's not like you really need the barrelling feature anyway.
 

lyzagardenia

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I bought my XP-03 for $60 3 years ago because the cheapest wacom is smaller yet more expensive. I researched about specs and all only to realize that I suck at digital illustration. I ended up using my mouse more.

I always thought that I would rather buy a tablet where I can see what I draw directly. I got really uncoordinated because I had to draw on my XP, but had to look at my laptop to see what I'm drawing. I'm used to it now.

But I think that's one thing to consider.
 
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