Arty Tablet obsessed almost 9yo help please 🙏

[ITSSSSCHRISTMASSS]

I’m looking for ideas for my almost 9yo DD. She never actually wants anything for birthdays and Christmas, she will just say the same as her sister just to say something. She’s not really into anything other than her tablet and art, a lot of her art is also done on her tablet. She just has an Amazon fire tablet. Each birthday and Christmas she gets things, but a lot is just for the sake of getting her things.

Shes already done her Christmas list, it’s a Harry Potter book she can paint in and a surprise….🤷🏼‍♀️

She use to be really girly girl, love her makeup, dolls etc.. but has suffered some mental health struggles this last year or so and really gone into herself, now she just buries her head in her tablet when she can. We encourage other activities, she plays outside and dose crafts but there is no passion there for her until she’s back on the tablet or drawing in a note book. She’s gotten into anime and manga recently and been loving some colouring books I got her.

So… for Christmas I was thinking all the wonderful ideas that she will love for about a minuet. Then I thought maybe I could get her a tablet that she could go more art and graphics on. I’ve done a quick search and well I have no idea what I’m looking for, can anyone else help please?

Just to add, we don’t have a laptop or computer that a tablet could be hooked up-to at the moment. It’s not a priority as we don’t need one unless I was just getting one for her, but if I was to get one cost would be a factor.

Thanks x

I don't know if this is of any help but I bought an app called ArtRage (less than £5 on Google Play) to run on my Samsung Android tablet. I have absolutely zero artistic ability but it's fun to play around with every now and again. From what I can see it's a cut down version of a PC version, but it allows phenomenal control over the way all the various lens and brushes work - it really seems to mimic how you would paint and draw in the real world.

Look at Wacom graphics tablets. They have a variety of price ranges, obviously the more you pay the better they are, plus bigger though that isn't always better

Also came here to suggest graphic tablets. Even though she's not into it at the moment, you can get some absolutely beautiful art supplies like hand mixed water colour pain palettes which would make amazing gifts, and there are art Youtubers who use them so perhaps putting those on her radar would help encourage interest?

I would also get nice practical things for general cosiness. An oodie or nice blanket, cute slippers, neck pillow, nice water bottles etc.

Would she be interested in having her art printed and put in a nice frame in her room? That would be a nice thing to wrap up, if there's anything she's made that she's particularly proud of.

Perhaps a nice girly book that deals with mental health issues too? I'm sure if you search online there would be some good recommendations, it might be comforting for her.

If you do get a graphics tablet (which will need a laptop or PC) then Huion is a great brand and a real alternative to Wacom. My daughter graduated from a basic type (which is blank, like a big mouse pad) to one which shows what've you've drawn because it's really a touchscreen for the computer. The latter are more expensive than the former.

Highly recommend an iPad and the app Procreate - so many digital artists I follow online use one, and for me - it's very intuitive and easy to use!

Yes, just had the same with my daughter who will turn 13.

I looked at drawing tablets, with and without screens, and then normal tablets with stylus pens. I ended up buying her a Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite Wi-Fi on Prime Day for £209.00.

The reason I bought a tablet instead of a drawing tablet, is that the drawing tablets require being plugged in to a another device such as a laptop to be able to work, they cannot be used independently which means it's not portable, cant be used on the go. My daughter also said she wanted the Ibis Paint X app to draw on as that's what all her friends use, and this tablet supports that and has the correct touch layer sensitivity to run it properly. I couldn't get my head around the correct ipday generation/models that could run the software properly as only some can be used as drawing tablets. Money wise, the Samsung tablet was the best value and functionality for what she wanted.

I hope that helps.

@psuedocream3 That looks like a fantastic deal. Only went down the drawing tablet route with my DD because she already had a laptop.

Thank you, this looks great. Cheaper that what we were looking at getting her (a switch) just for the sake of getting her something. I got quite a few bargains in the prime day sale too.

Thanks, I will look into this.

Thanks, I’m actually getting myself a new iPad soon, mines on its last legs so I can add this to it and then she can see if she likes first.

Another vote for ipad and pro create. My daughter uses this as do a lot of colleges, universities.

My daughter drew this on hers.

iPad/procreate for sure! DS loves it and has moved on to using it to make animations too

O wow that’s fantastic, I think she would love this.