Wacom and Wacom good!

Is this a good starter tablet? Thinking of getting it for Jr. for Christmas and it's on sale right now and free shipping.
Or would this be better because of the sensitivity levels being 1024 vs 512 of the first one?

Well since no one else has answered this I will just say I was considering the same one
(was actually keeping my eyes peeled for a sale on an Intuos4).
It was answered in another thread by "Auntie" LJ that it makes a big difference to have double
the sensitivity but then again that is someone who has been using a tablet for years and someone
new to tablets may not notice as there is nothing to compare it to.

Also it is still a Wacom and even if it is their entry model it should be one of the better tablets out there.
Buying this as an entry point might be a good idea for Jr. and if he uses it all the time then down the road
maybe a nice Intuos 5 would be great, and if he out grows it or something better comes along then you are
not out much and got your moneys worth.

Last point... though he hasn't commented on this thread I do know that Eddy Swan does all his
amazing color work (when he is not using a mouse) on a Wacom Bamboo.

Hope this helps.


P.S. if you want more opinions from people that own one goto Amazon and look at their tablets there
are dozens more reviews than at Newegg.

One --> Artz Giveaway <-- To Rule Them ALL!

I will settle this. ORANGE FTW! - Ex Libris

either would be a fine start for your lad I dont think pressure sensitivity is too important when starting as much as something that becomes important later, the most important thing is that junior has a descent program to work with the tablet, MS paint will not do!

Went and dug it out, here is that other thread for ya.
Oh and totally agree with Eddy get a good app like painter or photoshop
(or elements if on a budget) if you do not have one already.

One --> Artz Giveaway <-- To Rule Them ALL!

I will settle this. ORANGE FTW! - Ex Libris

From what I can tell, anything Wacom is good. They are THE name in PC tablets, and I love mine.

hmm well this is unfortunate. Looks like they have discontinued the bamboo fun color tablets. I was thinking of getting one for my sister for christmas, looks like i will have to go shopping again. Picking between the two I would go with the pen and touch. Cause I like haveing all the features. Perhaps not having all the features for a first forray into digital input is not so bad, save some money if it doesn't pan out of have some for when it's time to upgrade.

According to wacoms site product comparison neither of those tablets come with a pen or mouse. But when you click the "what's inside" link for the models noting a pen in the title they say a pen is included. Confusing! One would hope the pen is included for devices with a pen in the product title. Perhaps this is just a typo or site error.

if the gift isn't going to be a surprise, try to find a display model hooked up to a computer, OR go over to someone's house you know may have one, and try it out. then you can see if it's enough, not enough... I still feel that 512 levels is throwing good money after bad, but then it's only $70, so that's up to you, for 30 more you don't have to cheat yourself.

And CR if you call me Auntie again, you're getting drawn in a tutu...

Thanks for the input everyone. I decided to go with the cheaper one which does only have 512 sensitivity level. I was thinking like CR if it works for him and he likes it then down the road I could upgrade. I made this mistake once when he wanted drums. I went out and bought a great set of drums aka very expensive. I'm now looking to sell them for about $100.

I already have PhotoShop 6 on my old comp which is what he will be using. I also have access to PS CS3 on my work laptop so he should be fine as far as all that goes. Mostly it's a starter thing and it's actually on sale for $50 at NewEgg so it's cheaper than Assassin's Creed 2 which he also wants.

Thanks for the link CR. I thought I had seen this discussed before but my search fu is weak.

So I ended up buying the first one. I went to the local Frye's and messed with it. I think for his current abilities it should be fine.

Thanks again everyone!


P.S. Forgot to mention, it DOES include the pen.

Sorry I missed this thread, but for future reference, a 4x6" tablet with 512 levels of pressure sensitivity is a perfect starter tablet. The Bamboo is a good tablet (and the new ones are leagues better than the first couple runs). Someone starting out is not going to notice the difference between 512 and 1024, and when you get the full Intuos models you're usually aiming for the other features the tablets come with (like directional tilt).

Generally artists don't want to get giant tablets anyway; the ones 9x12 and past are often better for doing video work, etc. (That's not saying artists can't use 'em well; I know of some who prefer the big tablets. But the bigger the tablet the bigger the arm movements, the less steady your lines get on big sweeps and you tend to tire your arm.)

