Tablets

SatanIsMyMotor

I'm currently in the market for a tablet to do some computer-aided drawing/painting/photoshopping. Unfortunately I don't know much about them as I'm quite the beginner when it comes to working on them (something I'll be working on).

My office needs help putting together marketing materials for our clients and such so they will be providing me with a free copy of photoshop and some training sources as well. I know these things take time to learn but I'm open to that so its no worry there.

In short I'm looking for advice on what specific tablet I should look at buying. I'd like to stay under $300 if at all possible. I know Wacom and Graphire are two big names in the market. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Gihgehls

Graphire is actually a model made by Wacom. Since you're just starting out, a graphire should meet your needs quite well. Also, don't be too worried about the size, even the smaller ones work just fine if you zoom into your document. In fact, large tablets can be tiresome to work with because you have to make much larger movements to move about the screen.

furiousNU

A good place to start looking for/learning about tablets is on amazon.com. Reading comments on the Tablets come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. It would be easier to help you if you gave more details about what you are doing. Are you doing something that is more graphic design oriented? Are you mostly painting in photoshop like you would on a canvas? Are you doing work that requires a lot of precision? WIll you be working with photos? I will try to help you as best I can given the information you have provided.

I personally own a wacom intuos pen tablet 6x8 tablet which is excellent for a variety of work. Since I do both "painting work" and photo montage, this model was the best choice for me. In addition to the normal pen+drawing surface that comes with a tablet, this tablet also has a series of hot keys that can be bound to a variety of keys. I really like this feature because it means I don't have to switch between using the keyboard and the tablet while I work. I bind the hotkeys for some photoshop tools, (ctrl+z) and alt, which covers most of the things I use.

Some tips to help you get oriented with your tablet+photoshop:
1. Using a tablet may be disorienting at first. Try to practice clicking on menus/buttons before you work with it in photoshop.
2. Learn the hotkeys for the tools in photoshop.
3.Buy a CS2 or CS3 book(depending on what you are using) or look up basic tutorials online(there are lots).