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Heya, I've got an Intuos 3 (I've had it for years and years) and I finally decided to upgrade after saving all my pennies. So, now I have an Intuos 4 (medium - flashy light things for me!) so I thought I'd let you know what I think. The Intuos 3 is a solid bit of kit. Considering that it's been beaten around a bit now it still preforms admirably even though it's got a large and nasty scratch on the drawing surface. The touch strip on it is great for quick zooming and you can bind the keys on the side to give you quick access to often used short cuts. The Intuos 4 is a different beast. I'd describe it as something of a glass cannon, because the difference in sensitivity, accuracy, feel and design is amazing, but it also feels fragile. It feels as though it won't last as long (perhaps this is why they've got so many replacement parts for it on the Wacom site?). My only real issue with the 4 is the rate at which the nibs wear down. If you are using your tablet for light use, then it won't really affect you that much, but if like me you are a hardcore painting fiend, then be prepared to buy nibs and eventually you will need replacement screens and the like, I'm sure of it. The way I look at it is that for years now, since I got all my kit, I've never had any art costs. Normal artists have to pay for paper / paints / specialised stuff - you name it, but artistically speaking I've had a free ride. The simple fact that the Intuos 4 is so beautiful, effortless and tasty to use means that I can get over it, because I've been spoilt by Wacom anyway. I won't be happy about paying for nibs and perhaps replacement parts, but the way it's made my art quality jump in the space of a single painting is just... wow! Unfortunately the Intuos 4 nibs last for about a painting. One painting at say, 5000x5000 @ 300 dpi is enough to eat my pen nibs - down to the base, and I don't press down hard. Compare this to my Intuos 3 and we're talking *years* for a nib to wear down. Years O.O At the end of the day the question is, do you want stability, tried-and-tested high quality, could probably survive a nuke tablet goodness, or do you want to take a small leap of faith and instead of having something that lasts a lifetime, have something that really does feel like it can plug in to your imagination and take you away with it, for however long it is around? That's what it comes down to, in my opinion. It's like choosing a class in an RPG - do you want a Fighter or a Wizard? That is how different they are to me. Both are good, but for sheer value for money, I'd be tempted to get a 3. It'll probably last you the rest of your life. Good luck on your tablet hunting! Oh it's also worth mentioning that the Intuos 4 comes with a choice of Photoshop Elements, Sketch Pad and something else to use. I got elements and even though it's a bit random, it's actually very smart. Photoshop without the bloat - lovely! 
Nexa fucked around with this message at 10:54 on May 28, 2010 |
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May 28, 2010 10:37
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radical edward posted:Wow, the way you describe the 4 makes me think that it will hold me at night when the scary people come. Too bad it eats nibs like skittles. The nice part is that my 3 will last me until the 5 comes out with 2^14 levels of sensitivity and a 3-like drawing surface. To be honest with you I think the 4 *will* hold you at night when the scary people come. It'll sing sweet lullabies to you while ripping pure mana out of the world, until all that is left is the dust of pen nibs. I can't hear any whine at all - I mostly listen to some rocking choons  when painting like a freak of nature but even without any music, I can't hear a whine. My suggestion to the chap who had said problem is to send an e-mail to Wacom, as even without the care package your shiny v4 tablet is under warranty for two years, I believe.Oh hell yes the 3 is awesome. I'm keeping mine in a stasis field. I'm working on the theory that when my 4 dies a bit, the 3 will always be there, ready to love me again.  The 5 is probably going to be the most amazing and ultimate of all monsters. I'll go to the Wacom site one day like some crazy pen nib junkie and there it will be, gleaming with vile and forbidden magics. As for sketchpad vs 11 - No contest!! Get 11, now! I can't even be bothered with much of Photoshop any more, because even though Photoshop is technically brilliant in a million more ways than I can probably list, Painter has a real soul to it, and getting a cut down version will do you no favours at all. There are trial versions of Painter 11 around the place - why not give it a go until it runs out? It does not have as many techy things compared to Photoshop but the way it handles paints and other natural media is a truly beautiful thing to behold. It is also about 90% compatible with Photoshop (supports the use of .psd files and the like) so it makes the perfect accompaniment to all acolytes of Photoshop. The key to Painter is to understand that it works best when used with Photoshop - it is a stand alone product, but it shines when you save, load it up in the other program, modify, save, then re-open and so on. My first tip to you is when you get it, to click the box that says "pick up underlying colour" on the layers menu. Then, it shall begin.
