I know, I know; first I'm talking about pro writing, now I'm talking about branching off in ANOTHER direction. But I have been thinking about this for a while, so.

I want to get into drawing. I have had training in fine art, which I always forget to remind myself of, a freaking creative arts degree with a massive component of visual art practice which included about a semester of life drawing, amongst other things. I really just need to knuckle down and get more practice in. So, a couple of questions:

I am thinking of buying a new graphics tablet, because I think ultimately I want to be able to pen digital art right into my computer instead of on paper and then scanned to work on. And I know from playing around with a tablet a couple of years ago that I already feel quite comfortable using one; I like the results on a tablet more than I do on paper.

I used to have a wacom graphire tablet, but they're not making them any more; their amateur range now seems to be the "Bamboo", with the Bamboo Fun being their creative/art one.

Does anyone have any opinions on it? Is it worth forking out way more to get a Wacom brand tablet? Is the Bamboo range any good?


Right, now stepping away from tablets, another art question: I have been pondering doing a portraiture or life drawing class, but then remind myself - I've DONE that. And also, I'm not interested in doing photorealism, I want to do more illustrative stuff. So what I'm after is a book or website that is a good reference for the 'basics' of that kind of drawing. Something I can go through to cement the principles of drawing back in my mind, and refer back too if need's be. Any recommendations?


In slightly tangential news, I can't wait until I'm settled down somewhere again and I can try to discipline myself a bit more - schedule my non-working weekdays to do things like freelance work and more deliberate creative development.