Drawing tablet info/help?

[Daveman]

Our 10yo daughter, who's very artistic, has put out feelers for a drawing tablet for Christmas. I don't know anything about them but started looking around and got that "down the rabbit hole" feeling and thought I'd ask around here. From what I think I've figured out so far...

1. The <$100 ones I'm seeing are essentially just an input device for a computer. They're generally a black writing surface and stylus, maybe a few controls on the device itself but dependent on being connected to a computer/monitor.

2. Beyond that you have devices where the input surface is also a display, so there's not that disconnect between writing on the surface but having to look at a separate screen. Sounds much better... but I gather these are still just input devices that require being connected to a computer and drawing software to be of any use?

3. Adding to my confusion, our daughter has a not-at-all-fancy Chromebook and it's my understanding most of these devices don't support Chromebooks, only Mac/PC?

Help! Can anyone point me to something decent? Any suggestions for whatever software might be needed, Chromebook if possible?

[Kasey Chang]

Not an expert on this, but I did buy one a while back. These generally come in 3 "levels"

1) The most basic -- not much more than a signature pad, or adding "finger-writing" for people who are used to writing their characters in Eastern languages. Wacom Bamboo, basically. Also used as pointing device.

2) The normal "drawing tablet", no display, not too large, not too many pressure levels, good for sketching, and maybe a bit of tracing. Wacom Intuos or One by Wacom. You basically put a paper over it, and raw on the paper, and the pad senses your input and recreates it on screen, but no color. You then fill in the lines and colors later on the PC.

3) The display tablets, Wacom Cintiq series, with a full display, basically a touchscreen detached from the PC with super fine resolution and sensitivity levels.

According to the Wacom for Linux project, you *can* get "One by Wacom" working on Chromebook. https://linuxwacom.github.io/

"One by Wacom" lists for $70, but you can probably find it cheaper. It's on the basic side for a drawing tablet, but it should work fine for your daughter. Good luck!

NOTE: Wacom One is a display tablet for $400. One by Wacom is a drawing tablet for $70.

[stessier]

My brother and his wife are animation professors - I can ask them what they would recommend. What level are you looking at? Something serious that can grow with her as her abilities improve/expand, or just something that she can play with? I know they use a $2500 tablet for some of the stuff they do...so there's a bit of a range.

[hitbyambulance]

the display tablets come in two types - the cheaper are basically touch-sensitive monitors that are tethered to a base PC (with the appropriate drawing/painting software installed) - don't even try using one of these with a Chromebook. the more expensive ones (e.g. Wacom Cintiq) are standalone computers. also, with display tablets, there is a big difference in the gap between the stylus and the screen - usually the cheaper ones have a larger gap and this needs to be accounted for when using them. you do get used to it, mostly.

i really would go with a low-end drawing tablet for her, and on the small side, especially since she's on a Chromebook - there are Linux Wacom drivers (and have been for a long time) but she's going to be limited to Google Play drawing/painting apps.

https://www.drawingtabletworld.com/do-d ... romebooks/

note that iPads and some other tablets also work as decent beginner display tables, if you have one of those already. for iPads, you would want the Apple Pencil as a stylus. i'm not familiar with what art stylii are available on the Android side of the ecosystem.

older Wacom tablets are actually found at my local Goodwill stores for ridiculously cheap prices - i actually got a Wacom Intuos 3 9"x12" model from one for a whole $20 - but almost always without the stylus (which is like $80 or so on its own)

check out this list for Chromebook drawing apps: https://beebom.com/best-drawing-apps-chromebook/

[Daveman]

Thanks so much for the replies! Not really knowing anything I assumed I was looking for a stripped down tablet that just does drawing and wasn't looking to spend more than $100.

Almost sounds like I should be looking for a simple tablet that can support a decent stylus and drawing app. "Drawing Tablets" all seem more specialized than what we're looking for.

[Kasey Chang]

One by Wacom is $70 USD MSRP, $60 on Amazon. It's supported on Chromebooks as I said before. The difference between this and a tablet computer is most tablet computers (or even touchscreen Chromebooks) has a capacitive screen, which means it's not pressure-sensitive. You can't use it to trace something. (or put paper over it, draw on the paper, and expect the tablet to know what you drew).

[Zarathud]

My one daughter is very happy with her $50 Wacom because she uses it as an input device. My older daughter needs to look at the page as she draws and wants the LCD version. But $400 Intuos One is just too expensive for a single function device. They’re going to have to save up to buy one.

[Kasey Chang]

My one daughter is very happy with her $50 Wacom because she uses it as an input device. My older daughter needs to look at the page as she draws and wants the LCD version. But $400 Intuos One is just too expensive for a single function device. They’re going to have to save up to buy one.

No idea if this is any good, but you can't really beat the price at $74 with a 10 inch display, right?

(Apparently, this is a 10Moon brand display tablet from China, where locally it's sold for less than $200 RMB, so it seems legit)

$60 on Bangood + 4.60 shipping

[Archinerd]

I've got a cheaper Waccom Bamboo several years NINE(!) years ago. The advantage over other touch screens (as others have said), is that it is pressure sensitive. I really don't like it though. The stylus is too chunky, the cord gets in the way, and worst of all I have to look at the screen to see what I am drawing. For now, I'm sticking to paper.

I just looked it up though, and saw that it's a 2011 model... so maybe newer versions are better.