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all kinds of information about digital drawing tablets

General Information

Good to know

Pressure levels don't matter beyond offering at least 2k levels of pressure. Pressure range is the more important quality, which is the amount of force that the pressure levels span across.

The larger the pressure range of a tablet, the easier it will be to control and customize its pressure output. Initial activation force (IAF) is the amount of force required for the tablet to register an input which will dictate the lightest stroke you can make. The lower the IAF the better.

There is variance in pressure ranges among pens of even the same model. The tolerance is quite narrow for the brands recommended in this document, but it can still be different enough to be noticeable.

OpenTabletDriver offers a solution for using tablets that are not supported by its company either due to time or OS compatibility.

Prices are USD and sizes are in inches across the diagonal.

All prices are the MSRP listed on the manufacturer's website.

Note

The size separations are arbitrary. The usual recommendation is to choose a display tablet that's larger than 16 inches (due to UI clutter making the actual drawing space smaller) and to match a screenless tablet to the size of your monitor you will pair it to (medium size here is meant for 24in monitors and large for 27inand beyond).

This is the general guidance, but many skilled artists are capable of doing great work on small displays and on "mismatched" screenless tablets. In the end its up to your budget, preferences, and space restrictions.

Display

Small (<16in)

Brand Name Price Size Resolution Aspect Ratio Surface Texture Pen Support VESA Support Notes
Huion Kamvas 13 239 13.3 1920x1080 16:9 Screen Protector Huion PenTech 3.0/3.0+ No Succeeded by the Kamvas 13 Gen 3
Huion Kamvas 13 Gen 3 249 13.3 1920x1080 16:9 Etched Glass Huion PenTech 4.0 No Has two dials
Huion Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5k) 399 13.3 2560x1600 16:9 Etched Glass Huion PenTech 3.0/3.0+ No
Wacom One 12 299.95 11.6 1920x1080 04:00:00 PM Screen Protector Wacom One Pens No Known to have had pressure stability issues
Wacom One 12 599.95 13.3 1920x1080 04:00:00 PM Screen Protector Wacom One Pens No Known to have had pressure stability issues
Wacom Movink 13 749.95 13.3 1920x1080 04:00:00 PM Etched Glass Wacom Pro Pen Line No Comes with a variant of the Pro Pen 3
XP Pen Artist Pro 14 (Gen 2) 440 14 1920x1200 16:10 Screen Protector XP Pen X3 Pro No

Medium (≥16in and <20in)

Brand Name Price Size Resolution Aspect Ratio Surface Texture Pen Support VESA Support Notes
Huion Kamvas 16 2021 419 15.6 1920x1080 16:9 Screen Protector Huion PenTech 3.0/3.0+ No
Huion Kamvas Pro 16 (2.5k) 599 15.6 2560x1440 16:9 Etched Glass Huion PenTech 3.0/3.0+ No
Huion Kamvas Pro 19 1099 18.4 3840x2160 16:9 Etched Glass Huion PenTech 4.0 Yes Has touch input, comes with large and slim pen
Wacom Cintiq 16 649.95 15.6 1920x1080 04:09:00 PM Screen Protector Wacom Pro Pen Line Yes
Wacom Cintiq Pro 16 1599.95 15.6 3840x2160 04:09:00 PM Etched Glass Wacom Pro Pen Line Yes Has touch input
Wacom Cintiq Pro 17 2499.95 17.3 3840x2160 04:09:00 PM Etched Glass Wacom Pro Pen Line Yes Has touch input, is tuned for extreme color accuracy (usually not necessary outside professional settings)
Xencelabs Pen Display 16 999 15.6 3840x2160 04:09:00 PM Etched Glass Xencelabs Pens Yes Comes with large and slim pen, bundle version with remote and travel bag for 1249
XP Pen Artist Pro 16 (Gen 2) 600 16 2560x1600 16:10 Screen Protector XP Pen X3 Pro No

Large(≥20in)

