Graphics tablet!

Rtphotography

New Member
I'm looking to get my first graphics tablet... Ideally £300 and under. Iv been looking at wacom intuos Pro but have also seen the XP pens which have screens
Can anyone give any suggestions on what to do for?
Considering second hand and new

Thank you
 
I think Wacom are generally regarded as the best. I've been using an Intuos Pro for a couple of years now and use it all the time.
I also had an Intuos 3 for about five years before that. Wouldn't buy anything else now.

I think it also depends on what you want to use it for.
 
Wacom is generally speaking the go to brand for graphic designers, although depending on your needs you might be better off with something like an iPad or surface, although these will ultimately be over £300.

If I was to buy another graphics tablet (I already have 2 wacoms) today I'd be picking a cintiq which has a display or a surface pro (dual purpose as something to take to meetings) but sadly both are above your £300 budget.

Now XP pen do a lot of options which on the surface look very similar to wacom but cost considerably less (not uncommon for chinese products), they seem to get favourable reviews but I personally haven't tried them. What I do know about them is they put out a LOT of spam posts on this forum and others trying to promote them (usually by underhanded 'reviews' or 'these are great' reply to themselves type posts) so whether those reviews found on sites like amazon are legit is another matter. [edit] Note to xp-pen's 'advertising team' aka xp pen spam posters - don't even bother, I'll delete the posts like usual.[/edit]

I dare say if you're not after a 'professional' level of hardware you'll get on fine with an xp-pen product but like I say I've had no experience of them and I'd be going wacom or surface if I was to update my existing wacom tablets. If you do buy one, go via reputable company like amazon which has a good consumer (buy as a person not a business) return policy in case it turns out to be rubbish.
 
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Thank you iv borrowed an older version of the intuos 3 but feel I need something more responsive to finer lines unless I havnt got the hang of it yet which is why I'm thinking something with a screen maybe better... I will be using it for designing logos small scale designs and drawings. I would also buy second hand but I know the cintiq is out of my price range, it's nothing I need at a professional level at the moment it's just as an extra option for my work.
 
Thank you iv borrowed an older version of the intuos 3 but feel I need something more responsive to finer lines unless I havnt got the hang of it yet which is why I'm thinking something with a screen maybe better... I will be using it for designing logos small scale designs and drawings. I would also buy second hand but I know the cintiq is out of my price range, it's nothing I need at a professional level at the moment it's just as an extra option for my work.
You might need to tweak settings to get it to your liking, I know I do when I install it. It will also likely need a bit of time for you to be come accustomed to it.
 
I bought Intuos Pro a year ago and still didn't do anything with it. Mostly because of the lack of time for education to use it fast and efficient. And since I don't have to do illustration work as frequent as then I started to postpone it :/
Now it's just collecting dust on my work desk. What tutorials do you suggest on wacom for beginners ithe n digital drawing?
 
I bought Intuos Pro a year ago and still didn't do anything with it. Mostly because of the lack of time for education to use it fast and efficient. And since I don't have to do illustration work as frequent as then I started to postpone it :/
Now it's just collecting dust on my work desk. What tutorials do you suggest on wacom for beginners ithe n digital drawing?

I'd just suggest blowing the dust off it and using it.

I haven't used the Intros Pro but I've used plenty of other Wacom's.

There's a few settings like shortcuts and the like that you can programme in which may help to find out about but they're just a tool at the end of the day.
A very good tool.

The biggest thing I found with an Intuos (or any tablet) is the hand/screen co-ordination and getting used to that.
I found it a little awkward at first as it's kind of natural to look at what you're doing with the stylus rather than what's going on on the screen.

I did find I got used to it very quickly and started to use the tablet over my mouse even for basic, non-drawing tasks like surfing the web or say using Ai for more regular things instead of the mouse.
They just seem easier and less clunky.

Thinking about it. Just using it to replace your mouse would be pretty good practice.
 
yes, I read a lot about how people started by using it instead of the mouse so it becomes familiar to them..
I tried ( for a liiiiitle bit) and didn't like it and now it just feels like a burden :D
But I'll take your advice and start using it, at home at least. And then we'll see what happens :D
 
I love my Intuos Pro, I have the Large size. It's definitely a learning curve. But once you get the hang of it you'll love it.
 
I love my Intuos Pro, I have the Large size. It's definitely a learning curve. But once you get the hang of it you'll love it.

^^^Like K says^^^

It does take some getting used too as it just doesn't feel right at first and then it kinda clicks.
I found I just didn't use a mouse any longer at all.

