Opinions on Drawing Tablets for PCs

[Cajuncowboy]

My daughter has produced some great stories and has already written a book (however not published.) She also has a flair for drawing Manga characters. She would like to combine the two talents and produce a Manga comic book. We know of some good software that will allow her to do this but was wondering if anyone had any experience with a drawing tablet that would let her freehand her drawings. Just looking for some thoughts.

Thanks.

[vta]

I can't vouch for anything but Wacom. They're great tablets, very durable- my home tablet is over 10 years old and shows no sign of doing anything but continuing to work. You can get variable line widths using the pen tool and program buttons for short cuts. The newer models are thinner and less bulky and take up less space.

Other brands are Hanvon - which seems to be pretty good, as spoken of among some people on a painting forum I'm part of - and Genius.

[dback]

I have zero experience using drawing tablets, but Monoprice has a selection of inexpensive tablets that receive decent reviews.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/search.asp?spcDB=10841&spcWord=Graphics+Tablets&keyword=tablet

I would suggest browsing through the reviews and see if there is anything that stands out.

[arglebargle]

I can't vouch for anything but Wacom. They're great tablets, very durable- my home tablet is over 10 years old and shows no sign of doing anything but continuing to work. You can get variable line widths using the pen tool and program buttons for short cuts. The newer models are thinner and less bulky and take up less space.

Other brands are Hanvon - which seems to be pretty good, as spoken of among some people on a painting forum I'm part of - and Genius.

Definitely want Wacom compatible stuff, unless you are just fooling around or testing out the waters. I've got a good friend who is a pro digital artist, and he has only Wacoms and one high end Cintiq.

That said, there are some real high dollar versions that can do amazing things. But 2 grand is a lot to start out with.