How much would a drawing tablet cost me?

Question

I've heard that it's easier to draw on the computer with a tablet. Can someone tell me how much it would cost me from Target? Or is it cheaper at Best Buy? Also, does a tablet have anything like to color with? Or is there something like a software that could color really great textures like this picture:

http://media.photobucket.com/image/chibi/Zelda_Freak_2007/Chibi_Tifa.jpg

P.s I don't take credit for this picture.

Answer 1

Yes, it's much much easier to draw on the computer with a tablet (and more fun, too!). The cost depends upon the tablet you get - they come in a huge range of sizes, brands, features, etc. The cheapest might be as little as $30 and the most expensive goes up into the thousands of dollars!

Wacom brand tablets are considered the best (and rightly so), but they are also more expensive, so if you are just starting with one and wanting to try it you may want to go for a cheaper brand; I have heard Aiptek tablets are very good for the price. I'm from the UK so I don't know what you will find in the shops over there, but make sure the one you buy has pressure sensitivity (meaning line weight varies with how much pressure you put on the pen) - that's one of the greatest advantages of working with a tablet. Larger tablets are more expensive, but larger isn't necessarily better, as the area of the tablet automatically covers all of your monitor screen, so the difference is negligible (I prefer the small ones as I find the larger ones unwieldy, but some people prefer a larger drawing area - if you've never used one before you'll just have to take a guess at which one might be right for you).

If you'd like to compare some brands/prices before you look at them in a shop, you might find this link helpful: http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/aboutgr...

As for software to achieve good effects with it, Photoshop and Corel Painter are best, or if you need a free one, download GIMP ( http://www.gimp.org ). Search Google or Deviantart for colouring tutorials to get you going on that anime style. :)

Good luck!