My daughter is a talented artist and wants an electronic drawing pad for her Windows system. I’m willing to spend money if it’s worth it, but I also don’t want to spend more than I have to. These two pads seem like possibilities:
The second one is twice the price of the first. Any ideas on which is a better choice?
OK, the next is this: I have a Windows Phone from 2012. It’s basically trashed now with a broken screen, but it still works. Here are my options:
Buy an iPhone 6 or 7. Not thrilled with either option. The price ain’t low, and I want to feel excited about spending $550+, ya know?
Wait for iPhone 8, which, as rumor has it, will be spectacular. But I will need a “bridge phone” until then. I could do another Windows Phone, I guess. I don’t really want to do Android. The lack of available apps is what’s bugging me. Yes, I know Android has all the apps, but the system just doesn’t appeal to me.
So… should I wait? If so, what should I use as a “bridge phone”? Thanks!
How old is your daughter ? (are we talking 5th grade, or in college ?) One can be serious into art/drawing early on, but “too early” can also mean “changes mind later”. This is an important consideration because of the price difference. I have been drooling over the Wacom Cintiq since I got to play with one. But I can’t (yet) justify the cost for my hobby doodling/drawing. If you think art is something she will definitely pursue, then I would recommend the Wacom.
There are two flavors of the Cintiq: separate drawing pad/screen, or built into a computer. If she is in or on her way to college, the built into computer version might be more practical. It would make it more portable. The separate pad/screen tethers you to your normal computer (desktop or whatever). Of course, the built into the computer model is even more expensive. Both are the same pad/screen, it’s just that with the one they’ve simply merged it into a fully functional tablet.
Check online for reviews/comparisons. I found some YouTube videos of comparisons of Surface tablets, so you should be able to find some reviews for these. I’ve not heard of the Ugee, so I really can’t comment.
She’s 11. Definitely dedicated to art. Draws hours every day. She will be at the level of a professional adult-level artist by the time she’s 15, I believe. She’s not far now.
She’s specifically said she wants the display you draw on.
Regarding a phone, I’m interested in the ZTE Axon 7. Runs current Android, half the price of a comparable flagship phone, unlocked, and good reviews overall.
She may want the type of display you draw on, but the Wacom one is about $800 and that’s the cheapest of several models they have. On the other hand, for about $100, you can get the kind that’s just a drawing tablet. You can get her the $800 tablet if you like but I would think the drawing-only one would suffice for now.
Heh. I was going to recommend an $80 or so Wacom intuos tablet but I see your budget is way beyond that.
Although one argument favoring cheaper tablets is how rough you anticipate your daughter being on it. Mine is 13 and is on her third wacom tablet in maybe 4 years. They get dropped, cable connections wear out, etc. Money well spent though.
As someone who has tried the not-display ones, I think they’re horrible. Sure, artists did and can get used to them, but learning to draw on one surface while looking at another is an unnecessary complication now that the technology exists to let us draw directly on the surface the images are appearing on. In my case, at least, it has resulted in considerable frustration that disinclines me from continuing to practice. It’s a major extra hurdle to overcome in order to motivate myself, and as someone who has trouble motivating myself to do difficult things in which my progress is not clear and obvious over relatively short spans of time, anything that adds to that difficulty is a big deal.
As far as which tablet, both of those look good: Wacom of course has years of good regard as the best tablets, especially in the screen+tablet category with their Cintiq models. The other one looks technically adequate - the size is bigger, though the resolution is lower, I note - but do note that as far as I can tell, the Ugee tablet does not have an HDMI connection, it only has DVI and the old, old style monitor cables.
However, another possibility in a similar price range is the Microsoft Surface. I haven’t had the opportunity to try it myself, but I have seen a decent number of artists talking about using it. Gabe from Penny Arcade began heartily recommending it at around the Surface Pro 2 some years ago, and I’ve seen various other artists on art sites like deviantart and pixiv, and artists’ tumblrs, mention that it’s very good for their purposes. You might want to consider getting one of those instead, since it seems to provide very adequate functionality for art in addition to being a fully capable tablet/computer for everything else, and they start at the same pricepoint as the Cintiq and go up a few hundred dollars for the better models.
I agree that the Surface tablet might be a better choice, given how much more you can do with it. $800 for just a drawing tablet is one thing. But that amount (or even a bit more) for a complete computer? That’s not so crazy.
I got my son the Wacom for his 13th birthday (4 years ago). No problems so far. He’s made a lot of elements for Flash animations with it. Definitely spring for one where you draw on the display directly. He’d almost gave up in frustration trying out the one with a separate tablet and display.
FWIW, Best Buy currently has a fairly generous sale on Apple stuff that lasts until Saturday (12/10) evening. $125 off the 9.7 inch iPad Pro (which basically pays for the Pencil). $160 off the iPhone SE and $189 off the iPhone 6.
If I were you, I’d just lump it with the Windows phone or if it’s really too far gone buy the absolute cheapest Android you could find until the next iPhone comes out. The Android apps might be a drawback, but it’s only for 9 months or so. I mean, you’ve been living with a Windows phone for 4 years, you must be used to it by now.
It depends on which model of Surface. The Surface 4 was released in October 2015, and if you got her a Surface Pro 4 last christmas, then you’re good. If you got her a Surface Pro 3 it’s also plenty good enough. The non-Pro versions, however, might be somewhat lacking, so if you got the cheaper ones, they might not perform so well.
As for software, Manga Studio is one of the most popular, and probably one of the best choices. Mischief is a much less expensive option that I’ve heard about once or twice, and it has a free version; this is probably your best option for testing your existing Surface to see if its capabilities are adequate; download that free version and get to trying it immediately, and then upgrade to whatever better program you want. Do note that many artists use more than one program, finding certain ones better for different parts of the process, so in the long run she may wind up preferring several.
If you like the Microsoft phone, then keep and eye on the MicrosoftStore heading into Christmas for your phone. There can be some really deeply discounted Lumia phones as MSFT is clearing out inventory. You already know the operating system and if you’re okay with the app selection, you can get a Lumia for $99 or maybe even less. Last Xmas they had a $39 640 deal that was a real bargain.