Petch-a-Sketch

I totally agree with you vis-à-vis YouTube, Mike - you can find tutorials for pretty much anything nowadays. Thanks too for mentioning a few of your fave YT channels - I'll be sure to pay them a visit!

Cheers Mike! I did really like the look of the Xencelabs tablet, but it was about £200 outside of my budget unfortunately. That gentle front edge slope is a nice aesthetic feature, and would doubt be more comfortable than my actual purchase - I'm sure I'll manage with some form of wrist rest/support if needs be, though. Good to hear your enthusiastic upvote for Affinity. The sheer wealth of creative add-ons on offer intrigued and enticed me to consider investing, and it's great to hear first hand from users as to their feelings about the platform. I used to use the Adobe triple on Mac way back in the day, but I came to graphic design late as a vocation and ultimately felt lacking in terms of skill (and speed), and it's now been well over a decade now since I last used any related software, after two redundancies and a crash in self-confidence left me utterly jaded, so I turned my back on it. Long story short, I haven't missed it as a vocation but I have missed having a creative hobby, and I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into Affinity now that I finally have the creative itch once again - can't wait to rekindle some long-dormant creative passions and see where it leads. Yay!

Aythangyew! Looking forward to getting it all set up. Dang, a measly 7 days, eh? That really is rather pants, innit? You weren't kidding when you said "all too brief"! Ah well, at least it's a free anything, I suppose. Good to know about the 14-day money back guarantee, too - I mean, I hadn't planned on purchasing via Microsoft or Mac App Stores, but forewarned is forearmed, cheers!

Okay, so, quick update: I finally settled on the XP-PEN Deco Pro (Medium) 11" x 6" - yay! 👍 It's just arrived, and I must say I'm extremely happy with the build quality already - can't wait to get it set up. So, granted, yes, I was initially intending to opt for a much smaller tablet for budget's sake, but after carefully considering all the advices here, and perusing several online reviews afterwards, I figured I'd chance my arm on something a tad pricier and with a bigger working area that will hopefully be far less likely to trigger RSI! 😆 I just need to download the free trials for the Affinity package next (with a view to purchasing in full next month) - I did scan the site, but I couldn't seem to find any detailed specifics as to the trial period - does anybody happen to recall how long the trials are? 14 days? 30? Many thanks!

Thanks Bryan! I’ll look into that one too - much obliged, squire!

Thanks again for the feedback, folks! If anybody else has got recommendations for any alternative brand or model of entry level graphics tablet that might be worth my consideration, I will gladly take those into account too! 👍

Thanks Komatös! That’s good to know; I guessed that compatibility probably wouldn’t be an issue, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to be doubly cautious, and get a second opinion from those already in the know! 👍😎 Thanks also for your device review!

Thanks Alfred! 😎👍 In truth, I hadn’t realised there was a free trial option - then again, I had bookmarked Affinity’s website a ways back, and may well have forgotten that little detail… I pursued graphic design for 11 years until recurrent redundancies left me more than a tad jaded, and I ultimately turned my back on the profession around 13 years ago. However, I seem to have rekindled my creative mojo just recently, and am hoping to start using my design skills once more, albeit solely from a hobby standpoint, and the tablet seems like a worthwhile investment. Hence my revitalised interest in Affinity’s design suite! I do like the look of the XP-PEN range that I’ve perused online so far, so I appreciate your upvote in that regard. I’ll take another gander at the Deco 03 and see if that fits in with my budget… Many thanks for your feedback, squire! 👍

Morning all! I’m Petch - it’s my first time posting on these here forums… and I hope my newbie enquiry isn’t too cumbersome, as introductions go! 😄 I’ve long been considering purchasing the Affinity trio of applications once funds permitted, and am pretty close to making a purchase. However, I’ve also been contemplating acquiring a graphics tablet, but again, I’m on a budget, and so aim to start small. I wanted to get a rough idea of which makes/models were compatible with the Affinity suite, and indeed if there are any I should avoid. I appreciate however that this question likely involves a multitude of answers, so I will limit my initial focus for now on the XP-PEN and Ugee ranges: So first of all, are they compatible? And secondly, if so, are they are a solid enough entry level tablet? Any advice will most definitely be gratefully received. Cheers, Petch