Firedogs Ron Son Jose

Join Date 04/2003

Recommendations for Drawing (Hardware and Software)

Good Day,

I do not know the technical terms, but will attempt to say what I am looking for. My youngest son wants to draw using "Paint"; however, the mouse is not really the right tool to use. I am looking for recommendations on something (hardware/software) that we could purchase for him to do his drawings...like a pad with pen hooked-up to the computer. We have Inspiron 8200/Home XP.

Thanks for any and all recommendations to include product links.

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Is this the sort of thing you're looking for?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=list&SubCategory=296

HTH

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I have a Wacom Graphire3 Tablet. (I have no idea how old your son is but...) It works well. Takes a little bit of getting used to since the area on the board is the area for the entire screen rather than just the document you're working on. It can be a little bit pricey however but in the end it is a useful tool.

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Like they ^^^ said, get a tablet. Doesn't necessarily have to be a Wacom, but Wacom is the top dog in this segment.

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thomassen

Join Date 01/2003

+10

What I say is; don't go for the cheapest out there. I bought one really cheap just to try it out. And it was fine just to try it out, but I quickly found it to not be good enough. Drawing a smooth line is difficult, something I think is because the pad's resolution isn't very good. Go for something mid-range.

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Thank you Chris TH, Guedado, craeonics, and thomassen for taking the time to respond. Jose is now 13. Now that you folks have said the word "Tablet" it opens the door for appropriate research. I will carefully view and review the products on the market and go from there. Once again, thanks!!!

Firedog One

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What do you think of this?

http://www.wacom.com/productinfo/4x5.cfm

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Jafo

Join Date 03/2001

+1845

Probably fine.....when in doubt...bigger is better. More tablet area means higher resolution/accuracy...

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Yeah, but the trouble with Wacom is that their prices rise exponentially in relation to the surface of the tablet. Intuos is their high end professional line (got to get me one some day). Graphire is more for the casual consumer, though smaller.

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Lo Firedogs Ron & Son Jose

I can recommend Wacom's products from my own experience with different
bigger size models. Wacom also have small models that are equally good
for people wanting to be able to draw with a "pen". The only difference
is that you get a smaller area to draw on but the tablet will let
you work with paintings any size you want

Without knowing your son's age I would HIGHLY recommend that you
get THIS painting software, if only for your own enjoyment.

Deep Paint v2
http://www.download.com/Deep-Paint/3000-2191_4-10398243.html?tag=lst-0-1

Deep Paint was the first version of Right Hemisphere's "natural
media" paint application that let people get the feeling of
natural media like oil, acrylics, water color, crayons etc. etc.
using a computer and tablet. Deep Paint later evolved into
Deep Paint 3D letting 3D artists paint textures, bump-maps etc.
right onto a 3d mesh.

Since Right Hemisphere now only focus on 3D applications
they just decided to make a special version of their first
2D version of Deep Paint available for FREE for everyone to
use as they like, painting, sketching and coloring etc. etc.

Even if you don't have a tablet it's great fun to work and play with,
but with a tablet the brush strokes really feel like the real thing =D

For example, in the right palette called "Command Panel", click the first tab
if it's not already selected and in the drop down menu saying "Smooth Paints"
select "Wet Material" instead. Then scroll down and chose "Oil Simple - Bristle",
select a bright color and paint away...weee =D

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Corky_O

Join Date 04/2004

I use the Graphire3 (6" x 8") tablet, but if you can afford the Intuos3 series (shown in your link), I would recommend that one instead - based on the "Lines Per Inch" rating, which allows a much smoother stroke to be drawn.

The Intous3 series also supports the new Air Brush pen, and the new 6D Art Pen.

You may find the 4" x 5" surface to be a bit small, because the tablets also come with a wireless mouse which operates on the tablet's designated surface area only.

The 6" x 8" is a reasonable surface to use for both the pen and mouse, and gives you one surface to operate from.

The Wacom tablets (and others) operate differently depending on whether you are using the pen or the mouse.

The mouse operates the same as any mouse, becoming active when on the tablet.

The pen's behavior is based on it's location on the surface of the tablet being an exact position on the screen - in other words, every time you place the pen in the upper left corner of the tablet's designated drawing area, the cursor will go to the same upper left corner of the screen. This allows greater control for drawing, and the pen can also be used to operate all command buttons, and menu selection functions.

I hope this helps in some way.

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