What kind of drawing tablet do you use?

[Deuxcross]

Hello! Complete novice over here. I'm wondering what you (yes, you!) use for a drawing tablet for digital work and - if you don't use one - how you make maps anyway. This is a very open ended question. I'm trying to figure out the best way to go from my sketchpad to a computer. Thanks for reading!

[ChickPea]

Hi Deuxcross, many of us use Wacom tablets, with everything from the small budget models to the uber-expensive Cintiqs. I know it's ridiculously long, but there's a thread about tablets here. Maybe have a browse through the last few pages (since it dates from 2007!!)

Personally, I've got a Wacom Intuos, and even though I'm not great at drawing, I couldn't imagine not using it for art. Drawing with a mouse is like trying to write with your 'wrong' hand. The results are not good (for me, anyway!)

[Mouse]

I've got a very simple and cheap Wacom (£60 when it was on offer brand new) last Christmas, and I probably use it about as much as I still use my mouse. I suppose its just what you get used to.

I think the ease of changing over from mouse to tablet depends on how long you've been using a mouse. I've been using a mouse to draw stuff on a screen for 25 years - from way back when shades of grey were made up of patterns of black and white dots, and were printed on dot matrix printers - the ones that had an actual ink ribbon like an old fashioned typewriter, and a carriage that zipped across the paper with a rude tearing sound as they smashed billions of individual black dots onto the page with an array of pins. You had to use special paper with holes down both sides.... and the computer mouse had an actual rubber coated metal ball inside it that used to get all messed up with fluff from the desk...

Sorry - trip down memory lane

[Falconius]

This year I got an Wacom Intuos as well. I went with Wacom because everyone uses it and I know it works with the softwares I use (it doesn't seem to play well with GIMP or Inkscape for me but I use them so rarely now and I've never set it up properly for them, it works great for Krita which is what I use instead of GIMP for most things). I got the medium size and it's fine, I would've gone a size up if they had any but they didn't. It's way better than a mouse for graphics based work and it is also far safer (in that you don't get carpel tunnel syndrome so easily). The pad comes with buttons on the top two corners and I don't use them almost at all, certainly not the off hand one. In Blender I have one corner set up to replace the mouse scroll wheel and thats about it. Also they come in handy if your mouse does die, like mine did today. It's a worthwhile investment if you plan on doing art on the computer, amateur to professional.

[Noltron000]

Personally, I use a Wacom Bamboo Create tablet, CTH-670. It's mildly old, I got it a several years ago. I love using it, but I still have yet to get used to using it

[kacey]

I've used a couple of different wacom tablets and they work fine, but ever since I switched to the surface pro 4 I have a tough time going back, even after getting a shiny new desktop and a brand new wacom tablet I'm still using my surface for drawing, it's just way more comfterble for me to draw directly on the screen and be able to just sit back anywhere and relax. I wouldn't recommend it though if you're mainly using gimp or blender because they aren't very touch friendly, but PhotoShop works great and I recently picked up clip studio (magna studio) and it's also running really well on it.