Why buy a friggin' Wacom drawing tablet?! (1)

The process of creating a manga is never easy, much less when it comes to animation.

The idea of going digital was to facilitate that process and make it smoother, but many artists to this day prefer to do it the old-fashioned way. Why? Because they like the concept of having created something with their own hands, rather than let a machine do all the work.

Plus, there's plenty of discussions over that digital work will never be like the real thing, meaning that a drawing or illustration done with a drawing tablet will never have the life and the gesture that a true hand-drawing has.

Drawing tablets were invented to 'emulate' the pressure and the subtle hand movements of the artist when it comes to drawing on the screen, that's why you hear of 'levels of pressure sensitivity' when it comes to choosing an appropiate model.

The Wacom Intuos4 medium tablet

Ideally, a drawing tablet with a minimum of 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity should be more than sufficient when drawing manga. Programs like Manga Studio, Illustrator, Photoshop or Corel let you adjust the tilt and pressure of their pencil, brush, blob and pen tools, so you can get the best and most accurate lines possible, without having to suffer drawing with a mouse and being forced to constantly make adjustments.

Wacom is certainly the absolute leader in drawing tablets for their quality. Ask any architect, animation artist, 3D modeler, graphic designer, etc, and to them is as if you were speaking of GOD or the Holy Grial, their Wacom tablet is their livelihood and a key part of their profession.

Wacom tablets come in various models and sizes, and yes, they are quite expensive. Seems to be a part of the 'mystique' surrounding them. I thought so too when I spent 6 months saving money to buy my first one.

And I almost did. Normally you would go with the expensive, reputable item that costs $200 or much more to ensure that you have a quality, all-professional-like product. But guess what, the principle of doing proper RESEARCH before buying a product never goes stale. 


Click here to read a review of the Wacom Intuos4 Small Tablet.