What tablet do you use for art?

[thewriterkid]

Hey everyone I'm still debating on what tablet to get exclusively for art (aiminf for the tc1100) and it made me wonder, what do you guys use to make your art? Could you also specify what software you use on the tablet? Thanks!

[Paladin]

I'm strictly a hobbyist level artist, however, I just got a Motion LE1700 which is going to be pretty much strictly an art machine. I haven't done much with it yet because I just got the screen protector today and I've been out looking at houses all day (And taking notes on them with onenote).

It's a pretty awesome tablet for art, IMO. The slate form factor is good for carrying around and doodling, and it's got heavy enough specs to run modern graphics apps with no appreciable lag.

I heartily recommend ArtRage as an art app, by the way... I used to use an OpenCanvas->Painter->Photoshop 3 step process for artwork (Sketching in Opencanvas, making the actual painting in Painter, and then cleaning it up in Photoshop) but I'm thinking ArtRage may actually completely replace all 3 of those for me.

I will say... That if I had the money, I probably would have bought the TabletKiosk Sahara i440d instead. The N-Trig digitizer is slick, and gives you capacitive touch in addition to pen. But it's too expensive for my wallet so ;)

On the other hand... If you need to use Photoshop, you should probably pass on N-Trig based tablets, unless you can live with using Linux as your OS and running Photoshop in Wine, because that's the only way to get the N-Trig digitizer to provide pen pressure sensitivity to apps that use the old Wintab.dll interface, like Photoshop.

[Davaris]

From what I understand the Motion tablets have View Anywhere as an option, which lets you use them outside. Also they have a feature which lets you look at the screen from almost any angle and there is almost no loss of picture quality. I don't know if the tc1100 has those features.

For a Motion tablet priced close to the tc1100, look at the LE1600 or the older M1400.

[TedRx]

First, I use the M1400 Slate and LOVE it!

and it is great, but I recommend that most people will probably want a convertible. I bought my daughter a M200 this year and she loves the versatitlity the convertible mode allows.

I would recommend that a new serious user get a nice tc1100 and upgrade it, or get a LE1600 (next gen of m1400), or a M400 convertible (next gen of m200) as most of these can be purchased for under $600.

As far as my programs ...

I like to do as much as possible in Sketch Book Pro 2010, which is basically everything but lettering (i create ballons themselves in SBP 2010), and anything that requires masking/copying&pasting/piecing together of multiple elements, and ocassionally border panels (but SBP 2010 allows for *most* panel borders).

So, 100% of my creating and 95% of my finished product is done in SBP 2010 and then I use Photo (Corel Photopaint in my case) to do the "production monkey" work. SBP 2010 had a noticable addition of ovals and line drawing that made it go from 80% to 95% of my workload over the previous version. If they could give me lettering, masking, better copy-n-pasting and a rectangle template it would be 99.9999% of my workload.

I even do 99% of coloring and touch-up corrections in SBP 2010 too.

That said .... Art Rage at a mere $25 bucks is another fantastic option.

if you are curious and have enough time, check out this similar thread from a year ago .... http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/showthread.php?t=35328


On the second page of posts I have posted a way too long piece on how the Tablet changed my working process from the old pencil and paper to all digital and the tablet Pc. It is still mostly current except for the changes I just mentioned about SBP 2010's upgrades.

Keep us updated on your progress.

[DigitalRhino]

I personally use a Thinkpad x41 to do my digital work. I love that it has a large screen in a light convertible form factor. Using sketchbook pro almost exclusively.

[jason_farnon]

I personally use a Thinkpad x41 to do my digital work. I love that it has a large screen in a light convertible form factor. Using sketchbook pro almost exclusively.

Hi DigitalRhino and everyone,

I was just going to ask why I never found anyone using the X41 for illustration purposes! (For some reason the search function didn't pick this message up...or it was too far down the list.) From google I see it uses wacom's technology, it's listed at 3.6lb, and it's a convertible? I thought there had to be some reason it wasn't more popular among illustrators--I've noticed it is (or, it was a few years ago) pretty popular in the tech hobbyist/business market, at least here in silicon valley. Is it just the regular aversion to all things IBM among the graphic designer crowd, or something deeper about drawing on it?

I was looking to purchase one of these tablet pc's from 5 yrs ago that are under 400$ now, since I have no needs now that weren't ably satisfied then. I was about to pick up one of the popular motion slates, based on the many fine reviews here, especially TedRx's, but I'd like to use the laptop for occasional word processing (besides art), and so a keyboard would be nice. It isn't much to buy 5-10$ usb keyboards these days and leave them in convenient locations, but if the x41 has one attached with not much of a weight cost, why bother?

Please correct any bad assumptions I'm laboring under, and sorry if this should be in the "What table should I buy..." forum!

[BK_NC]

I have a work issued Lenovo ThinkPad (non-tablet) and I like it a lot. Up until I was issued it, I would have never considered Lenovo for a personal laptop since they are marketed toward business or IT professionals. Maybe this is why artists don't tend to think of getting a Lenovo. But I'm currently keeping my eye out for a referbished or used Lenovo tablet since I can get a discount from them.

[TedRx]

Hey There Jason Farnon!

I LOVE my Motion M1400 ... but I cant agree with you more about the benefit of the Convertible form factor. Were I not in the position I am in with the luxury of more computers in my house than people, I would HAVE to recomend the Convertible. I recently purchased a Convertible M200 for my 11 year old and she usues it for all her task.

All that said, go ahead and jump on in to the Tablet Pc and report back when you can.

If you have any other questions feel free to email me thru the Tablet Pc site.

