Any graphic artists here?

[swbsam]

I want to surprise my wife, a certified graphic artist who has kinda lost touch with the field as of late, with a tablet and some drawing tools. Since I'm not rich I ordered an 8x6 off-brand tablet, but there's still time to change my order...

1. What's a good size to go with? Brand? I can't really afford wacoms, but I'm open to suggestions

2. What's a good drawing software?

Thanks!

 

[isekii]

The graphic designers at my work place use Wacome 6 x 8 tablets Intuos3 along with Adobe CS2/3

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: isekii
The graphic designers at my work place use Wacome 6 x 8 tablets Intuos3 along with Adobe CS2/3

Thanks! Do you know what program in particular they use? I can't afford the whole suite and am a total noob. I can, of course, just ask my wife - but I'd like it to be a surprise.

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: swbsam

Originally posted by: isekii
The graphic designers at my work place use Wacome 6 x 8 tablets Intuos3 along with Adobe CS2/3

Thanks! Do you know what program in particular they use? I can't afford the whole suite and am a total noob. I can, of course, just ask my wife - but I'd like it to be a surprise.

Photoshop? It's the de facto graphics program.

 

[SN4p]

Photoshop/Illustrator

Illustrator is more for print work.

 

[ivan2]

how do you get certified for graphic artist?

when in doubt: photoshop/wacom

 

[swbsam]

Originally posted by: ivan2
how do you get certified for graphic artist?

when in doubt: photoshop/wacom

She has her masters in media studies but her career track in undergrad was for design - she's a graphic designs workers guild member and is certified in a bunch of apps that I can't recall...

photoshop it is! wacom.. hmm.. i'll see if i can find a good deal out there on a wacom

 

[Illusio]

Photoshop is for photo retouching/pixel based work. Illustrator is for vector based work. So photoshop/wacom is a good choice

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: SN4p
Photoshop/Illustrator

Illustrator is more for print work.

Photoshop is for raster images (think photography).

Illustrator is for vector (think traditional illustration - maps, logos, etc).

She probably uses/could use both, and tablets work great for/with both.

 

[Miklebud]

I use a dinky 4x5 Wacom. Sure it's small, but it works nicely with Photoshop.

 

[Modelworks]

If she is a pro get her an Intuos . They are perfect for graphic work .
If you are on a budget get a bamboo, they are almost as good, but smaller.
http://www.wacom.com/bambootablet/bamboofun.php

Really try to stay with wacom. There is a significant difference in the off brands and wacom . For one wacom device do not use batteries in the pens. The other is that support in applications is great.
The bamboo can be had for $60 or so.

Just saw this on Amazon, definitely what I would get.
http://www.macmall.com/macmall...ZON&wt.mc_id=MWBAMAZON

For drawing I really do not like photoshop, it is limited compared to other dedicated applications. I use two applications and they are fairly cheap.
Twisted brush - http://www.pixarra.com/
Sketch book pro -http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/s...=6848332&siteID=123112

You can get both for $220.

 

[KeithP]

While PhotoShop is certainly the king of Photo editing and color correction, I was under the impression that for creating original art from scratch Corel's Painter software was extremely popular.

-KeithP