Looking for art related equipment

[The Mayan]

Greetings, fellow artists.

I am currently searching for some rather expensive equipment for artistic use, and since I'm not too knowledgeable in this field, I was hoping that someone could help me find the best products. The products I need include:

1) A light box. What I want is the most surface area for the least amount of money. Some of the light boxes I've looked at are tiny!

2) A scanner. I want to scan my drawings into my computer so I can digitally embellish them. I want a scanner that creates image of good quality and high resolution.

3) A printer. After I digitally embellish my artwork, I'd like to be able to print some good quality copies of it.

These particular products caught my attention because of their prices:

http://www.amazon.com/Artograph-12-I...I3BXMYUHB8T9AH

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan...I14M5BKQPE616N

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Deskjet-Pri...I3OMTTQ573A6NX

Are these good enough to do the job for me? If not, does anyone know of anything better for around the same, or less than, the prices of these products?

[fritzthefox]

Greetings, fellow artists.

I am currently searching for some rather expensive equipment for artistic use, and since I'm not too knowledgeable in this field, I was hoping that someone could help me find the best products. The products I need include:

1) A light box. What I want is the most surface area for the least amount of money. Some of the light boxes I've looked at are tiny!

2) A scanner. I want to scan my drawings into my computer so I can digitally embellish them. I want a scanner that creates image of good quality and high resolution.

3) A printer. After I digitally embellish my artwork, I'd like to be able to print some good quality copies of it.

These particular products caught my attention because of their prices:

http://www.amazon.com/Artograph-12-I...I3BXMYUHB8T9AH

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoScan...I14M5BKQPE616N

http://www.amazon.com/HP-Deskjet-Pri...I3OMTTQ573A6NX

Are these good enough to do the job for me? If not, does anyone know of anything better for around the same, or less than, the prices of these products?

I'm probably too late in responding to be much help, but here's some things I've learned about art equipment over the years:

Scanners: The ideal scanner would be a large flatbed, so naturally they are largely unavailable at reasonable prices. There are a couple of exceptions: The Mustek, which is a junk scanner, but boasts an 11x14 bed. I tried one, and it worked, but the image suffered a lot of distortion. Color was awful. It broke in a year. Brother makes an all in one printer that boasts an 11x14 scanner, but I haven't tried it. They make decent printers. Otherwise, you are stuck with legal size flatbeds, so learn to scan and stitch your art together. The biggest difference between scanners is the color accuracy. I recommend Epson. Epson has always been an artist-friendly company.

Printers: You can't afford to operate a printer that is worth anything. Forget it. Buy a laser printer or cheap inkjet for printing maps and mail and send your serious art jobs to a reputable online printer. If you insist on making your own prints, get one with individually replaceable cartridges that has archival inks available for it. A wide format printer that will print full bleed is ideal. All of that costs money, and you will get tired of feeding it pretty fast. That's why I don't bother. If my clients want prints, there are a zillion online vendors who are happy to work with me, and their printers are awesome.

Light boxes: I had one built for me and liked it, but it wasn't vital for my workflow. The commercial ones are kind've small. If you buy decent tracing paper, you may not need one.