What do I need?

Having a tablet won't make you any better by just owning it. It's a practice thing, doing it daily, as much as possible

A tablet is like a electronic peice of paper. It can make digital art easier to do, a pen is much easier to use then a mouse. No fancy art supply or art program will make a person better instantly. It takes time to improve.

This is all I got because I shouldn't be giving art advice.

 

[video=youtube;1pqmDjGQmJA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pqmDjGQmJA[/video]

This video will help you too answer all of your questions.

 

I take it you mean you want to be good at digital art.
Tablets are a big help for digital art for sure but they're not necessary.

If you really want to be a better artist there are fundamental rules you need to know and understand.
-How light, shadows and reflected light work.
-How to draw in 1, 2 & 3 point perspective.
-The elements of art; Line, Shape, Colour, Tone, Texture, etc...
-And so on.

These are what will make you a better artist, and these can be done with something as basic as MS Paint & a mouse or pencil & paper.
In all honesty I would advise against buying a tablet until you have a basic understanding of these. When you do get tablet you don't need to spend crazy amounts of money on the best you can get (I paid $240 for my Wacom and it is more than sufficient). You'll also need a drawing program, again you don't need the latest Photoshop, maybe use free software to begin with.

After that it simply comes down to time spent practicing, just practice as much as you can. And learn to not let failed drawings get to you, it's absurd to expect yourself to create great work all the time.

 

First, don't have me as a example.
Secondly, Doggy's post is pure awesome, read it.

 

Don't let people bash traditional art. Did Magritte have a tablet? I don't think so! *snaps fingers*

 

I mean no offense to anyone by this, however, digital art has the ability to 'polish a turd'. I find this causes people to have a general bias towards it and while arguably morally wrong, does make a lot of sense.

With digital you can make a perfectly straight line or smooth curve, a perfectly shaped circle or square, a perfectly even gradient or single colour first time every time. On a computer these tasks require no skill, whereas drawing these by hand does require skill and they are not as easily achieved.

In the end a well made artwork will be good despite the medium used.
It will have it's proportions correct, the colours will be correct, the lighting will be correct and so on.
That's not to say a particular art work isn't more suited to a particular medium.

Computers and electronics are merely tools, they are quite incredible tools absolutely, but still just tools.

 

Since everyone else is offering sound and relevant advice, I'll do the opposite.


If you're going to buy a tablet, I hear Wacom is the way to go. The "Bamboo" series of Wacom tablets are their entry level models that retail for $100-200.

But for less quality you can find ones as cheap as $50, prolly even cheaper.