General Question for the artists, about tablets.

[wonko the sane?]

My nephew is powerfully driven by drawing, and it's become kinda obvious that he's not going to abandon the habit like other things he's chosen to do over his short time on this earth.

Consequently, I am looking for information regarding entry level tablets and software so that next time he's due up a gift we can work towards getting him THAT as opposed to a similarly priced volume of art supplies that will inevitably end up ruined at the hands of his baby sister.

So yeah: tablets, art software, what do you all use, what would you recommend to a beginner?

 

[Pocket]

I guess it depends on which of the two definitions of "tablet" you're talking about here. I haven't paid much attention to what's going on in the standalone tablet space because I already have a 2016 iPad for the basic things it was designed to do and a real computer for everything else. I know that even the cheapest iPads now can support the Apple Pencil, and by extension everything you can do with one, but that's still like $400 or something for the combo plus whatever the apps cost. I don't know what other brands offer. Last I checked, ProCreate was the main brand-name art app for iOS.

There's also the other type of tablet that plugs into a computer and basically replaces the mouse. It's more like using a pen than a mouse is, but more like using a mouse than a pen is, because you've got this featureless plastic slab sitting flat on the desk while you're looking up at the screen. They have ones that are also screens, but those are $200 minimum if you want a big enough screen to be worth it. I've been thinking of upgrading to one myself one of these days, because I've never really developed the muscle memory needed to use the featureless-slab kind for sketching. I do the sketches on paper and then scan that in to ink and color. I've only used Wacoms, but Huion is one of the cheap off-brands and every artist I know who doesn't have a Wacom uses those and hasn't had any complaints.

As for software, Krita is free (as a standalone download for PC OSes; if you get it through any app store, it costs money) and comes with a pretty comprehensive set of tools. I don't use it myself because of the learning curve of migrating to a new workflow, but a kid with no preconceived ideas of how an art app should work should have no trouble picking it up. I definitely recommend avoiding Photoshop like the plague nowadays because of the garbage subscription model, but I use an older version of that for the "image manipulation" parts of the process like scanning, adjusting brightness, and exporting; I use Paint Tool SAI for the actual art stuff, occasionally assisted by a program called Lazy Nezumi which is basically like a digital suite of rulers, compasses, and French curves but with more automation.

 

[wonko the sane?]

Actually, when I wrote this: I had forgotten entirely that stuff like the Ipad were a thing and distinctly meant wacom tablets.

Thanks pocket, now at least I have a few names to start researching with.

 

[Pocket]

Update: I was reminded that XP-Pen is also a brand that exists and some artists I know use those.

 

[DoubleClutch]

I used a Wacom Bamboo board for a few years. it worked well with a few freeware paint shop style programs. I think I recall Gimp worked well for me at the time. plus it was fun as a replacement for a mouse but that was years ago I'm sure there are better ones out there now

 

[wonko the sane?]

Much obliged my friend. At least now I have some names and places to start.

 

[Pocket]

One thing to keep in mind about GIMP, if you dare to even try it (it has some good "photomanipulation" features like filters that you'd be missing out on if you don't want to mess with Photoshop), is that you have to manually turn on tablet support in the options somewhere. Because it's only natural to assume that most people with drawing tablets would not want to use them with a graphics app.

(See, this is what folks mean when they say people who write open-source software don't live in the real world.)

 

[Zephyr]

A Wacom Intuos Pro is what I'm currently using - maybe a bit too much for entry-level, but could be a solid investment if you're Absolutely Certain about the commitment to the hobby. For something a bit more budget-y, I'll throw in another vote behind "I don't use one, but I hear good shit about Huion as a Wacom alternative".

Software-wise...

I never could grok drawing in Photoshop itself, but I can't argue with the fact that it is very useful for a handful of particular things that more drawing-oriented software just gets a bit wonky on. That said, for god's sake, don't pay for it, Adobe can eat dicks. If you don't want to go the pirate route, though, I really would not suggest giving a newbie GIMP/Glimpse, though. I've never met a more user-unfriendly program, and gladly recommend Photopea in its place. It's a browser-based Photoshop clone, works fantastic. I don't know if it works with tablet drawing, though, it seemed like it didn't want to when I tried just now, but I'm reccing it more as a like, editing/post production tool sort of thing.

Clip Studio Paint, however, is my big recommendation. It's a one-time purchase, but it goes on sale pretty regularly every few months for like 25 bucks, which is a goddamn steal for how powerful it is. It can be pretty daunting, especially if the person doesn't have a prior background using other art software, but being one of the biggest ones in the game right now, there's no shortage of tutorials out there to learn the ropes.

If you want him to try cutting his teeth on free stuff, tho, in addition to Krita, there's FireAlpaca and Drawpile as well. The latter of which is a bit...oblique, compared to other programs, but the big feature of it is that multiple people can get together and draw on the same canvas, so if he's got digital art buddies he might wanna draw with, then there's that.

 

[Pocket]

Oh, neat. I remember when OpenCanvas was a thing and people used to post sketchdumps from sessions they did together, but it was never a very good drawing program and also required some kind of virtual-LAN app to actually use online. Nice to know there's still stuff out there people can have that experience with.

 

[Zephyr]

Oh, neat. I remember when OpenCanvas was a thing and people used to post sketchdumps from sessions they did together, but it was never a very good drawing program and also required some kind of virtual-LAN app to actually use online. Nice to know there's still stuff out there people can have that experience with.

Oh yeah, Drawpile is much less of a headache to get going, people get their own individual sets of undos, and you can just browse open public rooms kind of like the functionality iScribble and oekaki boards had, but with a bigger canvas than your pinkie nail.