Thank you all for responding. And sorry for the really late reply. But I am back into a drawing mood and since this is my first actual time playing with art on the computer would someone please explain how layers work? (Painter 12)
My advice would be to get the tablet and use it for EVERYTHING and not just painting, it takes a while to get the grasp of holding a pen and looking at the screen, but in a few days you should get the hang of it.
I bought an Intous, I wouldn't recommend going under the medium size (8x11), besides that good luck and start posting your work as soon as you have something to show!