So I saved up all of the money I got for Christmas and got myself a Intuos Creative pen & touch tablet from Wacom. For anyone who’s spent hours trying to draw with a small trackpad or mouse you know my pain and frustration. So my goal for the year was 2 big purchases. 1. A tablet to make my work easier and a new computer exclusive for work. I’m one down!
So let me tell you how awesome this is… its super awesome! Coming from someone who has never experienced the use of a drawing tablet (Seriously I don’t count drawing on my Nexus. )
Wacom has multiple sizes to choose from but since I tend to write and draw with wider strokes I figured a medium would be the perfect size for me. (They have a small version for under $100!) What I didn’t realize until I started really looking into these creative tablets is how it will also make my photo editing THAT much easier. I feel like I’ve been saving so much time just on photo editing. I’m not a professional artist but for what I do, do this is extremely helpful.
I am still getting use to the drawing. I’m so use to looking down at what I’m doing when drawing it’s a totally different experience when you are looking at the screen however the more I do it the more I don’t realize the difference. There are a bunch of shortcuts and gestures I still have to learn to fully optimize my experience and I’m pretty excited for it!
The box came with the pen, an extra pen holder and ring for the pen in black in case you don’t like the blue. (I prefer the blue.) There are extra nibs under the center lid but I couldn’t get it open and quite frankly didn’t want to break it. I’ll just wait until my nib runs down before I attempt to open that area up.
I had to use the CD that came with the tablet because I’m running on vista still but otherwise you can download the latest driver from the site if your computer isn’t already equipped with it.
The bad side really has nothing to do with the tangible product but more with the software that comes with it.
I can’t use two of the programs because my computer is too old and you need windows 7. You only have a limited amount of time to use them, so if the boyfriend gets his new computer soon I may just put the program on his computer. Also, you have to download the programs from the Wacom site. You have ONE shot to download it so if your internet goes out, electricity or any other issue that would stop the download YOU ARE BEAT and can’t try to download them again. Obviously this could be a huge problem for someone who doesn’t have any programs at all.
Please note that this will NOT work with Windows XP. I saw a number of people on Amazon who wrote about it not being compatible but Amazon doesn’t say it’s compatible with XP. Although they also say it’s compatible with Vista SP3 doesn’t exist. Typo. Luckily there isn’t a typo on Wacom’s own site and I was able to purchase the tablet. I still purchased through the Amazon site because it was cheaper and I got prime shipping.
If you already have a Wacom bamboo tablet, I’ve heard that this is basically just the bamboo re-branded so don’t spend your hard earned money on the same item please!
What tools do you use for digital drawing or photo-editing?
