The number of choices are too bewlidering, but suffice it to say I want to get serious about photoshop based concept art, something that will better let me realize my ideas better than pencil alone, but more easily and better looking than traditional paint mediums. I'm willing to spend several hundred dollars if need be. Wacom seems to be the most popular, but that's about all I know. What size pad do you think is necessary for most concept artists to feel like they're really drawing, without constantly having to use the mouse to reposition everything?

Different people have different comfortable tablet sizes. Depending on your drawing style you may prefer a larger or smaller tablet. I personally find a 4x6 to be ideal. Anything larger and I need to reduce the working size area. Fortunately, this is generally pretty easy on most graphics tablets. Ideally you would try to demo a tablet before buying one; Apple stores often have demo machines with tablets available. If you do get a Wacom, I would avoid the Bamboos. The Graphire and Intuos are both fine though.

If you're serious about doing art on a computer, I would also give some thought to either a Tablet PC or a Cintiq display. Both of them allow you to draw directly on the screen. I found my Tablet PC to be well worth the cost.

I have considered those ones that let you draw right on the screen, but I'm worried it might be an unnecessary expensive if I can achieve similar results using a normal tablet (although personally I think I imagine the tablet to PC disonnect would negatively impact my drawing abilities... But enough to justify $2000 or so for a tablet LCD screen? I don't know
Maybe the one advantage of buying the big one is that if I really wanted to, when not drawing with it, I could use it as a second normal monitor.

I have an Intuos2 6x8 tablet that I bought about 4 years ago as a CG student and I think that thing is worth its weight in gold with all the use I've gotten out of it over these years.

Did you ever wish you had gotten a bigger tablet?

Quote: Original post by Phoenix_Fury
I have considered those ones that let you draw right on the screen...

The Cintiq comes in three sizes: the 21" 21UX, the 20" 20WSX, which is widescreen, and the 12" 12WX, also widescreen. They cost $1999, $1999 and $999 respectively (yes, the top two sizes cost the same; the 21UX used to cost $2495). Unless you have proven your tablet-based workflow, all of them are too expensive - though you can give yourself the 12WX as an early Christmas gift if you've been good! [smile]

Get the Intuos3 series. It has all the professional features, but is still reasonably affordable. The Graphire4 is adequate for beginners, but you'll quickly outgrow its lack of tilt and rotation detection, its single pen barrel button and other limitations. I bought the 6x11, because its widescreen dimensions match the preponderance of modern screens (but you can adjust the active area to suit any aspect ratio).

As an additional note, you can get educational version of the Intuos tablet (at least in Australia, but I'm assuming it's also elsewhere). I think it's limited to the 6x8 size and you won't get the additional software (just the drivers), but it's a fair bit cheaper.

Quote: Original post by Phoenix_Fury
Did you ever wish you had gotten a bigger tablet?

Me? Nope. For a lot of work it is actually almost too big. The only time I could see someone actually needing one that is bigger is if they are used to really broad strokes with painting or are used to doing larger scale blue prints.