I'm thinking about buying a pen & tablet ( :roll: how often have you heard that before? ) & have been doing some research. It seems to be widely agreed that Wacom are the brand leaders. While the Intuos range looks the Biz, they're rather out of my price range :cry: except maybe a v small one. The Graphires look pretty good & more affordable. I'll be mainly using it for photomanip. I'll probably have a dabble with drawing/writing with it too, but ( call me a traditionalist if ya want) I think I'll still prefer the scritchety-scratch of pencil on paper at the end of the day!
So, my airhead questions to you digital art wizards are :

*Are Wacom truly the best buy or is that marketing hype?

*the advantages of a smaller tab are obvious (cheaper / take up less space), so what are the perks of larger tabs?

*I'm Q new to photomanip, & have only just started to try & get my head round the complexeties of Photoshop (CS) - am I right in thinking that using Photoshop will be loads easier/better with a tab rather than a mouse?

*Considering what I'm using it for, & that I'm somewhat inexperienced in digital art, are there any huge advantages to Intuos, that justify the price?

*Looking at it from the opposite perspective, under the circumstances would I be better to buy a really cheap, basic tab first....then get a Wacom later when I've learnt the ropes?

Awnsers to any or all of these questions would be much appreciated. And if you've got any other random advice on tablets or photomanipulation feel free to lay your wisdom on me. :D

What you have to remember about tablets is that they are quite different to both using a mouse *and* drawing.

For a beginner I'd recommend a medium sized tablet (A5 size active area). Larger tablets are geared more towards digital artists and very high end work, where absolute precision and detail are what's required.

Being a larger tablet they take a lot more out of you! You can't really keep it on your lap so you'd need a fair amount of desk space to keep it on. It also takes much larger pen stroke to cover the screen area.

You also have to get used to not looking at what you're drawing as you have to move your hand and watch the screen at the same time!

I'd recommend getting an A5 Wacom, as a cheaper tablet will do you not good. Chances are it won't be anywhere near as responsive, so you'd end up being quite heavy handed with the Wacom when you did get it, and it probably wouldn't be pressure sensetive either.

Go for the Graphire. There's a bit of a learning curve with tablets, but a lot of people swear by them after they've used them.