A good tablet for art on a PC

The LandoStander

So, my wife is an artist who does a good deal of commission work and she's been without a tablet for using Photoshop for well over a year. She lost the pen that went with her Wacom tablet and rather than try and find a replacement for an aging and smaller tablet (it's only about 6x9 inches) I'm hoping to find her a new one in time for our anniversary in a month or so.

I'd like to spend $200 or less, preferably less of course. But I'm by no means an artist and I always view online reviews on places like Amazon with a bit of mistrust. So I thought there might be some folks here who had opinions that I might incorporate into my search. I'm hoping to maybe get her a tablet that is a bit larger than her present non-working tablet as well.

Tam

Wacom is pretty much the only way to go for a serious artist, and you can't get her a bigger one than she had for $200. What model tablet is it? The new intuos4 comparable in size to the current one she has is $350.

You're better off just buying her a new pen, and maybe one of their more specialized pens- like the inking or airbrushing pen.

There's this:

http://www.buy.com/prod/penpower-tooya-pro-digital-graphics-tablet-penpower-tooya-pro-usb/q/loc/101/205857228.html

at comparable size and under $200, but I can't speak to the quality of that tablet: I've never tried it, or even heard of the brand before.

MushroomStick

If she's used a Wacom before, nothing less is going to do for her. Unfortunately, you would have to up your price range to around $300 to even get a tablet as big as the one she had before.

Tam wrote: »

You're better off just buying her a new pen, and maybe one of their more specialized pens- like the inking or airbrushing pen.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've been under the impression that the special pens are not compatible with every tablet.

Tam

They've got inking, airbrushing, and 6D pens for most of the Intuos models, and I strongly suspect she has that model.

edit:

pens for Intuos models:

https://direct.wacom.com/stores/5/Intuos_C60.cfm

The LandoStander

I found what I think is a newer model of my wife's tablet for relatively cheap on NewEgg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823100045

and also one at the upper limit of my range that's a bit larger.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823100047

I'm not an expert by any stretch of the imagination so if I've gravely underestimated how good these would be as a present I'd appreciate a heads up.

Tam

Well, if she was using a Bamboo model before, that works out great. If not, she might notice a difference. Just double-check to make sure the one with the lost pen is a Bamboo and you're golden.