I use Wacom's Bamboo tablet, but I just have gotten started with it, which means most of the time I feel like one of my computer illiterate relatives who don't really know what to do with the mouse ;) I also often combine GIMP with Inkscape (like Illustrator I think), because there are some things that seem to be easier to do in Inkscape, but who knows - maybe I just have to work a little more with GIMP to learn all its cool features and functions...