Brand Name Price Size Resolution Aspect Ratio Surface Texture Pen Support VESA Support Notes
Huion Kamvas 22 Plus 549 21.5 1920x1080 16:9 Etched Glass Huion PenTech 3.0/3.0+ Yes
Huion Kamvas 24 Plus 799 23.8 2560x1440 16:9 Etched Glass Huion PenTech 3.0/3.0+ Yes
Huion Kamvas Pro 27 1999 27 3840x2160 16:9 Etched Glass Huion PenTech 4.0 Yes Has touch input, comes with large and slim pen
Wacom Cintiq 22 1299.95 21.5 1920x1080 04:09:00 PM Screen Protector Wacom Pro Pen Line Yes
Wacom Cintiq Pro 22 2999.96 21.5 3840x2160 04:09:00 PM Etched Glass Wacom Pro Pen Line Yes Has touch input, is tuned for extreme color accuracy (usually not necessary outside professional settings)
Wacom Cintiq Pro 24 2199.95 23.6 3840x2160 04:09:00 PM Etched Glass Wacom Pro Pen Line Yes Is tuned for extreme color accuracy (usually not necessary outside professional settings)
Wacom Cintiq Pro 24 Touch 2699.95 23.6 3840x2160 04:09:00 PM Etched Glass Wacom Pro Pen Line Yes Has touch input, is tuned for extreme color accuracy (usually not necessary outside professional settings)
Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 3499.95 26.9 3840x2160 04:09:00 PM Etched Glass Wacom Pro Pen Line Yes Has touch input, is tuned for extreme color accuracy (usually not necessary outside professional settings)
Xencelabs Pen Display 24 1899 23.8 3840x2160 04:09:00 PM Etched Glass Xencelabs Pens Yes Comes with a large and slim pen
XP Pen Artist 22 Plus 660 21.5 1920x1080 04:09:00 PM Screen Protector XP Pen X3 Pro Yes
XP Pen Artist Pro 24 (Gen 2) 165Hz 1000 23.8 2560x1440 04:09:00 PM Etched Glass XP Pen X3 Pro Yes Comes with large and slim pen
XP Pen Artist Pro 24 (Gen 2) 4K 1300 23.8 3840x2160 04:09:00 PM Etched Glass XP Pen X3 Pro Yes Comes with large and slim pen

Notes

A ≥16in display tablet will usually be large enough for anyone, but many will prefer a larger size.

4k resolution is overkill for anything 16in or below.

Etched glass will almost always be preferred over screen protectors for drawing feel and durability reasons.

Many smaller display tablets that are not VESA compatible may be compatible with universal VESA laptop/mobile tablet mounts that fit around the tablet and not in a direct bracket on the tablet itself.

For XP Pen in particular, several pen tablets containing the phrase "Artist 2nd gen" are not recommended due to having older pen technology. They are not to be confused with Artist Pro Gen 2 tablets, which have the upgraded X3 Pro pen.

What Does "Laminated" Mean

Buyers may be confused to see that many of the tablets above listed as "screen protector" surface texture tablets are usually listed as "laminated" on manufacturer websites and storefronts. The fact is that almost all modern display tablets worth considering are laminated screen tablets. What laminated screen means is that there is no gap of air between the LCD providing the image and surface touch screen of the tablet and instead the LCD and touch screen are held directly together with adhesive. This is in contrast to conventional monitors which will have an air gap between the LCDs and the top-most screen. The benefit this provides to artists is that it prevents parallax, which is when the pen and cursor seem to not be perfectly aligned together. In the end, manufacturers end up listing these screens as "laminated glass" because it's the best marketing point for the glass itself outside of it being "etched glass" which is considered the gold standard for display tablet screens.

Screenless

Small (<8in)

Brand Name Price Active Area Pen Support Connectivity Notes
Huion Inspiroy Frego S 80 6.3x3.9 Huion PenTech 3.0/3.0+ Bluetooth/Wire Comes with PenTech 3.0+ pen, does not come with either on-tablet controls or keypad
Wacom One by Waco Small 39.95 6.0x3.7 Wacom Pen 2K Wire This is NOT the Wacom One tablet, this is specifically the “One by Wacom”
Wacom Intuos Pro Small 249.95 6.3x3.9 Wacom Pro Pen Line Bluetooth/Wire
Xencelabs Pen Tablet Small 140 6.93x3.89 Xencelab Pens Bluetooth/Wire Comes with two pens

Medium (≥8in and <12in)

