Are you using drawing tablets?

[Tuffy!]

Are any of you using drawing tablets in combination with a pc? I wonder what to look out for when chosing a model and if those with an internal display really make the difference. Is the higher price tag for these really worth it or do people usually adapt well to draw on the tablet while looking at their regular screen?

I would like to get myself a drawing tablet once I can afford some nice things again but I'm completely clueless 

[Rubbereon]

I bought a wacom drawing tablet like 2 or 3 years ago because my lineart looked so horrible on mouse, so yeah I guess.

It's not particularly sophisticated, I know there are like better tablets for day to day uses, but I'm happy with what I've got and my digital drawings have slowly improved since.

[eyntivemd]

i definitely know alot of people who adjusted fine on a non display drawing tablet but i personally did not adjust at all and often found me just using mouse instead 

i dont think i could draw without my built in display drawing tablet i personally have the kamvas 16 pro from huion and its great it works on linux too!! ive been using it for 2 or 3 years probably

if u think its in budget id suggest trying a cheaper non display one before deciding
like i said before i know alot of people who adjusted fine but i really think it depends on the person 

[kringle]

  like eyntivemd said adaptation depends on the person. for me i would always need a few minutes to get my bearings with a non-display tablet which was annoying enough for me to invest in one with a display, i waited for a christmas sale to get an xp-pen one and i've been using it for over five years now! but i deff made plenty of great work without a display tablet, so it's not something you Absolutely Need. theres lots of professional artists who don't use a display tablet! it depends on the person.

wacom is the most popular/most supported but xp-pen and huion drawing tablets are also pretty good these days. wacom is higher quality but imo the differences are negligible.

nowadays theres also a very large second-hand market for drawing tablets, so if you've never had a drawing tablet before id look into getting a non-display one second hand that's roughly analogous to your screen size. getting a drawing tablet thats close to your screen size makes the drawing process a lot more intuitive because the surface will map to your monitor, so if theres a big size difference the stylus acceleration might feel weird.

they do run cheaper the smaller they get, so if you need to get one thats a lot smaller you can always re-map the active area to make it a bit easier, but thats a problem for future you i wouldnt worry abt that too much rn.

hope this is helpful! lmk if you need more info

[candycanearter07]

ive used a wacom intuos s for years now and its been great. its a pretty great screenless tablet that was also pretty cheap

[MediocreMetastasis]

I bought a cheap xp-pen tablet on amazon for a pretty good price a couple of months ago. Hasn't failed me yet and it's the size of an A4 piece of paper (big). I do have this problem with a driver I'm using but that's because drawing tablets and linux don't go together.

As for adapting to a non-display tablet it was weird for the initial couple of days but I got used to it. A non-display tablet can be beneficial as you don't have to hunch over and become a shrimp while drawing as well as be able to see your art on a big screen without your hand in the way. I find it harder to adapting to how "slippery" the surface is.

Pro-tip: MAKE SURE THE ASPECT RATIO OF YOUR TABLET IS CORRECT IN YOUR DRIVER SETTINGS! My tablet was 16:10 but they squished it to 16:9 which will mess you up. Oh yeah fiddle with pen pressure settings as well.

[schlime9k]

I don't make much digital art, only small graphics for my website though I did want to start drawing almost a decade ago and bought a really shit $30 AUD drawing tablet that has honestly served me very well. I do want to try a Wacom Tablet though...

[fairyrune]

i find that there's this weird idea among certain artist communities that a display tablet or a standalone tablet like an iPad are inherently superior to alternatives. of course, this is like saying oil paint is superior to graphite pencil! and i think framing it that way also helps you decide. display tablets and similar items are a medium, just as a pen tablet (confusing name, they all have pens...) is. any new medium requires lots of practice to adjust to. there are plenty of people who have adjusted perfectly well to pen tablets, just like display tablets/dedicated devices! my best advice would be to try all these methods if you're able.

