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Anyone familiar with digital illustration?

Wilson

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My daughter loves to draw and create. We are thinking of getting her a digital illustrator to be able to save her drawings and to grow and develop her skills.

What I am finding are that most are just a peripheral monitor and stylus that must be connected to another device. Is there a stand alone product that is independent and mobile?

If not, we may just go with a tablet of some kind. Can anyone recommend a worthy app? She is seven, so ideally something that is fairly intuitive, or easily learned.
 
Wilson said:
My daughter loves to draw and create. We are thinking of getting her a digital illustrator to be able to save her drawings and to grow and develop her skills.

What I am finding are that most are just a peripheral monitor and stylus that must be connected to another device. Is there a stand alone product that is independent and mobile?

If not, we may just go with a tablet of some kind. Can anyone recommend a worthy app? She is seven, so ideally something that is fairly intuitive, or easily learned.
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animator possibly
 
I cant remember the nane for the life of me, but got our daughter one years ago that she just loved...did need a computer to hook into, not stand alone. Ill check tonite to see what it is. Pretty damned cool, you can do shading by changing how much pressure you put in the stylus and a million other things...Im easily impressed tho :laughing:
 
johnnyrover said:
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus with with a stylus pen - cheapest route for beginner
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which app/ software? My hesitation with a standard tablet is that I don’t want it to become a YouTube/ Netflix source.
 
Wacom has a model that has a screen so you can draw/paint directly onto the screen. I believe it's pretty pricey though - like over two $2k. Most of the other pad/stylus setups, like Intuos are pretty common in the graphic arts/illustration world, but would need to be hooked via usb to a computer with your design programs of choice on it. They do have little tablets that might be worth looking into though...

Might be worth looking up wacom setups on Amazon or something, and see if any offbrands pop up that might have a cheaper buy-in, if that's helpful. Wacom is all I have experience with, but I know there are other brands.
 
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I really don't know how smart she is.. but some of the best programs are adobe and you can get an education discount..

you can just buy "classroom in a book" books.. some are harder than others.. right now I am going through an "adobe after effects" and it assumes you already know stuff from workin with photoshop and premiere.. I want to get the "adobe illustrator book" and a couple of others, eventually.. I kinda wish there was an adobe bridge book, but there isnt..
 
Wizzle said:
I thought they did away with purchasing the software and now do monthly subscription licensing?
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I mixed 2 things I guess...

I pay for the whole adobe suite, like 30 a month.. otherwise its 60.. but if you are an Austin Community College student,. its even less.. but no one in my premiere class (took it like 14 years ago, so went in for a refresher).. could ever figure out how to change accounts if you already had one, and wanted to switch to the lower cost at the college.. but ACC was the first college in the country to get the lower pricing and be all officially licensed to teach adobe courses..

I'd rather just keep getting the books, and working on my own.. for the most part..

the books anyone can buy.. they have been using the "adobepress classroom in a book" books for at least 15 years or so..
 
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Definitely sounds like I need to select the software first, then move into hardware.
 
exactly.. I was a child prodigy sorta.. I was building Altairs when they came out in the mid 70s.. and I was 4 I think..

I sunk into it a lot more after War Games came out less than 10 years later..

so who knows how smart she is.. it happens..

however like many people I was super smart in some ways and a dumbass in others. they wanted to let me skip a grade or 2.. but in the end I started loosing my edge in high school..

the books avg around 50 bucks or so.. so I dont see any harm letting her play with something that advanced.. or maybe you can work the book with her.. have some bonding time while you gauge her intellect...
 
Full adobe suite is around $50/mo. Photoshop and Illustrator are doable but pretty complex programs - you may want to look into Corel Draw. I've never used the program, but a lot of illustrators do. I'm under the impression it's a little simpler/easier to use, with a lot less features. Plus you may be able to just buy it and not pay a subscription for it, which would be nice...
 
ArTi54N said:
exactly.. I was a child prodigy sorta.. I was building Altairs when they came out in the mid 70s.. and I was 4 I think..

I sunk into it a lot more after War Games came out less than 10 years later..

so who knows how smart she is.. it happens..

however like many people I was super smart in some ways and a dumbass in others. they wanted to let me skip a grade or 2.. but in the end I started loosing my edge in high school..

the books avg around 50 bucks or so.. so I dont see any harm letting her play with something that advanced.. or maybe you can work the book with her.. have some bonding time while you gauge her intellect...
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well there you go Wilson. Your daughter could be just like Arti54N for $50/mo.
 
