Tag Archives: tablet

Everyone Likes To Be Liked

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And I’m no different!

The Wacom Tablet Reviews Facebook page is where I post about new deals and low prices I find for Wacom tablet accessories. For example, I found a really good rebate offer from Dell for the Bamboo Create Pen graphics tablet.

Okay, so you don’t have to “Like” the page, but it’s worth checking out. It’s also where you’ll find my updates and other info that you may not find on the regular site! 🙂

How to Choose a Wacom Tablet

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A Simple Guide to Choosing the Best Wacom Tablet

Choose based on level of artist/ designer:

Beginner/ Entry level – Never used a graphics tablet. Only knows pen and paper.

Intermediate – Has digital graphics software experience and could benefit from using more than just a mouse to create.

Advanced/ Professional Designer – Works in the design field as a designer and/or animator. Already uses a tablet, but wants/needs something a step up.

 

Choose based on type of artist/ designer:

The Casual Artist – Likes to draw or paint in their free time, but wants more than a sketchbook.

The Casual Photographer – Wants to manipulate photos.

The Hobbyist – Enjoys arts and crafts projects. For example, scrapbook making.

The Serious Photographer – Wants to enhance, manipulate or alter photographs with precision.

The Serious Graphic Artist/ Designer – This person is an artist and might be using a beginner-type tablet. Wants to translate their classic skills into digital skills.

Kid-friendly

 

Choose based on budget:

High > $500

Medium $200 – $499

Low < $200

Also, check out the Wacom Inkling and the Bamboo Stylus for the iPad if you are looking for something other than a graphics tablet.

What qualifies me to review graphics tablets?
I’m a freelance graphic designer and I’ve been using graphics tablets for years.  I have experience using Wacom and non-Wacom tablets. Back when there were barely a handful of affordable tablets available, it was easy to decide on which one to buy. Today there are numerous graphics/ digital tablets available for novice to professionals and in different budget ranges.

I created this web site as a way for people to find and easily choose which Wacom tablet to buy. >> Read more in my FAQ here! <<

Digital Art Software Part 3: Drawing & Painting

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Software Specifically for Drawing and Painting with Product Descriptions


Corel Painter 12

  • Painter’s RealBristle brushes represent a major milestone for digital painting, reproducing the movement and feeling of traditional art on canvas when paired with a graphics tablet.
  • Exciting new Kaleidoscope and Mirror painting features let you create electrifying patterns and colors on canvas, leveraging the symmetry, speed and precision of mirrored planes. This Kaleidoscope painting capability is exclusive to Painter!
  • A new interface streamlines your brush selection, libraries, color controls and image set up. High-quality rendering gives you a clear view when zooming into the finer details.


Auto Desk SketchBook Pro

  • Autodesk SketchBook Pro software offers best-in-class sketching capabilities for professional designers and artists from all industries
  • Fast and intuitive user interface; designed specifically for use with digitized pen tablets and Tablet PCs
  • Free up the sketching process with ultra-responsive digital pencils, pens, markers, and airbrushes that look and feel just like the real thing
  • Communicate more efficiently by emailing sketches and annotations instantly to colleagues and clients
  • Open and save common file formats, including TIF, BMP, JPG, PNG, and PSD files

Corel Painter Essentials 4
  • The simple-to-use home art studio that makes it easy for you to draw, paint or turn your photos into paintings
  • Great way to get started with digital art
  • Tutorial-based guidebook and accompanying video tutorials/sample files teach you the application while you complete fun, instructional projects

ArtRage Deluxe
  • All the artists’ tools you need to draw and paint on your computer
  • Paint with oil brushes, palette knives, airbrushes, paint rollers or paint tubes; Draw with pencils, erasers, chalk, felt pens or crayons
  • Import and export PSD files with layers and blend modes; crop, scale, move and resize any layer
  • Tracing paper function gets you drawing immediately with reference images
  • Supports multi-monitor systems and tablets

