a question about graphics tablets...

[ratcreature]

I don't draw on/with the computer, I prefer the more old fashioned media, preferring to work on paper, but even for the very limited graphics and image manipulation I regularly do on my computer, that is cleaning up scans, or filling in the grays for my icon images, using a mouse is really tedious and annoying. And the few times I tried to actually color a real sketch in a graphics program with a mouse wasn't a pleasant or even really workable arrangement. If you have ever tried to achieve relatively fine control with a mouse you know what I mean.

So I was thinking that I would like to get a graphics tablet, so that I could hold a pen-like device for these things. As with most computer stuff there is a really wide price range, and considering my finances I'd like to get the cheapest that will decently fulfill my not very sophisticated graphics needs, mainly a) it has to be supported under Linux with GIMP and b) it should allow me to clean up and color scanned sketches without any hassle. Because of the first requirement, I have pretty much decided that I'll get a Wacom, since there seems to be good driver support from the Linux Wacom Project for many Wacom tablets, and while I know that probably others are compatible, I have no interest finding this out the hard way, or to fiddle endlessly (or even worse without the help of step by step how-tos) before it'll work.

So my question is for those of you who have worked with graphics tablets, are the cheapest, small Wacom tablets okay the kind of simple tasks I have in mind? Like, I could afford a tablet like the Wacom Volito 2 that is A6 in size, but I have no idea whether that works okay for coloring sketches and such. The only times I have tried working with a graphics tablet was on other people's computers and those were really large (i.e. larger than A4) professional high resolution graphics tablets that they used mainly for technical sketches and such, and completely different category from what I can afford to buy for myself.

Comments

[secretrebel.livejournal.com]

I have a small Wacom tablet and I think it's wonderful. I use it for the purposes you describe and it's excellent. You do need to fiddle with the settings to get the sensitivity you want for the pen though.

[ratcreature]

Thanks for your insight. I'm glad to hear that such a cheaper tablet will be sufficient for my needs.

[red-eft.livejournal.com]

In my experience, and from what I've heard from others, it depends on how big you draw. If you tend to sketch fairly small, then a small tablet should be just fine. After a bit you'll adjust to the size. My tablet is fairly small- about half the size of my sketchbook- and it works quite well. Tablets = love.

[ratcreature]

Well, for me it depends what I draw, but the sketchbooks I carry with me tend to be A5 or even smaller, i.e. something I can easily fit in my pockets, however if I want to do a detailed drawing or something like a comic page I usually do that at at least twice the size I intend to have it in the end, so that it looks better when reproduced. But I can handle drawing in small spaces (probably comes from all the practice of scribbling in the margins during classes and such *grin*).

Thanks for the advice. I think considering my rather sporadic drawing activities I'll try with an affordable, small tablet.