There are many good reasons why one would like to use a graphics tablet instead of a old fashioned mouse. You might be an office worker who’s wanting to upgrade her or his mouse for a lot more ergonomic pen and tablet, or a parent who would like to activate your little one in a much more creative fashion apart from just watching YouTube videos with Selena Gomez, or perhaps (and more probable) you happen to be an artist who’s looking to switch from traditional media to digital.
The common misconception, though, is that graphics tablets are only for pro artists who use them to generate beautiful and fantastic graphics. That is definitely only partly true. Holding a pen positions your arm, and your wrist, in a much more natural position than the mouse does. It means significantly less strain, and leads to not as much lasting injuries and illnesses, such as carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive stress issues. Remember even the best graphics tablet is not going to reduce the risk completely; you still need to take breaks regularly and stretch and use your limbs in a varied fashion.
If you are an artist and you are reading this, it’s likely that I am preaching to the choir and you have no doubt about the obvious gains to an artist using a graphics tablet. In the event you don't, let me tell you about some of the best graphics tablet uses.
The precision you get using a graphics tablet pen while drawing, or painting, or sculpting digitally, is unparalleled. The precise control you have with your fingers and your wrist combined, translates 100% to your screen, capturing even the most refined of strokes.
Using technology built into the graphics tablet pen, it senses how hard you press down on the tablet surface, allowing you to regulate the size and opacity of the brush dynamically, making your strokes lifelike and vivid. Compared to using a mouse, where you only control the direction, it is basically another dimension to play with.
Adding an additional dimension to the mix, is the concept of “tilt”. The higher priced tablets sense how you hold the pen, in which direction you tilt it, letting the software you use emulate various sorts of brushes, pencils, and even palette knives. You can even choose a pencil brush in your favourite drawing software, tilt your pen to the side, and apply subtle, pencil-like shading, exactly the way you would with a real, standard pencil.
Another area where graphics tablets are popular is digital 3D sculpting, which is becoming more and more popular, and is currently the de facto conventional method of creating organic, and inorganic objects and characters for video games, movies, and digital illustrations, and prototypes for action figures, and toys. It gives the freedom of treating pixels on the screen very similar to clay, and while this technology hasn’t progressed quite as far as digital drawing, sketching, and painting has (which even simulates physics to get smeary and runny paint), it can be quite impressive to behold.
Today the graphics tablet pens come with 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity, minimum, with the quality brands at twice that number. Some are combined monitor and tablet, where you have a monitor with the built-in functionality of a graphics tablet. The best graphics tablet in this class is usually the most expensive one, as you get a considerably bigger screen to work on and aren't required to do a good deal of zooming and panning. Yet, the best graphics tablet on a budget with a screen isn't cheap, by any means, and you get a really small screen. A graphics tablet can be for anyone. The best graphics tablet? That will depend on your needs. On you, personally.
Good graphics tablets?