I've never used a Bamboo, but I used a Wacom Graphire (which was the precursor to the Bamboo) 4x5 for about three years. It honestly served me just fine. I did some great (at least in my opinion!) work on it. The Bamboo is definitely a small step up from that, even. It is definitely a good starter tablet.

I'm working on an Intuos 3 6x8 now. The 6x8 is a very comfortable size and I'm honestly not sure I'd ever want to go much bigger. We have one of Wacom's ginormous tablets (12x19?) here in the studio at work and I hate the thing. It needs far too much arm movement.

So I looked around some, I can't help myself when it comes to shopping, can you imagine. Anyway, I wasn't happy with the size of the "bamboo pen" and "bamboo pen and touch" tablets, the drawing area is little bigger than a 3x5 notecard. So the next step up is a bamboo fun, which is effectively the "bamboo pen and touch" with a larger drawing area, I found a good deal on it at amazon, which doesn't show up in any of the regular "deal sites" I guess i'm not allowed to post a price but it's cheaper than the regular price but still more expensive than the smaller "pen and touch." Not to detract from the original poster but it's something to consider, perhaps the expense is too much for an introduction but if the inclination is already there then it's probably a good value. I just thought I would let the OP in on my "find"

Hope it's a win which ever one you decide to get.

You can post prices for sales and stuff like that, I think. It's only if you're personally soliciting on the boards that you shouldn't. Letting other people know about awesome deals shouldn't be verboten.

My first tablet was a Graphire 3, 4x6, 512 lvls in 2002... I wore that puppy out for 3 years, then upgraded to a Graphire 4, dabbled with a Bamboo, and then went to the Intuos 3, 6 x8 - 1024. Your kid's gonna love it, and I don't think it will go the way of the drums. Photoshop 6 is also what I started on, while CS3 has a lot of nice features, he won't need them right away. I would upgrade maybe after a year of really knowing 6, or depends on how fast he progresses.

Check out my DA favorites gallery for tutorials - there's a folder named Art Tutorials, some are inspirational images, but if you go back far enough, there are a lot of good ones for digital coloring.

Here: page 1, page 2, page 3, and page 4.

Might be some NSFW stuff there, it's a wide variety of things... also the pages are labeled backwards, while page 1 may say page 4, it really is page 1 of the earliest stuff I favored. Page 4 has some great videos, and there maybe more in there on page 2 or 3, I forget where, but again, these are all at varying learning curves, so while maybe interesting to learn, you might want to look at the earlier stuff first.

HA! I have the artistic talent of so many circus elephants. My sister is the one that picked up all the art genes in our family, that will be a gift for her going to college. The bamboo fun was 166.70USD on amazon.com, most other sites were showing it for 199.99USD Also it qualifies for free shipping.

linkie:
http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Technolo...0453507&sr=8-1

Well I just got the Bamboo Pen Tablet in today. I may open it up and try it out here at work.

My final deciding factor was that at $50 on sale (no tax no shipping for me) I could not pass it up. If it works out well then great! If it doesn't at least I didn't lose a ton of money on it. Also, if he likes it that much and gets advanced I will feel confident moving up to the more expensive variants.

Unfortunately it's a Christmas present so I won't be able to offer much in the way of review. Unless I do break down and test it here at work.

duuu ettttt!

Well I broke down and tested it at work. It's pretty freaking awesome. It takes some getting used to for sure. I guess I didn't realize that it's nothing like a mouse. Then entire pad is equal to my screen. So I'm glad that I did not get a bigger pad. This one is 5.8x3.6 if I remember correctly. I think jr will take some time to get used to it though. I plan on playing with it and trying to do some coloring.

One thing is it takes some getting used to the pressure portion. You have to push relatively hard to get it to make a big difference in line thickness. I'm one of those people that barely touch the paper when I write so I had to push just a little harder than I'm used to. Jr is more heavy handed so that may not be a problem.

Other than that i drew some lines in PS CS3 and not sure if it was just my image size or how much it was magnified but the lines seemed a bit pixalated. I didn't have a ton of time to test this so I'm hoping it was user error.

All in all I'm happy with it and I think it will be a great starter tool for Jr.

LJ- I packed it all up, taped the box, put it in the original shipping box and an hour later looked down at my desk and had left the pen out!!! Doh!!