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Virginie Fayad
About the 2020 remake of this article: For the ten-year anniversary of this article (originally published on April 11, 2010) I decided to rewrite it. I also made new artworks and published them in higher quality. Over the years, I've been super-happy to see this article republished on big CG portals and printed on CG magazines; the article was even republished by Wacom on their blog!. Recently, I had a request for another repost, but after re-reading the article, I felt it was totally obsolete and not really in sync with what I'm thinking now... Since 2010 many things have happened: the first Ipad-like tablets with styluses have come out, the historical monopoly of Wacom was breached after their patent for battery-less stylus expired, competition could finally start in the tablet market, many new models came out (Huion/XpPen/etc...), and tablet computers with a pen are cheaper to buy and more and more common on the desks of artists. So this update was more than necessary. I hope you'll enjoy reading it.
The perfect graphics tablet doesn't exist. But you'll eventually adapt to the weird specifications and ergonomics issues of your tablet model and make it perfect for you. This adaptation of your body to the ergonomics flaws of your hardware will have an impact on your health in the long run. It might also affect the pleasure you take in drawing and painting...
Since 2002, I have bought and used a lot of tablets in an attempt to build the best setup I could. This was necessary for my comfort; I was doing digital painting all day. Nowaday, my quest for the best tablet continues, as the technology keeps evolving year after year. If you want to read more about what I've used and why, read my maintained "Tablet history log" article, from 2002 to today. But beyond the choice of the hardware itself, I've also studied other aspects of my setup. The first aspect that comes to mind is the ergonomics of my desktop position. So, let me share my experiences on ergonomics with you.
Disclaimer: I'm not a professional ergonomist, I'm not working in the health-care industry and I wrote this article from the humble point of view of a digital painter who happens to have painted almost daily with digital graphics tablets since 2002. This article is just based on my personal experience, it contains all my biasses and should be read as the testimony of a random artist on the internet. I wrote it and share it because I want to make it useful for other artists struggling with the same questions. This article doesn't have the seriousness of something like a scientific study made on a large group with solid statistics. If you find a paper like that, please write it in the comments, I'll be very interested and will certainly read it.
I guess I'm not the only CG artist who uses a lot of keyboard shortcuts to speed up my workflow. Vendors and designers of graphics tablets clearly understood that, and started to add more and more buttons on their products to give easier access to more custom shortcuts. Isn't this a sort of confession that graphic tablets are designed without thinking of a good access to the keyboard? But in the last couple of years, tablets vendors have started to innovate in other directions and have sometimes added tiny devices that look like remote controls (a), or just added more buttons (b), or removed all physical buttons and proposed a virtual keyboard with touch interface (c). I'm not sure which setup will become dominant.
On their side, digital artists started to use other devices in addition to tablets: gamepads, one-handed gaming keyboards, customisable keyboards. But even with this research for better accessibility of keyboard shortcuts, such sets of additional keys and devices will never replace the flexibility and completeness of having a full keyboard under one hand, in my humble point of view. It is especially noticeable if you like to chat while painting, write notes, reply to emails, add descriptions in your artwork or browse for references on the web while you are working. For all these tasks, you'll need a full keyboard.
Unfortunately, a large tablet (with a display built-in or not) tends to land on the desk in the exact place where the keyboard usually is. So, there is a conflict; a competition between the two input devices that's really hard to solve. Vendors of tablets haven't put a lot of thought into this topic yet. The latter part of this article will consider the importance of having good access to the keyboard for this reason.
It is tempting to think graphics tablets can fully replace computer mice. Sure they can. But for some workflows or games it is not always the case or the most convenient way to use the software. In many situations, a mouse will be more steady and precise and so the workflow will be faster using it. A lot of software is developed with the features of a classical mouse in mind (e.g. the mouse wheel and mouse wheel click to zoom/pan). That's why I think it is necessary to keep an extra mouse on the desk.
Large classic graphics tablets (without a built-in monitor) are certainly the most precise and comfortable from a technical point of view. But the number of large classic models available is decreasing and they are gradually disappearing from the market. It's a shame because in the last five years, monitors went bigger and higher-resolution for a cheaper price. The same tendency should have been followed in tablets, with the emergence of new large graphics tablets with high resolutions. But that's not been the case.