I used to have an old Intros 3 that cost about £450 back in the day and it was MASSIVE.
It was a bit of a stretch over it to the keyboard.
It used to bridge a corner on my desk space and eventually cracked on the back, down the middle.
It still worked fine though and only got rid when the drivers were no longer supported on newer machines.
 
It used to bridge a corner on my desk space and eventually cracked on the back, down the middle.
It still worked fine though and only got rid when the drivers were no longer supported on newer machines.

That's incredible. Another thing I love about the Intuos: It's practically invincible lol. Everything breakable on it is replaceable, the pen, the pen nibs, and the cord. I've had mine since 2014, and I've never had a single problem with it. I use it pretty heavily too. Pen pressure works great and it IS extremely precise. Unlike a screen tablet, I can SEE exactly where my mouse is without the pen or my hand obstructing it. I have considered investing in a screen tablet but I just don't think I'd honestly like it as much for the price difference. My Intuos feels very natural to me now. I do recommend getting a larger size if you plan on using it for long periods of time, it'll save your wrist. I used a tiny bamboo tablet back in 2012 and that thing KILLED my wrist workin on it so much. Having the larger one forces you to make broader strokes with your elbow, which, will make you a better artist anyways.
 
I have considered investing in a screen tablet but I just don't think I'd honestly like it as much for the price difference.

It's only my experience here as many people LOVE the Wacom Cintiq but I was given one by a company I was doing some work for.
I was really excited about it but it just didn't work for me and spent almost a year in the cupboard.

They are a pretty chunky bit of kit and you need a big and dedicated workspace to keep them permanently.
These things are just not portable in any way and you need to use them with your computer as whey aren't really that stand alone.
The cables are pretty thick and there's quite a few of them and I think there was a power brick too.
They don't show you these in the reviews.
Also, they are rather expensive.

I was also given a pretty high end MacBook Pro to use with it and it made it's fans blow to the point I feared it may give up the ghost.
It may have been my fault for not taking the time to set it up properly but all the things like the UI, folders and menus were displayed REALLY small to the point where I had trouble seeing them.

They don't really work with Illustrator that well apart from the brush and pencil tools but I guess they come into their own in Ps for digital painting.

At the same company I had a go with the iPad Pro and that was amazing and everything I hoped the Cintiq would be.
They ended up selling the Cintiq's and buying more iPad Pros.
 
They are a pretty chunky bit of kit and you need a big and dedicated workspace to keep them permanently.
These things are just not portable in any way and you need to use them with your computer as whey aren't really that stand alone.
See personally that's better for me. I like having an anchored, dedicated workspace, rather than something portable. I would honestly love to have 2 stations, a computer with games on it and a computer that's just for art and design. I feel like I would get a lot more done that way if I had a space that was like "This is where I work" that could help me get into that mentality whenever I went in there. I've always benefitted from having a dedicated environment, like I always studied better at the library than at home. Unfortunately... I live in an 800sq ft apartment and no way I can justify the space or money to have two computers haha.

I worked with Cintiq's in ONE class at college, and honestly it was pretty awesome the few times I got to incorporate it into a project. I wouldn't have paid for it though. I unfortunately didn't get the chance to use them as much more than monitors since it was a video editing class, and that just doesn't benefit much from the Cintiq's capabilities. I found a few excuses to use it though. It was a classroom for a bunch of the "Digital Media Design" classes at the community college so. The animation students loved it.

I can't stand using the tablet for vector work though. Not enough control for me personally. I use it for digital painting in Photoshop. I don't actually illustrate much in Illustrator but I'm considering picking up Affinity and stealing my fiancee's Surface Pro haha.
 
I could see many people falling in love with the Cintiq as I guess the possibilities for digital painting are endless.

It just doesn't tick my boxes working in vectors and the only reason I tend to share my thoughts is to save someone from spending all that money on the wrong tool.
 
Can't give you much advise on this, as I'm using Wacom Intuos 4 with a lot of pleasure for years now and never looked for something else. Although for illustration work I like to buy a systom to draw directly on a tablet with screen instead. But I never missed it really as I'm doing a lot of vector work and not so much sketching. Intuos 4, which I believe they still sell, is not too expensive.
 
I got the wacom cintiq 24HD about 4 years ago, a very nice piece of kit which I have been using a lot more recently. I did go through a stage initially of wondering whether I should have spent the £1600 on it or not. Now I'm glad I did. I've used Wacom products for around 20 years and generally been very happy with them. The biggest problem I encountered with Wacom was the OS breaking software update for the Cintiq. I'd only had it a couple of months and updated the driver, totally locked my mac pro. After much swearing and reinstalling just going back to the original driver fixed everything. Also their tech support does tend to suck a lot, not the most responsive support considering how much their equipment costs.
 
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