So I broke down and bought a tablet. I ended up going with the Wacom Intuos3 4×6. I could have gotten a 6×8 Graphire (the model below) for the same price, but I decided I wanted the higher quality one instead. This is a picture from their website, but its not totally accurate. My draw area is smaller, and mine only has the left set of buttons and controls.
Wacom Intuos3
My first test for the tablet was another coloring attempt of an illustration by Owen Giene. This time he dressed up Cecania as Ghostrider, after seeing and enjoying the recent film. Here is the before and after, but this time you can click on my color version for full size. The thumbnail looks pretty bad, so I wanted people to be able to see the full size.

Cecania of Sore Thumbs as Ghost Rider by Owen Giene - ThumbnailMy coloring of Cecania of Sore Thumbs as Ghost Rider by Owen Giene - Thumbnail

It was a ton of fun to use, and the next day Mason wanted me to draw something from scratch, so I tried my hand at a fish. The sketch is *very* rough, and it will likely take me quite a while to get to a point where anything I draw will be of decent quality, but here he is in all his glory:

Fish by Morgan Whitney