Painter 12 and Wacom Tablet
Hi Juliana,
I used Painter 12 on my iMac and a Wacom Tablet to create my deck. Painter provides you with simulated brushes that behave much like paint, pen, pencil, crayon etc. I got the largest tablet available at the time.
Painter X3 (because they can't say 13) is out now and I understand there is a new Wacom tablet whose interface presents your visual image to the drawing surface not the screen (Cintiq 24HD touch). However, it is expensive ($4,195). It is profiled in Photoshop Projects Magazine Volume 13 in case you are interested.
I love Painter 12 but it is buggy and crashes a lot, and I haven't had time to upgrade the bug fixes. I plan to upgrade to Painter X3 in the next couple of weeks, but I have to do some OS upgrades first.
Check out the Game Crafter website as it points you to some free graphics software and does a good high level review of some of the other tools around. You can also find templates for their cards there - it helps to start with the end in mind.
My personal preference is digital - it gives you so much more scope for producing your art, but I do know artists who like more physical contact with their media.
Hope this was helpful
Lorelei