The problem faced by many the artist moving their work to the digital world has always been one of finding an input device which will be far more precise and intuitive than a mouse. The main solution to this problem has always been graphics tablets which give the artist back a digital pen and paper.

The problem for most of us seeking to enter this market for digital drawing, whether we want to draw diagrams or web comics, is price. Most entry level graphic tablets retail at around £150, and so are out of reach to most of us who won't be using them in our everyday lives.

Today we're going to look at two entry-level solutions to this problem: The Genius MousePen, and the Wacom Graphic4 Classic tablets.

Enter Genius with its MousePen, an 8" x 6" (20.3 x 15.2cm) tablet which retails around the palatable entry price point of £35. Aimed specifically at the entry-level user of graphic tablets this USB-powered canvas is certainly not as large or intuitive as the professional-level tablets on offer, but it does offer a lot more value for money.

The more value-centric approach of the MousePen is showed up through the use of a battery powered, cheap-plastic pen. The stylus certainly won't win any awards for its design, being a fairly chunky ball-point design that doesn't have much grip on its smooth plastic body. Being battery powered might also make it annoying to use, but for £35 it still does better at drawing than your mouse will.

The tablet itself is of a metallic slate design. The body is rugged and when combined with the rubber feet it won't be slipping around your desk whilst in use. If you've never experienced using a tablet like this before the process of drawing with it might seem a tad alien.

Unlike a high-end professional tablet which is basically a monitor itself, when drawing with the MousePen you have to either visualise the picture on the static tablet; or keep your eye on your screen and get into the grove of drawing with the tablet. This isn't as straightforward as one might think, as your brain is torn between visualising where the pointer is and how you would normally move it with the mouse, and how you actually have to move it with the tablet.

Whereas with a mouse you can, if needs be, lift it up and move it to the right of your mouse mat if you want extra room to move to the left; with the tablet you constantly have to remind yourself that where you hover the stylus over the screen is where the pointer will actually be. Then, when drawing, you need to split your hand-eye coordination between a tablet and the screen.

Certainly it takes some getting used to, though even some of the higher-end professional tablets aren't screens by themselves and require you to make this mental leap.

Alongside the tablet and stylus there is a rather redundant mouse, also battery powered, which is too small and extraneous to be of much use. It's a foregone conclusion that you will have a mouse for your computer before buying a graphic tablet (though a recent and lengthy discussion I just had about the chicken or the egg with a friend is causing me to doubt even this...) and so the extra mouse is of little use.