[Deleted]

this may or may not be the place to ask this but, for those of you who are digital artists and draw anime on tablets, which would you say is your favourite to use for the best results? and do you know of any programs that can save or remember shapes, like a basic anime head or eye so it doesn't have to be re-drawn each time? 

[habs]

wacom is always a good choice if youre looking at digital tablets. they have a $79 and a $99 tablet that are both reasonably priced, i'm not 100% sure about the difference...i have a wacom but i've had it for 8 years. and it still works like a charm.

that should be testament enough to how awesome they are. i dont think i'd use anything else.

as for art programs that remember stuff, you could always draw out the shape you want and save it as a layer, and then you could re-use it multiple times. i'm not sure what you prefer but if you use photoshop, save it as a PSD, if you use sai, save it as a sai document, whatever.

i've just started to use sai and i like it a lot, though photoshop is also nice. sai is a bit more catered to drawing vs photoshop, though i know tons of artists can do beautiful things with photoshop. it all depends on what you like more!

granted i know both of those cost money but...if youre interested in shady dealings you can find them online easily.

[habs]

also i think this would go in a general discussion board vs this one, i think this board is reserved for coding/site questions but i could be 100% wrong cuz i cba to look atm

[katya]

Monoprice tablets are considered the standard bargain option. I've also heard good things about turcom/huion (it's the same company, I have no idea why they're labeled differently) tablets which use the same hardware. Pretty much everybody says monoprice tablets are as good as wacom tablets. There shouldn't be any software conflicts unless you're using a really, really indie unheard-of drawing program.

Wacom is considered industry standard. They're quite expensive. I wouldn't get the Wacom Bamboo, which is their cheaper, casual tablet line. I have no idea why they're bad, but I once asked my illustrator friend about it, and she just laughed and said no. (If I had to guess, it'd be because the monoprice tablets are similarly priced or even cheaper than the Bamboos, but as good as the Wacom Intuous line, Intuous being Wacom's standard line of drawing tablets). I have a Wacom Intuous that's like ten years old, and I've never had issues with it. Again, there should never be software conflicts with a wacom, barring really indie programs.

Most programs can create a brush for a specific shape (or a stamp). I'm not entirely sure how, but I'm sure google can turn up some tutorials for whatever program you like. If you can't find a tutorial, you can always just keep copying and pasting the shape. Manga Studio 5 is basically the be all end all for comic artists these days. Some people still prefer a mash-up of Photoshop and Illustrator, or Painter SAI. SAI's dead software though. It hasn't really been supported for a while, but it's actually free. Like Habbue, I'd suggest just starting with SAI. It's free, it's meant for drawing, and even if it's a little outdated, it still works fine. If you're going to use Photoshop, note that you REALLY REALLY have to get drawing brushes for line-art.Stumpy pencil is a good free brush to start with. Photoshop should let you make a brush or stamp to recycle the same image/shape. Manga Studio has a library function that I don't know how to use, but I know it has one.

As an aside, I have MS5, and it's easily the best drawing program out there imo, especially for anything comic-like. It has the features of Photoshop's 2D studio and Illustrator's vectors, plus SAI's focus on natural drawing. It's built-in set of brushes are good, pretty much the same as SAI's, and it also comes with a lot of tones and speech bubbles and stuff. It also loads up in like one second, unlike Photoshop.

ETA: Well... it IS a question, and it DOES have to do with design, so the thread's arguably in the right place. Close enough, in my modly opinion.

ETA2: I lied. Here's SAI 2, it's in beta and was released yesterday. Unsurprisingly, there's no English patch yet, but I'm sure there will be one eventually.

[habs]

update to previous post that i literally just found out about right now: easy paint tool sai 2 is in beta!!! so its getting an upgrade yeeeaaahhh

[Deleted]

thanks a heap guys! i'll have a look at wacom and the turcom/huion tablets then and see if can get my hands on something that works for me. i thought the whole saving shapes and stuff was this big complicated ordeal that required something special to go with my tablet but i guess not, huh. i am er.. very clueless and new to this sort of thing as you can probably tell.

manga studio is probably right up my alley, and sai because i do like the idea of natural-looking strokes. i might give photoshop a try though with the right tools.