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[Canned Turkey]

Okay so I've heard so many times that a drawing tablet will help increase your skill and ability with graphic art.
So I want to buy one.
Thing is, I have no idea which ones are good, or how they even work.
My budget is 75$, I just want something to draw with. No fancy display or giant surface area, just something that works.
Right now I'm leaning towards an on sale huion H610PRO for 65$, because it seems the best for my price range.
Is this a good idea?
Also, will it work with the image editor in GMstudio, or do I have to get a whole new program?

[ProgramGamer]

As long as the pen that comes with it has buttons, you should be fine. Also order spare nibs for it, you will need them at some point. It will work with any program that accepts mouse input, but some software accepts input directly from the tablet for greater accuracy, notably Paint Tool SAI (highly recommended if you want to do some high quality raster art), Photoshop and flash. Also, make sure that the tablet you want has pressure sensitivity.

Do also follow tutorials on how to set up the tablet's drivers in order to obtain optimal performance. I should also mention that it takes a while to get used to a tablet's feel, but after a short while it'll feel almost like you're drawing on paper. What is especially useful on a tablet is that the position of your cursor directly correlates with the physical position of your pen on the tablet, so it's also useful for very GUI heavy programs like 3D modeling programs and spreadsheet editors. (surprisingly)

Hope this helps!

[Halogen]

Wacom's are good, and notable for their high quality and good standards of design. I personally, however, recommend the Huion line of tablets. Simply because they're cheaper but work just as well. I have the Huion 580, which has better specs than the wacom oen and touch and costs half the money. They look like a no-name chinese factory company (which they kinda are) except their product is good and their customer service is impeccable. Plus, shipping is quick. You can find them on amazon, I know for certain. Ebay or something like that should have them too. Good luck finding your match!

[Canned Turkey]

Thank you very much for the info. I think I'll be getting the huion H610PRO.

[therevillsgames]

I found it pretty hard to draw whilst looking at the screen and using tablet, for me it took along time to get use to it.

[Canned Turkey]

I figure it'll take some time getting used to, but for the price I'm willing to try it out.

[septic]

use a Wacom tablet

[Moth]

I use a wacom bamboo tablet, works great.

the first time I got a tablet I let it go unused for years because I didn't try sticking with it after the initial dissonance of drawing on one surface while looking at another. Don't make that same mistake, just power through it.

[Canned Turkey]

I would get a wacom if I could afford it, the quality for price ratio is a lot better with huion.

[ProgramGamer]

I dunno. My bamboo that I got a couple years ago only cost me 100$ and it has buttons on the tablet with a two-buttoned pen.

[Canned Turkey]

I don't have 100$ though.
Also the one I got has buttons up the wazoo, I can't get anything done without my delicious hotkeys.

[Moth]

yeah you probably made a good call. I personally got my wacom bamboo splash for $80 which I think is a closer price range to the huion than what ProgramGamer paid but the huion is a LOT bigger (10" x 6.25" v.s. the bamboo's 5.8" x 3.6") and as you said it has many more buttons.

[Zavesky]

You can find tablets in the Wacom Bamboo series for relatively cheap (should be close to your price range). They are a great beginner tablet. I believe their current version of this is called the "Intuos Manga" Get one used. Don't be afraid to explore Wacoms on ebay.

[Conker]

Save some more and get a wacom

[cynicalsandel]

A cheap tablet almost made me give up on ever being able to use one. (Monoprice tablets just being a rebrand of Huion) It wasn't until I sucked it up and bought a Wacom that I finally was able to effectively use one.

Your experience may vary. However, the pen felt like shit, and required a battery. The drawing surface was disgusting.

There is a reason Wacom is the brand.

[Canned Turkey]

You can find tablets in the Wacom Bamboo series for relatively cheap (should be close to your price range). They are a great beginner tablet. I believe their current version of this is called the "Intuos Manga" Get one used. Don't be afraid to explore Wacoms on ebay.

Yeah but the cheaper wacoms are far too small for my liking.

Save some more and get a wacom

Already bought a huion after some research.

A cheap tablet almost made me give up on ever being able to use one. (Monoprice tablets just being a rebrand of Huion) It wasn't until I sucked it up and bought a Wacom that I finally was able to effectively use one.

Your experience may vary. However, the pen felt like shit, and required a battery. The drawing surface was disgusting.

There is a reason Wacom is the brand.

Whenever one brand dominates a certain product, it usually means it's the best. Wacom is definitely better than huion in a lot of ways, but not price, which is my main concern. I have had experiences like yours with other products, but I did some digging and looked at a lot of reviews so I could avoid what you're talking about.

[CyrusRoberto]

Why not just get an old Wacom model for cheap off of ebay? Up until last year I was pretty happy with a Wacom Graphire 4 6x8 tablet from 2005 that I bought from a friend for $25. I was reluctant to shell out more money for a newer and better model since I wasn't sure if art was something I wanted to develop my skills in, so I used it to practice for the next 5 years and ended up upgrading to a Cintiq. If you want something better than a Bamboo, you could get a used, large Intuos2 model for $60 online with decent pressure sensitivity.

My spriting workflow has always involved drawing large-resolution sketches on PaintTool SAI and scaling them down to use as pixel art guides in another program like Paint.NET and Aseprite.

EDIT: aww I didn't see that you already went with the Huion. Oh well hopefully this advice may help another.

[Sazem]

Well if anyone else is thinking about this, I think that used might be a really good solution. I still have my Wacom Intuos 3 which I bought 2006 (around 500euros that time, yaks) on daily use and it works like a charm. Last year I broke the pen but fixed with a tape and it still works perfect, just no eraser anymore! :D

First tablet I bought was Aiptek about 60€ and that lasted like 3month of use. But Im sure that the cheap tablets have improved alot from those times. So I think Huion might be good solution too? But definitely used wacom would be better

[rj]

huion is good for the cost, as someone who has extensively worked on wacom cintiq in the past. it's plasticky and lacks a few things but you can adjust to the workflow within a day or two and not lose much speed even if you're used to a wacom.

currently i'm using an oldass bamboo bc my handmedown 12wx finally broke after a few years. maybe get an oldass bamboo, it's smooth and works nice

[Canned Turkey]

I think I like this new tablet thing

The shading on the smoke was done with some automatic tool wizardry, but everything else is drawn.



I think once I save up I'll get a cintiq though, not having a screen is more of a problem than I thought it would be.