hey I'm a hobbyist game developer and a beginner artist I'm currently drawing artwork for my current game project. the art is mostly anime style and i create it by 1. drawing the lines on paper with pencil 2. scanning the drawing and loading it into photoshop 3. tracing all the drawn lines with the mouse on a new layer and then deleting the origanel layer 4. coloring the image I've decided to buy a wacom intuos 3 tablet but after some consideration I'm beginning to think that it might be overkill for what i want to do with it. Since for now i only want to use the tablet to draw solid black lines directly into photoshop and then maybe use it for coloring. 1024 levels of sensitivity and 45 degrees tilt might be a bit to much. its not that i cant afford the intuos 3 its just that i don't want to buy something if i know that I'l never use half of it. my question is: will one of the cheaper bamboo series tablets suffice for what i want to do with it? is it a good place to start? when i get more into art I'l probely buy something bigger if needed unless someone here can give me a good reason not to buy the cheap one and go straight for a intuos 3 thnx for reading :p [Edited by - EternityZA on November 16, 2008 5:07:05 AM]

I bought a Bamboo Fun (The medium size, 9x6 i think it is) a little while ago for drawing mostly anime stuff and it works just fine. It has 512 levels of sensitivity which is more than enough I think :).

As far as I know the tilt levels are only useful for painting, as it can simulate the brush better, whereas when you tilt a pencil it really doesn't make much difference. But I've never used a tablet with tilt so I could be wrong.

Finally if you've never used a tablet before, it can be a little weird the first time you use a tablet. I'm still not very good at judging where a line will end over fairly long distances. My advice would be get one of the cheap, medium sized bamboo funs for now, and if you get really into it later on, save up for one of those kickass ones where the tablet has a screen on it, like the Cintiq :P.

kk thnx i'll also get the A5 size bamboo fun(think its the medium)

Another thing to consider when buying a wacom is the size of your computer screen. Getting a good ratio between your screen and your tablet can make co-ordination easier. There are lots of options, have a chat with the customer support people at wacom.

Also just thought I would add, cintiqs are not "better" than tablets. They are more expensive because they are a touch screen and computer in and of themselves, this doesn't make them "better" just different. It is a personal preference thing only, also depends what you want to use it for.

I have a intuos 3 myself, and it is great. Seriously eats into desk space though, another thing to consider.