Brand Name Price Active Area Pen Support Connectivity Notes
Huion Inspiroy KeyDial 169 8.9x5.6 Huion PenTech 3.0/3.0+ Bluetooth/Wire Comes with a half-keyboard and dial control
Huion Inspiroy Frego M 100 10x6.25 Huion PenTech 3.0/3.0+ Bluetooth/Wire Comes with PenTech 3.0+ pen, does not come with either on-tablet controls or keypad
Huion Dial 2 160 10.5x6.56 Huion PenTech 3.0/3.0+ Bluetooth/Wire
Wacom One by Wacom Medium 59.95 8.5x5.3 Wacom Pen 2K Wire This is NOT the Wacom One tablet, this is specifically the “One by Wacom”
Wacom Intuos Pro Medium 379.95 8.7x5.8 Wacom Pro Pen Line Bluetooth/Wire
Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium 250 10.33x5.8 Xencelab Pens Bluetooth/Wire Comes with two pens, bundle with remote for 330
XP Pen Deco M/MW 50/70 8x5 XP Pen X3 Elite Wire, Bluetooth/Wire Notable wobble issues but good enough for the price
XP Pen Deco L/LW 70/90 10x6 XP Pen X3 Elite Wire, Bluetooth/Wire Notable wobble issues but good enough for the price
XP Pen Deco Pro MW (Gen 2) 140 9x6 XP Pen X3 Pro Bluetooth/Wire
XP Pen Deco Pro LW (Gen 2) 170 11x7 XP Pen X3 Pro Bluetooth/Wire

Large(≥12in)

Brand Name Price Active Area Pen Support Connectivity Notes
Huion Inspiroy Giano G930L 200 13.6x8.5 Huion PenTech 3.0/3.0+ Bluetooth/Wire
Wacom Intuos Pro Large 499.95 12.1x8.4 Wacom Pro Pen Line Bluetooth/Wire
XP Pen Deco Pro XLW (Gen 2) 200 15x9 XP Pen X3 Pro Bluetooth/Wire

Mobile/All-in-One

There currently exists only one pure drawing mobile tablet that offers a drawing experience close to that of display tablets, which is the XP Pen Magic Drawing Pad. This is due to its etched glass screen and support for the XP Pen X3 Pro chip which is the current top-of-the line pen they offer. It is a pure drawing tablet however and doesn't function very well for entertainment or multimedia purposes. Android apps have been behind iOS's Procreate for a while, but there are now many apps that provide very enjoyable drawing experiences. Apple's iPads are all very well regarded in both professional and hobbyist settings for art production, with a very tight ecosystem powered by the Apple Pencil and the Procreate app which has been the golden standard for mobile art applications. Paired with a pencil-like screen protector, an iPad can be a very enjoyable drawing device. Samsung's Galaxy Tab line is well regarded for its drawing experience being compatible with Wacom EMR technology based pens, though not necessarily Wacom's top of the line. Samsung, like the iPad, does not offer etched glass tablets but does use rubber nibs to provide friction that mimics pencil writing, however this means that pencil-like protectors do not really exist in the same capacity for Samsung tablets.

The Kamvas Studio line are very performant devices matching parallel to their display tablet counterparts, however they are quite pricey. For many people with lower budgets who don't have a particular use case or desire to get a dedicated all-in-one solution it is instead advised to buy either one of the mobile offerings or a small desktop/laptop and one of the display tablets.

Recommended Apps

iOS

  • Procreate (one time purchase, $13)
  • Infinite Painter (one time purchase, $9)

Android

  • Infinite Painter (one time purchase, $9)
  • Clip Studio Paint (monthly/yearly subscription, $4.50/month or $27/year)
  • HiPaint (free)
  • Krita (free)

On Display vs Screenless Tablets

All digital tablets can be considered either display tablets where a screen is shown to mimic the experience of drawing pen on paper or screenless/pen tablets which have no display and instead rely on a separate monitor for you to see the output of your pen strokes. Both offer different advantages and withdrawals. Several important ones are listed below.

Display Screenless
Similar visual experience to traditional medium Disconnect between hand and visual output
Can act as an external display with great color calibration Requires monitor or other display to use
Large variety of available sizes Few larger offerings that generally match better with common monitor sizes
More expensive Much more affordable
Hand/arm covers screen when in use Does not decrease screen visibility (great for painting)
Bad for posture (craning neck, suspended arm, could require a separate stand) Great for posture, does not require a bent back or suspended arm
Surface texture is usually less paper-like to preserve visibility of screen Surface texture can be more gritty and papery
Less durable and more prone to heat-related issues (though latter issue has gotten much better with recent releases) Usually durable and long-lasting outside of surface texture wearing down
Not very portable (often requires more cables, Is heavier, not resilient to travel) Portable (lighter, can take some abuse)
Always takes one wire and usually takes more to connect Usually either takes one wire or connects over bluetooth

The quantity of pros vs cons leans in favor of screenless tablets but the first point for display tablets is often the major consideration that leans favor towards them. Many beginners who try to start their art journey on screenless tablets report having great difficulties with getting over the pen tablet-monitor disconnect.

