Wacom Intuos 3

Grade: A-

Overview

Before I ever owned a computer I loved to draw. I would much rather spend my day drawing people than speaking with them. The transition into graphic design was the perfect marriage of my love for drawing and computers. Draw a project on paper, scan it, trace it with the pen tool and so on. This is very time consuming, and if you have ever attempted to draw with a mouse well....you know.

Enter the Wacom Intuos 3. I have the 6" x 8" model; it seemed to be the perfect fit once I factor in price, ususability and being big enough to draw on, but not so big it is cumbersome and bulky. Is it like drawing on paper? No, but once you master the tools you can achieve everything you did with your HB pencil and a toning stump.

All of the buttons are totally customizable, and the people at Wacom were even smart enough to include an eraser on the pen. I still click on the eraser icon, but none the less it is pretty cool. The pressure sensitivity is by far one of the best features that a mouse just can't replicate. It is such a time saver to able to increase or decrease the width of a stroke by the pressure you apply and not dragging a slider or changing a value.

Pros:

Smart, saves time, helps creativity and so much more.

Cons:

Kind of pricey, but I feel totally merited.