First of all... I would recommend to start with a cheap, non-screen tablet, mostly because you'll still need to adapt to digital artwork and understand it's tools, as well that I've seen way too many people going for graphic tablets with screens or ipads or the big expensive gear but then.... re sell it because they don't use it due to not liking digital art or not being able to properly use it.
You can do animations with a cheap, non-screen tablet and be able to see things from your monitor, hand-eye coordination is a bit hard to learn but actually, any variation of a skill takes its time to learn, like feeling awkward using a friend's keyboard at their house compared to your own.
I haven't seen any bad tablets, the most common ones that are known for being good are Genius, Xp-Pen, Wacom and Huion. A lot of times tablets are pretty ok, but its the user the one who is a bit of a brute with it, especially with tablets that have a screen incorporated.
The most common problems I see is people who:
- Press way too hard the pen, ruining it's pressure features or leaving marks on the screen.
- Spill their drink
- Leave their stylus pens in unsafe surfaces and fall several times
- Have stationary markers, mistake them for the stylus and such and end up not being able to remove the marks.
I had my first tablet 12 years ago, a Genuis i608x, used it for around 8 years until both pen and tablet broke (Mind you, I used it for high-school (Art diploma), commissions and comics, I was basically keeping the thing alive with tape, dealing with wiggly cursor and pressure that barely worked.
Then moved to a Xp-Pen Star G640 and still use it for main work on my computer.
For drawing software I started on Photoshop CS2, then moved to Paint Tool SAI, Medibang Paint Pro to later use Clip Studio Paint Pro. I've tried as well Fire Alpaca, Jump Paint, Gimp, Krita, Corel Paint but didn't like them at all, also, some didn't detect some of my tablets or the pen pressure didn't felt pleasant.
I also have a Samsung Galaxy Tab A A7 Lite that I recently got, personally is good for sketching when I'm out of home, despite there is no pen pressure and basically rely on the drawing app (I'm using Tayasui Sketches) but I mostly used as a glorified cellphone.
Personally I prefer non-screen tablets since I feel I have a better surface to put the weight of my entire arm there, as well that my posture is better since I'm looking straight to the screen, no looking above or under. I see that a lot of non-professional/novice artists don't know proper hand movement, nor posture, nor have accessories to better the experience of in-screen graphic tablets or ipads (Some have terrible habits of drawing whenever they want, but this also affects their wrist, neck and back way worse than if being at a desk)
I don't know exactly where you live but mind as well the economy and electronic services of your country, here in Argentina is easier to get pcs or notebooks without needing to be rich, same for non-screen tablets.
It's better to have these than in-screen tablets or ipads, first because they are imported so they are triple the price in the international market, second because we don't have tech support or spare parts in case of damage or losing/breaking the pen.
Basically you'll have to buy the entire thing or suffer the dread of not knowing if buying from the exterior will guarantee your stylus reeplacement will arrive in shape or will arrive entirely with the shitty postal service here.
And well, having smartphones, tablets or ipads is basically a no go here, mostly because products ain't a one time purchase but something you gotta pay monthly or every year. And since most apps are in dolars, you'll have to pay according to the devaluation of your currency, a tax for "international purchases", and another taxes, so basically is a bigger loss than getting a personal computer and buy a drawing software once.
