Scanner or Tablet

[lo_res_man]

I have a question for all you landlubbers and artist and other victims of society, as follows.
Ahem.
I am wanting to do a high qualety digital comic on the computer should I get a tablet or a scanner? On one hand a scanner would also let me do photos, but a tablet would allow me to do more direct editing as well as use computer paint programs with much more potential accurassy. so what do you all think?
scanner or tablet?

[scotch]

You want to do a digital comic. You mean in the typical webcomic vector style? A tablet would probably serve you better in that case, although even a mouse would do alright if you're not going to be doing mountains of strips.

A scanner is good if you can draw comic art well already. If you want to base off photos I'd say just get a cheap digital camera... developing and scanning photos is going to get expensive.

Different methods get different results, but a tablet is probably overall a more useful thing if you don't draw a lot with traditional materials.

[Ghost]

Old-fashioned as I am, I'd say go for a quality scanner, sketch and ink your strips, and should you want to, add colour digitally. Digital colouring's a great thing, but the groundwork should be done with the good old pencil. It's almost a superstition I think, but I say tradition comic craft mustn't die...

On the other hand, I've seen tablets in action, used by people with some skill, and I've had the chance to use one myself for quite a while. It's impressive what you gain. You can suddenly see your computer screen as a piece of canvas with an undo funtion. You can easily sketch, draft, ink. You save money since you don't need to spend it on traditional medium. You can, with relative ease, try out new styles.

But there's a price: You need to learn a new kind of hand-eye-coordination. And if you switch a lot between paper and screen, I daresay this will cost you.

So... mostly a matter of personal oppinion, but I'd say stay traditional.

[Vlad]

It's mostly a matter of preference, I think. If you've had a lot of experience with real-life drawing and inking I'd get a scanner. If you're not a pro, though, and you don't have any preferences, or if you'd like to try out some new techniques like digital painting I'd experiment with a tablet. Before you buy one I'd advise you to give it a few test-runs, just to see what it's like (as Ghost said the new hand-screen coordination is difficult to get used to).

If you're, by any chance, thinking of doing some 3d sculpting with something like Mudbox or Zbrush the tablet is a must, I think.

If you're a ridiculously rich person who likes ultra hi tech and being the envy of your friends (who would subsequently come to hate you) you could get one of those.

[lo_res_man]

Thanks for all the advice and all in all I think I am going to go with a scanner, I am more experianced with traditional line drawing and I don't want to lose those skills so I'll just draw and ing the drawings scan them monocrome then colour them in some freeware paint program thanks for all the advice