Thinking of getting a Wacom Tablet

[zeromac]

So with Christmas done and dusted and everyone in a merry mood I decided that I should spend my Chirstmas money on something. That something, I decided, would be a drawing tablet for myself as I had always wanted to get into animation. So I already knew that Wacom was a pretty famous brand when it comes to drawing tablets and their Bamboo range of tablets caught my eye. The one in particular that I'm thinking of purchasing would be the Bamboo Manga which seems perfect for my needs and is within my budget.

Before making any hasty purchases I always check feedback for the product from other users. This time though, I couldn't actually find any reviews or feedback for the Bamboo Manga so my instinct was to come here

I'm sure we have a lot of artists here who are bound to use tablets so I really need an opinion from users as to what the Bamboo Manga has/has not got over the other tablets in the Bamboo range. Also just some general feedback on the Bamboo line of products themselves.

Cheers

 

[zeromac]

No-one has any opinions on Wacom tablets or the Bamboo range?

 

[Forstride]

I have a Wacom Bamboo Capture, however, the Bamboo line for Australia seems to be quite different from the US. Wacom tablets are pretty much the top-of-the-line for drawing tablets, so you should be good with whatever one you get. The Bamboo Manga seems good enough if you're a beginner/novice. It has a lot of features as well, such as an eraser on the pen itself.

 

[Zarcon]

The eraser on the pen isn't really a feature.
It's a lot faster to just use a keyboard shortcut to switch to the eraser tool.

Really, all the Bamboos (in a given series, they seem to update/change the Bamboo series quite often) are more or less the same.
Just pick one you like the "features" of that fits your price range.
You really can't go wrong with a Wacom.

 

[zeromac]

Thanks for the advice! Definately going to go with the Bamboo Manga :3

 

[yokomoko]

I got a Wacom Bamboo Pen tablet a year ago for Christmas after doing many hours of online research. One thing that gives Wacom tablets an advantage over other brands is that they and they alone have trademarks on a certain technology that in short allows their stylus/pen to be battery free. Every other tablet brand requires the stylus to have its own power source AFAIK, making the Wacom brand styluses much more convenient since you don't need to charge them or replace the batteries.

I make various drawings at home, not professionally or anything, but the Bamboo Pen has been mostly good to me. I say mostly becasue the 2 buttons on my stylus are placed higher up than I would like, I prefer holding the stylus near the tip like you would with any pen or pencil but the button placement is not designed for that. To easily access the 2 buttons I have to hold the stylus akwardly high up, which greatly reduces my ability to draw. I highly recommend you get a tablet that includes a stylus with buttons placed closer to the tip, but thats just my opinion.

My particular tablet has roughly the usable work area of an index card, which suits my needs just fine. The larger the work area on your particular tablet, the more detailed your drawings/paintings/whatever can be, as each part of the work area represents part of your monitor's screen. Most graphics professionals prefer the tablets with the larger work areas, but personally I like having a smaller space to move the stylus in as it requires less arm movement, and the tablet takes up less space on my computer desk.

Aside from the akward button placement on my tablet's stylus, it still allows me to draw things naturally which is vastly superior to attempting to draw with a mouse. Anyway, I guess that's all the input I have on this subject, hope it helps.

 

[Zarcon]

yokomoko: On the bright side, you don't really need to use the buttons too often when drawing.
How are you trying to press the buttons?
If you haven't tried yet, try holding the pen so that you'd press the buttons with your thumb instead.
You can more easily move your thumb while holding the pen near the tip to access the buttons instead of using your index finger.

Unless the Bamboo Pen pen buttons are so high that even that's awkward anyway.

 

[zeromac]

Wow so the Wacom pens don't need any batteries to run? That's a great plus side but I wonder how they run

 

[rich333]

monoprice or wacom intuos - don't bother with wacom bamboo. my 2 cents

 

[Skelletonike]

I bought a Wacom Bamboo Pen since it was cheap and it's pretty cool looking when put away. =3
It's pretty easy to use, just kinda tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, it's much more pratical then using a mouse or a keyboard... I've never used any other tablets tho, so I can't really compare it, all I know is that it's really good for what I use, and what I use it for is simple drawings and coloring. =3