If you’re getting into the world of digital art/design/animation/etc and are already getting sick of trying to use your mouse for everything, you need to get yourself a basic drawing tablet like the Wacom Intuos S, at the very least. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of its “Pro” cousin, but when you’re just starting out, you don’t need all that stuff anyway (or to spend that much money right off the bat).

As an entry-level drawing tablet, the Intuos S is super slim and compact so it doesn’t take up too much room in your workspace. However, the actual drawing area size is relatively generous for the device’s small footprint, and the included pen boasts 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, which should be plenty enough for a beginner to express themselves in whatever they do.

You don’t have to take my word alone for it, though — Wirecutter recently dubbed it the best drawing tablet for beginners:

Compared with the non-Wacom tablets, the Intuos S offered more control, and we experienced no driver issues or input lag. On this tablet, we found it easier to create consistently faint, medium, or dark lines (and to go from one extreme to the other) by varying the pressure we put on the pen. Although some other tablets offered twice as much pressure sensitivity—8,192 levels versus 4,096 on the Intuos S—in practice we were better able to control line weights and thickness with the Wacom tablets.

The Intuos S is $77 on Amazon. They also have other sizes to choose from if you’re thinking you need something a tad bigger.