Click here to browse all digital art software on Amazon

Digital Art Software Part 2: Advanced Software

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My top picks for advanced photo editing software

Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo

  • PaintShop Photo Pro X3 lets you manage, adjust, edit and share your digital photos all in one place
  • Organize, rate, tag and sort with photo management tools
  • Manually adjust groups of RAW photos with RAW Lab
  • Quickly fix common photo flaws with Express Lab
  • Email photos, print online or at home, and send directly to Facebook, YouTube and Flickr


Adobe Photoshop CS5

  • Breakthrough capabilities for superior image selections, image retouching, and realistic painting; and a wide range of enhancements.
  • Create and refine images using state-of-the-art photography tools that deliver superior results
  • New creative possibilities that enable you to select, adjust, paint.
  • Accelerate work flow with fast performance on 64-bit hardware systems, smoother interactions thanks to GPU acceleration.
  • Access assets in the context of what you’re working on by using the customizable Adobe Mini Bridge panel in Photoshop.
  • Easily manage media with flexible batch renaming.


Adobe Illustrator CS5

  • Used by design professionals worldwide,
  • Adobe Illustrator CS5 software provides precision and power with sophisticated drawing tools, expressive natural brushes,
  • A host of time-savers, and integration with Adobe CS Live.
  • Take advantage of exceptional precision and power to create distinctive vector artwork.
  • Combine highly controllable drawing tools with expressive natural brushes and dramatic effects to make unique, striking designs.
  • .. And character styles, paragraph composition, underlining and strikethroughs, transparent effects, and more.
  • Incorporate vector artwork into essentially any project and deliver resolution-independent graphics across media.


Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo

  • Lets you manage, adjust, edit and share your digital photos all in one place
  • Organize, rate, tag and sort with new photo management tools
  • Manually adjust groups of RAW photos during the loading process with the new RAW Lab
  • Quickly fix common photo flaws in the Express Lab
  • Email photos, print online or at home, and send directly to Facebook, YouTube and Flickr


CorelDRAW Graphics Suite

  • Offers everything you need for professional graphics illustration, layout, tracing, photo editing, Web graphics
  • Animation in one complete suite of integrated applications that is easy to learn and use.
  • Built-in learning tools and valuable video tutorials
  • Design insights from experts and a visually rich guidebook
  • Over 1,000 professional fonts
  • Supported file formats, including PDF, JPG, PNG, EPS, AI, TIFF, PSD, DOCX and many more, let you import and export files quickly and easily.

Click here to browse all digital software on Amazon


<<Prev: Digital Software for Beginners     |     Next: Advanced Digital Software>>

Alternative to a Wacom Drawing Tablet

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The Flow is a paintbrush for your iPad or Android tablet.

It was created by Joystickers, two engineers who say their purpose is simple, “to make awesome stuff”. I can get behind that.
They also created a Scribe and The Classics which are arcade buttons for your smart phone or tablet. I’m looking forward to their next invention!

View The Flow paintbrush in action!

Wacom Digitizer Used In Cregle PenBook

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This Cregle PenBook has hit the FCC website and I’m very interested in the fact that it is a Windows 7 machine with a Wacom digitizer. It looks kind of clunky and I wonder if that will change (I hope so), but it has some great features.

  • The PenBook features a multitouch display with palm-rejection technology so you can place your hand on the screen and use the pen to write.
  • There are touch-sensitive bars above and below the screen which you can use for gestures to adjust screen brightness, trigger Page Up or Down actions, or send a Ctrl+Alt+Del signal. You can also create custom gesture-based commands.
  • The tablet has a 5000mAh, 6 hour battery which is user replaceable.
I think the PenBook might give the portable Wacom, Apple iPad and other touchscreen devices a run for their money. We shall see! No word on when it will be released or how much it will cost yet. Check out some of the (unflattering) pictures below!
cregle penbook
cregle penbook
cregle penbook drawing
Source: liliputing.com