[DigitalRhino]

I'm not sure why there would be an aversion to the thinkpad, I myself love this design. I previously owned a tc1100, and while I loved the form factor and weight, the screen size and resolution was just a bit to small for me. I read allot of digital magazines and a full screen pdf was not readable. So I went looking for a larger screened tablet that was also light weight. I stumbled upon the thinkpad and find I like the matte black angular design as well. The extended battery also doubles as a great handhold, this has been extremely beneficial when i want to sketch standing up. I personally think for a straight up sketching tablet there are so many good ones in the under $500 used category that you could just order one to try and if it's not to your liking you can turn around and recover all or most of your investment.

[nyb72]

I love the M1400 as well and I don't miss the keyboard at all. In fact, I find that I spend less time emailing and surfing and more time drawing. Nevertheless, I don't think you can go wrong with any choice since the cost of admission is so low. Relative to the cost of traditional art supplies, I think my used M1400 is a steal.

As far as software goes, I'll mention Manga Studio 4 for comic art since you can do sketching, layering, inking, toning, paneling, ballooning, and lettering all in one package.

[jason_farnon]

Thanks for all the replies about the x41, I just picked one up off ebay for 360$ or so. The LE1600 with a similar configuration shows up for about the same price, but the keyboard on the x41 made for less of a commitment. Hopefully the tablet aspects aren't compromised by the great laptop/notebook aspects.

I'd studied painting and photo in college but always hated paying for media, especially since I tend to do a lot of quick impressionistic things. So when digital cameras came out it changed everything for me, and I was sad there wasn't something comparable for painting. Then one day I was on a crowded morning rush F train in Brooklyn and lo and behold this guy is drawing/coloring another passenger on what looked like a digital canvas. (The subject was actually a stranger about 4 ft away...the situation was as the kids say "tot awk.")

When I later described to people the crazy digital canvas I saw I gathered it was probably a Motion slate. It looked like a wonderful substitute for drawing/coloring media, although from what I recall the stylus wasn't completely responsive and this affected his technique--he seemed to have to repeat the same motion several times before a line or color registered, like if you were painting with a dried up brush with too little pigment on it. Still, it was pretty impressive and I hope the x41 can achieve similar results...I'll be sure to post my impressions, and sorry if I hijacked the original thread here!

[DigitalRhino]

Glad to hear, I hope you like it. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions about your new tablet. I have never felt compromised by the thinkpad. Although I do long for a more portable sketchpad sometimes, One day I'll spring for an ls800 or an oqo if they ever come within my price range.

[BK_NC]

First, I use the M1400 Slate and LOVE it!

I would recommend that a new serious user get a nice tc1100 and upgrade it, or get a LE1600 (next gen of m1400), or a M400 convertible (next gen of m200) as most of these can be purchased for under $600.


Ted,

Can you post a review of your daughter's M200. For my first tablet I'm looking at a TC1100, LE1600, M1400, or Stylistic 5000 series off ebay and I think I'm going to add the M200 to much list because of the Nvidia grahics and the fact its the only one of the lot to have 1400 x 1050 ( SXGA+ ) resolution. The only other tablet with SXGA+ is the LE1700 and those still go for close to $1000 on ebay.

Also, would you really recommend the M400 over the M200 even though the M400 is a downgrade in resolution ( it has XGA ) and graphics ( it has Intel graphics )?

I'm leaning toward a slate because it will primarily be used in slate mode if I got a convertible and I like how thin and light slates are. However the M200 being SXGA+ is a BIG selling point to me. And it looks pretty thin and light from pictures I've seen. And the Nvidia graphics will allow some occasional old school gaming when I need a break.

Update: Ted, I found your comments on the M200 in another post. If you have anything more to add about it after more time using it, I would appreciate your thoughts. For others interest here is the thread where Ted gave his impressions of the M200 http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/showthread.php?p=317169#post317169

[TedRx]

Well for me the high resolution is more difficult due to the teenie tiny fonts and locations of the functions at the tops of the menus in things like photo. However I think i may be in the minority here. I like medium to large fonts and "targets" for hitting function buttons.

The convertible function is truely something to think about though. For me, I do not do any typing on my tablet except when doing lettering of my comic, and if thats all the typing you need to do thats great, but there is NO substitute for a keyboard if you type much more than just a bit. The TIPS interface is really cool but it requires more attention to editting than typing ever will. I have written long reviews and emails with TIPS and with such experince I can say that if you are going to type, get a keyboard option.

And if the Tablet Pc is too be your Primary or Sole computer ... you have got to get the Convertible ... trust me.

I LOVE my Slate but I am using it just for art and very short emails ... nothing else. And I have a disitinct need for a device that is NOT a laptop in form factor or appearance. I need a "digital drawing tablet" and a Convertible would not be that but rather a "Laptop Computer" which would case me some issues where I use it 50% of the time.

The screen and tablet-ness of the Motion is VERY NICE, and the screen of the M200 is not as nice to me (subjective mind you) but my daughter loves it anyway.

And don't worry about wieght or thickness. I find my self RARELY using the Tablet flat on a surface. Usually I place (with cover attached to underneath- Neat feature) it upon my pleather carrying case and it ends up being about and inch or 2 above the surface and slightly tilted toward me. The only time these days I lay it "naked" on the work surface is when it heats up too much and I want to dissipate the heat. I highly recomend a laptop/tablet cooler device to set it on as most Tablets dont have fans (especially my M1400 that gets HOT). Targus has a nice one that is great size. And weight shouldnt be a big deal either, just so long as you can carry it from one location to another. Very Few artist hold thier Tablet PC while drawing.

Any other questions just let me know.