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May 28, 2010 17:37
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skizzenstifte posted:Hey, thanks for all the good info! I've always worked with traditional media, but that can get so pricey. You've inspired me to finally take the plunge and get a tablet - it should get here sometime next week. I'm pretty psyched. (Got the standard 6x8 Intuos 3... figured getting an Intuos 4 at this point was like buying a motorcycle for someone who can't ride a bike.) Forgive my wall of text - I have a lot to write about this subject, and much advise to give You made the right call on getting a 3 for your first tablet. What I used to do when my friends saw me using all this "crazy high tech stuff" was tell them to get a little one from Trust, just to make sure they like it (saves them spending a few hundred quid they didn't really have, while I got mine when things were better .etc) but you know you are an artist (they were not so sure) so you know it's going to be worth it, and it is, and you are going to rock. I'm glad you are excited! The best thing is that you can still continue to be a traditional artist but now you can take your art to places I never could -traditional and digital cross has been explored but not that much, people found speed-painting and other things and that became the big thing - you still have some genuinely *new* things to do, things they have not done! I've been using a tablet since I was about 14 (pretty much when they started releasing them to begin with) and I never learnt how to draw on paper. Sounds random because it's all the same thing, but you know it isn't like that at heart too Excitement is the best thing right now - you want to keep that going because there is a sortof "artistic depression" that can come from using tablets. It's almost like, when you join the digital guys you suddenly realise how mega some people are, and some people have told me they have felt very sad in comparison (yeah, I'm like this too from time to time), lost motivation and couldn't carry on (hence the "get a trust tablet!" to those guys). In traditional art things are judged differently I think, a painting is a painting, but in digital art I think people trade thoughts and skill / style more than anything else. In digital art, people can make many things by playing with a few filters and calling it a day, so it's not about how you make things (traditional can be about how you make things), but what you make - what thoughts are you trading? I'm just writing this because this is stuff I'd have loved to know way back when. Don't get disheartened - join some art sites / forums / places where there are people of great and varied skill levels. One day, you will look at them and say "I have moved beyond that in my skills, fantastic", then you'll see one of those mega people and think "now *this* level is the goal" while trading your concepts and thoughts all the way, connecting with people instantly and working from pure light in a space that doesn't really exist to make something fantastic. The learning curve - I remember well the days of looking at my tablet in frustration, re-learning what paper means to me. I wouldn't class the learning curve as steep, but you are essentially re-programming yourself. One thing that helps some people to start with is to draw some sketchy stuff on paper, then try to trace over it. It's just learning how to use a brush for the first time, except you paint on a canvas and the paint appears on the wall next to it. I started off by illustrating poems with stick men. Learning what all these filters did, and then I realised I didn't need to really use them any more (I still don't use them really). You should experiment with brushes in Photoshop, but don't become reliant on them (happened to me, probably set me back a year or two). I don't have mega art skills, I never have done, so I am a photo-manipulator (just not a normal one), because what I actually do is more like "Photo-paintings". By the time I am done with the photo it's been changed so much it's hardly a photo any more. So, this is what you should do to learn: 1) Draw random shapes 2) Play with your shapes using photoshop filters and put your shapes on different layers 3) Play with brushes in Photoshop (grunge is a good place to start with brush types) 4) Play with brushes in Painter (the oil pastels are surprisingly good and I swear by them) 5) Start drawing landscapes based on: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Mastery over the basic elements will catapult you to freedom. Once you can draw rock and mountains, sky and clouds, fire and water, you are truly free, and everything else comes from those elements in some way. (Water becomes mountains, clouds becomes the extra detail that makes something truly awesome, fire becomes magic / effects and so on). Port them to photoshop to apply brushes, then take it back into Painter, paint over said brushes and carry on. Build it up. Landscapes will teach you your limits, and how to overcome them. They will also give you mastery over your tablet. 6) While attempting really hard stuff, play to your strengths also. You will need to reward yourself in order to motivate you through the hard poo poo. And so on. Painter is where you find your soul, Photoshop allows you to "get it right". In the words of Android Jones (I love him) "Work from a place of light and love". Do this for as long as it takes, consider photo-manipulating / artistic collaborations and unless you are an anime artist and want to go that way, avoid anime like the plague as if you are a "painter" the anime style will creep in to everything you do from the moment you get good at it, it's hard to loose the style of it if you decide you don't want to do that any more This is me doing that exact element based thing (Fire and Rock here): http://fshi.deviantart.com/art/Echoes-of-Memory-164409376 - this is fairly simple, especially if unlike me you can actually draw to begin with. Everything I have done is because I decided I wouldn't let my inability to get perspectives and other things right stop me, and I am forcing myself to do this stuff - the part of my brain that should be leet with perspectives and other stuff like that does not work properly, due to a fundamental learning disability I have with maths and 3d space related problems. I'm an artistic dyslexic  If I can do things that people want to buy and think are cool, then *anyone* can do this. Especially those who say "I can't draw" - you can, I am proof of this now, and I started with stick men (and still draw them about the place, haha). You will possibly be feeling a bit overwhelmed for a while, but you will gain speed, and then before you know it you'll be amazed at your progression. Here is a nice tutorial / resource site to get you started in all things digital: http://bluefaqs.com/ The last thing to remember is that in the eyes of many ordinary people (the ones you want to sell your work to), being digital is a novelty. You can be a complete nobody (al la me) in the digital world, but in the real world you're a drat genius. People know about tablets and things now, but it's still a case of "Digital? Oh like one of those tablet thingys?". Capitalise on this - it will make you money. Good luck to all those starting on the digital path (and those trying to master it)! <3
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May 29, 2010 13:51
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