Pen & Graphics Tablets + The Apps best suited for the various jobs involved.

[handrawn]

of course another thing is, say I were drawing a strip I could draw it panel by panel, often the idea that the whole drawing must be done in one go is a mis-conception

[puw]

they shouldn't - that's the wrong way round

the size at which you draw should determine the size of the tablet

This is beginning to help me understand handrawn. So from what you're saying, if I normally draw an anime type of character at 10" and can get all the details I want in those 10", get a small size tablet. If 15" get a medium and if 20" or above, a large size tablet (generalising here).

[BTW - my wacom will let me map only part of the tablet [as well as only part of the screen] should it be used by someone who prefers a smaller drawing area]

Useful to know!

unless you have a very sophisticated scanner, scanned lines are not vector, they are raster

raster lines are defined by a matrix of pixels - vector lines are determined by a mathematical calculation

raster lines are [imo] better at mimicing drawing on paper - the mathematical calculation involved in creating a vector line can mean they often don't quite follow the stroke of the pen, particularly on curves

Thank you for this excellent reminder on the differences, I totally get what you're saying and now the reasons to use something like PS or Corel Paint become more obvious. And that my thinking of why not do it all in a vector program, well I guess is changing thanks to you, to you only move into the vector program for those parts that need vectors and not rasters. This is a major point for me, as I have to now think about my ideas that are the reasons for wanting to get a tablet in the first place, as in is all the art going to be vectored or will a large part be rastered? I know the end result is that 'any' finished artwork needs to be in a vector format, for my ideas to work. And in saying that, I'm not sure if that will have a detrimental finished effect on any finished artwork. But I also now need to take into consideration, if raster will be equally as important in creating the art, the need to learn how to use a new program as well as how to convert rasters into vectors.

Thanks handrawn - a big help

[puw]

I haven't used many tablets, but the ones I have played with map the tablet area to the drawing area, so tablet size has no direct relationship to the drawing size.

There will be some consideration of tablet resolution vs drawing size, but really it's a non-issue.

Laptops have touchpads - rather like a tablet, and their small area is mapped to the screen size. It's the same idea.

I think we're getting closer to understanding where each of us is coming from to reach a common ground now - thanks

[puw]

of course another thing is, say I were drawing a strip I could draw it panel by panel, often the idea that the whole drawing must be done in one go is a mis-conception

Yep, I think I mentioned this as an option earlier, but I didn't state it as clearly as you have. Thanks.