Counterintuitively, those who have more art experience on traditional mediums may see greater success using screenless tablets as they've already developed their line confidence and mind-muscle dexterity, which can make it easier to bridge that disconnect between the movement of their hand and strokes on the screen.

Brand Notes

The Current Landscape

There was a period where Wacom dominated the digital art tablet scene in both the screen and screenless categories. Since then, tablet technology has stagnated in growth as not much more was needed to create admirable art. Many competitors have been gaining ground on Wacom's performance level due to this fact, leveling the playing field and driving down prices while achieving near parallel to Wacom's performance and adding new features and improvements alongside. The brands recommended within this document fit that bill and offer comparable or better performance per dollar to Wacom.

Used Tablets

Coinciding with Wacom's previous dominance, many used tablets recommended are older models of Wacom tablets. Screenless technology basically stagnated at the creation of the Intuos 3, and so models of Wacom from Intuos 3 to the current Intuos Pro are all recommended to buy used. One thing to note is that while the Intuos 3 has a strong reputation for its build quality, it does come with a very smooth drawing surface in contrast to the more paper-like ones present in modern pen tablets. Screenless tablets using paper-like surfaces do suffer greater wear so be cautious and examine listing pictures closely for worn-down surfaces on models that do not offer replacement surfaces. With used screen tablets try to buy the more modern Cintiq lines or one of the tablets recommended above in the Display section as older Cintiqs had notable temperature and noise issues which have since been mostly solved by newer screen tablets.

A Note on XP Pen and Huion

Both XP Pen and Huion offer tablets using previously released pen technology that falls behind more modern solutions and is best avoided, though the naming scheme for many of their tablets and their availability can make it difficult to know which is older or newer. Use these cutoffs as a general rule for avoiding the tablets that utilize this older technology.

Huion - Pentech 3.0 and beyond

  • Pentech 2.0 and 3.0 share 8K pressure levels, therefore pressure level cannot be used to differentiate them

XP Pen - X3 Pro

  • 16k or 16384 pressure levels

XP Pen's previous pen, the X3 stylus, is not generally recommended due to the wobble it produces on straight lines but is sometimes recommended at the right price.

Keypads and Alternatives

Many artists prefer to work with a dedicated remappable keypad for art programs rather than a keyboard. Some reasons for this might be portability, saving space, or being able to either rest it on their lap when sitting or hold it while standing. Most of the biggest tablet brands have a product available for purchase to serve the user's preference such as Huion and XP Pen's keypads and Xencelabs and Wacom's remote, however an inexpensive solution that has become popular advice is to purchase a game controller such as an 8Bitdo Micro or Zero 2 or use an already owned controller like a Switch Joycon and remap it into a macro pad. Alongside that are other macropads or even numpads that can be mapped in the same manner as with the controllers.

AutoHotKey for Windows and AntiMicroX for Windows or Linux can set up button-macro combinations for a connected input device. These are powerful programs that offer extensive customization to allow you to access nearly any function with different combinations of keypresses.

Some of the best dedicated macropads offered by any company for many professional uses are the Tourbox lines providing many different configurable controls on a small form factor, though these devices are pricey (usually $100-300). They very much should be in consideration for professional environments or those with large budgets

Trusted Reviewers/Resources

TheSevenPens documents (link)

  • Contains information and reviews on digital tablets
  • Helpful guides on setting up OpenTabletDriver for otherwise unsupported devices
  • Mostly up-to-date
  • Lots of information about the specifics of pressure and pen technology

Brad Colbow's Youtube (link)

  • Many reviews and comparisons of newest tablets

Teoh on Tech Youtube (link)

  • In-depth reviews and comparisons on tablets and pen technology
Edit

Pub: 08 Dec 2022 16:05 UTC

Edit: 10 Nov 2024 21:35 UTC

Views: 509