Around 2000, a "1024x768px 15inch CRT" display paired with a medium tablet was a good match. Nowaday, it would be hard to use the same size of tablet on one of our modern wide "FullHD 1920x1080px 21inch display" (and I'm not even talking about the 24inch, 27inch, quadHD, or 4K resolution which are become in cheaper and more and more common). In this context, for modern users of PC on desktop with a large external monitor, adopting a large tablet makes sense for better control of the pointer on the monitor. Indeed, if you draw a coin-sized circle on your small tablet and it displays as a huge balloon on your monitor, you'll feel you have no control over painting details. You can imagine how you'll struggle to draw a little eye or a detail. It will always be possible but you'll have to zoom a lot to balance your hardware's precision issues.
The first place people usually put their new large graphics tablet is beside their keyboard, like a mouse pad. This position stresses and hurts the arm and shoulder. But this position might be good enough if your main task is typing text and you'll need the tablet only once or twice a day. I saw this position being used by the people convinced the graphics tablet should replace the mouse. Vendors of graphics tablets have run commercial campaigns promoting the tablet as a healthier replacement for the mouse. For someone with repetitive strain injury from mouse overuse, a tablet can be indeed a good option. While visiting studios of 3D artists and video editors, I often saw this type of layout on desks. At the end of the day, I don't advise it unless you need a large tablet and have problems with mice.
One solution is to put the graphics tablet in the center of the desk and your keyboard off to the left. Having the active surface of your tablet aligned to your display in this way allows comfortable motion and increases your ability to paint for hours. But if you need to reach the keyboard too often, this layout can quickly become a pain. It will force you to twist your back to face the keyboard, even if it's only a slight angle, and you'll have to counterrotate your neck to look at your monitor. Also many useful keyboard shortcuts (eg. Ctrl+Z, Ctrl, Ctrl+S, Shift) are located on the left part of the keyboard. I wouldn't advice a position like that either.
To keep the keyboard easy to reach, a reasonable solution is to adopt one of these trays you can screw under any type of desk (except if your desk is made of glass) to get a keyboard that can be mounted under the desk. The cheap alternative is to put the keyboard on your lap. I have this setup but I'm not a fan; this position makes it difficult to write on the keyboard.
Adopting a curved desk with a swivel chair improves the situation a lot compared to (b). By mapping devices closely all around you, you can avoid twisting your back or extending your arm too much. You'll also benefit from having a part of the desk to rest your arm on. I had this setup for a month while I was working at a studio and it was working really well. One of the problems with a curved desk is that they are often big, deep, and corner desks, which need to be placed in a corner of your room. I can't get one for use at home for this reason.
My favorite layout, the one I've been using for years, requires a little bit of DIY. First, the monitor needs to float on one of those horizontal metal arms. That way you'll have room to put more things under the monitor (you won't be blocked by the monitor's stand). For the typing/keyboard position: place your keyboard on the far side of your tablet. To protect the fragile surface of your tablet from scratches, you'll need to glue little sticky pads under your keyboard (usually made for putting under furniture, sold in DIY stores). The keyboard will glide more easily this way, too, switching between positions with just one movement. Then the last piece of the installation is a thick book or a plank of wood on the far side of your big graphics tablet, right under the display (not shown in the figure below, I forgot it). It will be an area for you to push the keyboard or to grab it when you need to type something. The keyboard will remain also accessible for using shortcuts while painting.
These graphics tablets generally have a smaller price and a smaller active area (and still no built-in monitor). They are of course less precise than the larger tablets. Tablet vendors try a wide variety of attractive designs, and optimizations to create cheap products. That's why so many small/medium tablets exist on the market. with a wide spectrum of quality and design. There are not more of them because they are better, but just because they are much cheaper. They are often considered entry-level tables, for all sorts of consumers (and many digital artists started this way, me included). With a desktop computer, the ergonomics of small graphics tablets are usually better than those of larger tablets.
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