i've had a pen tablet since i was maybe... 12? (for context, i'm in my mid 20s now...) it's the same one. i've never replaced it. it's a bamboo pen model from wacom; if you can find one cheap, the CTL-470 is scarily reliable (at least it has been for me, and works perfectly well on linux mint too) and since pen tablets are generally cheaper than display tablets or dedicated devices, trying a tablet out this way will be more accessible to you. if you really can't get on with it, you haven't really lost that much. the only thing with the bamboo pen CTL-470 is that it doesn't have any buttons on the face, only two on the stylus itself - but if you're just starting out with a tablet, you probably won't want to mess with button shortcuts just yet. i myself haven't found a need for them either; i just use my keyboard!

if you happen to already own a phone with a decent screen or an iPad, great! you can try out drawing on that, too, and it'll be somewhat similar to a display tablet. i'd also recommend trying out mouse drawing too. you might be surprised at how well it works for you.

i've always drawn with a tablet, and i expect i'd feel similarly about mouse drawing to people who never got on with pen tablets! if i worked at it, i could draw with a mouse. i think a pen tablet's better for my joints though.

[squidlifecrisis]

I do! been making digital art for over 20 years. I'm drawing my webcomic on a tiny screenless tablet. (Huion Inspiroy RTS300)

I find the beginner size tablets to be the most efficient. the less I have to move my wrist, the faster I can work, and the less it tires me out.

I use lots of keyboard shortcuts, so screen tablets bogged down my work speed to an unacceptable level. they often don't have enough keys or will require you to learn the muscle memory of their placement. I need my other hand on a FULL keyboard.

also with a screen tablet, your hand will be in the way, just like drawing on paper. i hate that.

don't buy a wacom! they're overpriced and break within a couple of years. Huion is the only brand I recommend now! they're physically more robust, the drivers are more reliable, and they're sooo much cheaper.

fancy materials don't make you a better artist! it's all about finding what works for your workflow. so don't feel like you have to shell out just because it's "what professionals use"!

[Tuffy!]

Thank you very much for spending your time answering my question and sharing your recommendations.

I will soon get my hands on a cheap and probably used traditional drawing tablet to find out if I can adapt to drawing like this in general. And once I have more money to spend, I can upgrade to a better one and gift the old one to someone in need.

I'm really curious how the use of a drawing tablet will improve my drawings/workflow. Currently my workflow is: drawing on paper -> flatbed scanner -> reworking in vector software (different tracing steps) and manual correction (bezier curves etc.) which is time consuming as hell.

Regardless of the price point - Are Huion and XP-Pen the manufacturers you would recommend the most in general? In the past most people recommended Wacom as a premium product but nowadays things seem to have changed (squidlifecrisis)? Has anyone made good or bad experiences with ugee or gaomon tablets?

And if you had to choose between these 8" drawing tablets:

Wacom Intuos, Wacom One and HUION Inspiroy H950P - Which one would you prefer to use and why?

[arcus]

Regardless of the price point - Are Huion and XP-Pen the manufacturers you would recommend the most in general?

https://docs.sevenpens.com/drawtab this site is good for tablet recs.

wacom is fine if you buy older models second hand. the guide lists which ones. sometimes they're really cheap. i got an intuos 4 m for $20 aud a few years ago.

[Tuffy!]

This link is useful, thanks 

On the cheaper side they kind of recommend the current Wacom Intuos models (which have no tilt) and warn about issues with the newer Wacom One models. Couldn't find info about the Huion 950 but I'm still browsing the site

[arcus]

It's better to get an older Wacom model if you need good OS compatibility and quality for price. Ideally a Wacom Intuos 3 or 4 for non-display tablets if you can find one that's cheap. Post that era the quality dipped, and other brands caught up. If you aren't that fussed on finding a bargain and use Windows, you might as well get a more recent model from another brand.

If you use a Linux OS and aren't interested in finding an older Wacom tablet, you might need to use OpenTabletDriver. Their site has a list of tablets that are compatible.

The situation with driver support for non-Wacom tablets have improved in recent years for Linux, but it's still worth double checking if OpenTabletDriver supports them.