My daughters are drawing fools (8,10,12) bought them the amazon $59 drawing tablets hooked to their PC's. Once setup internet isnt needed. The software they use is "fire alpaca" and paint tool sai. Here are a couple samples my 12 year old does on it

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desertPOS said:
Wacom has a model that has a screen so you can draw/paint directly onto the screen. I believe it's pretty pricey though - like over two $2k. Most of the other pad/stylus setups, like Intuos are pretty common in the graphic arts/illustration world, but would need to be hooked via usb to a computer with your design programs of choice on it. They do have little tablets that might be worth looking into though...

Might be worth looking up wacom setups on Amazon or something, and see if any offbrands pop up that might have a cheaper buy-in, if that's helpful. Wacom is all I have experience with, but I know there are other brands.
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X2 on this. I use an older Wacom Intous 9x12 for work and photos and you can find some of the older ones pretty cheap but yeah, she'll need a computer of some kind to plug it into.
That being said, you'll also need to check out some software first. You might want to check out a program called Procreate, it's $9.99 for both PC and Mac and is pretty easy to use. It'll also run on iPads as well incase you don't want to hook anything up to a computer
 
Thank you for all of the input fellas. I spent much of yesterday researching software, apps and devices. Here’s where I am leaning and “why.” For now I want to not do a tablet (s7 or iPad) mostly due to the cost. We’re still rocking an iPad 1 or 2 for the family. I just do not want to hand a 7 yr old a $500+ device and send her on her way with it.

The fire alpaca app looks and sounds great, but I also do not want her to necessarily be tethered to or typing up a lap top, plus see the cost notes mentioned earlier and general windows frustrations that she’s not ready for.

I am leaning towards a Samsung touch screen chrome book, with a stylus. She has been using a chrome book from school since August, so there are or can be additional learning services that she already uses. Chrome books are also relatively cheap, or at least cheaper than the other options mentioned earlier.

For apps, I am leaning towards Artflow to start, but sketchbook and even the Adobe suite are available on chrome book and can be run without an internet connection.
 
If you search on Amazon for 'drawing tablet' there are tons of options. One thing I'll point out, if you don't know this, but the wacom stylus/tablet are pressure sensitive (technically that's all in the stylus) so if you're using a painting tool, you can apply pressure and lay down a lot of color, or barely touch the stylus to the pad and put down a fine stroke of color. I could see a kid figuring out how to get really good at how much pressure they're applying as they're drawing or painting. The stylus also has replaceable 'nibs' that go in the end of the stylus and there are different types you can change out to what feels right when you're using it. There are some that are made specifically for dragging across paper - so you can tape paper to the drawing pad and make it feel like you're sketching with a pencil on sketch paper. The difference being that instead of dragging a smooth surface across a smooth surface, you've got that resistance of dragging across paper...

Just things to think about, and all the cheaper tablets may have all that these days, I have no idea. My only experience is using a couple different Wacom pads. The one I have and use now is probably considered ancient...
 
desertPOS said:
If you search on Amazon for 'drawing tablet' there are tons of options. One thing I'll point out, if you don't know this, but the wacom stylus/tablet are pressure sensitive (technically that's all in the stylus) so if you're using a painting tool, you can apply pressure and lay down a lot of color, or barely touch the stylus to the pad and put down a fine stroke of color. I could see a kid figuring out how to get really good at how much pressure they're applying as they're drawing or painting. The stylus also has replaceable 'nibs' that go in the end of the stylus and there are different types you can change out to what feels right when you're using it. There are some that are made specifically for dragging across paper - so you can tape paper to the drawing pad and make it feel like you're sketching with a pencil on sketch paper. The difference being that instead of dragging a smooth surface across a smooth surface, you've got that resistance of dragging across paper...

Just things to think about, and all the cheaper tablets may have all that these days, I have no idea. My only experience is using a couple different Wacom pads. The one I have and use now is probably considered ancient...
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i did pick up on this, given her age and experience level I would like her to be drawing on the “screen” vs drawing on a blank space and referencing another screen. I have been looking for a pressure sensing stylus to add, but have not found one that I am confident would work without real computing power. This is the reason I want a tablet or book that comes native with a stylus vs trying to run one as an add on.
 
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