Taronites

Oh no, you can't do that with the mouse, you need pen pressure. However, I admire anyone being able to paint halfway decent with a mouse and there's a true monster amongst us, who makes a mouse look like an artist's magic wand... "here's looking at you, Mike!"
So, yeah, great job, Umgrilla! I hope you get your hands on a tablet, though!

Oh, you flatter me, Taron!

...and just as I was pining at this photo:

Actually, I need to replace my mouse. It's a corded MS deal and the scroll button is fried.
The feel and weight (and even tracking characteristics) of your mouse is important.
I have a few Logitechs at home that are absolutely useless for art.

Two years ago, my Microsoft Intelli-mouse finally met it's "end of life" and stopped working.
I bought it in 1993! It had actually turned from white to a yellowish tinge with age, but there was something about the weightiness from the ball that enhanced the feel.

To tell you the truth, I'm kinda jealous of the ability to control pressure and angle. Ohhhh... Christmas is not far off.

Don't wait for christmas!
Buy it used
Tablets are not the holy grail.
You will still have to paint by yourself

They won't break. Maybe some new tips.

Hmm, how to get this into topic......Mike the whole reasonable tablet UNIVERSE is unfortunately in wacoms hand.
I think, the older the products, the more solid they were build.
I have two Intuos 2, one A4 (bought used 8-9 years ago, with an extra pen which is itself 80 Euros for 180) and one A5 bought new somehow ten years ago.
They still work like a charm, but - wacom stopped their driver support.

I bought a cinitq 21UX around 5 years ago.
Used for 900 Euros. Lovely piece to work with.
Big, hot and heavy and with 1600x1200 a little bit small resolution. but haptic sensation.
You only need some passion on eb** or where ever.
The Cintiq has Intuos 3 technology.

Starting with Intuos 4 they introduced the 2048 pen pressure levels. After they released Intuos 5 and now it's just Intuos (consumer) intuos pro.

Due to my loved intuos 2 A5 is not supported anymore, I bought a Intuos pro S for traveling with my laptop.
Size is fine for me. (especially for travelling) but my experience with my A4 was, that control is a bit better but drawing ways are much longer.
That's a matter of taste.
In fact - 1024 more pressure levels are not an evolutionary step on land, it's more a tiny little extra fin for the fish.
Touch is "Quatsch" as we say in Germany. Far away from iphone haptic and experience.

As a conclusion: Mike, get the hole universe of digital drawing to you place! As soon as possible!! You don't need the newest tech. your skills won't be reduced by an intuos 3 i.e. As taron uses
Sometimes I use my intuos pro to draw on bigger resolution, you would not see any differences.
One thing is a step further, that's a cintiq tablet monitor in 21" or better 24".
But hell! Who is doing prizes at wacom??

I was told, that the 12" first small versions were crap. I don't know.
I only know that I love my old boy here.
There I never care for longer ways to draw. It's a big step for better control.........but still with a pencil.....?? One have to get used to.
A tablet needs a little time to get over first frustrations regarding a leck between expectation and reality.

But Mike, i think that is not your problem, your problem is this:
http://forum.deviantart.com/technology/hardware/1294488/

A5 is perfect, honestly. I've had an A4 sized monster almost 20 years ago and felt many times more comfortable when I eventually swapped to A5 and never looked back!
I should consider looking at a new intuos, too... but I am still rather happy with my intuos3 .

Thanks for your perspective, Knacki!

The "Holy Grail" would be something like a Cintiq, of course - In theory only, since they use a dedicated video card and are very heavy in an age where thin, flat, and light screens flood the market.
Why aren't the Cintiqs simply a monitor and interface device that runs into any PC form-factor video card and system? (synergy, no doubt - Wacom's monopoly needs a check.)

But yes, this is the kind I used to own:


...and I gave it away. It was not a smooth operator anyways, and it was clumsy.


So an Intuos.

Here's mine! I have a lot to catch up since I was away on vacation!

That's got depth, Dm7! It's like some transparent world with a sun in the heart.

Thank you Mike! That's how I saw it as well. My husband have pointed it out that it could be a reflection of space helmet looking into the space and now I can't unsee it. XD

Whaha....that did it for me, too, now! DOH! But the spiritual flair also lingers! Very cool!

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