For most people, we think you should just buy the XPEN Artist 12, because of its compatibility and customization features (and it’s low price tag). Our experts evaluated dozens of drawing tablets, and we’ve rounded up our top picks below. If you want a more fully-featured tablet, you may want to take a look at our list of the best tablets. What’s great about having an 11.6-inch display inside your drawing tablet is that you don’t need to look at your other screen while drawing on a separate surface—you’re drawing on the device where your lines and colors are appearing. This makes it feel like you’re really creating art in the real world. The passive hexagonal pen (which feels very pencil-like) allows for 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity so that you can really get the hand-sketched feel in your work. It can actually be a good thing that that pen is passive because it would otherwise be just another device you have to charge. In addition, the Artist12 gives you a full-high touch bar you can program to fulfill certain commands on your computer (XP-Pen recommends mapping it to the zoom-in/zoom-out feature), and you can harness six different assignable shortcuts keys. This makes it less of a drawing-only tablet and more of a full-featured control surface for your design programs. The device is compatible with Windows 7, 8, or 10 (in 32 or 64 bit) and Mac OS X as old as version 10.10. Screen Size/Active Area: 11.6 inches | Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 | Pen Type: Passive | Standalone: No Because of the 72% color gamut accuracy and the 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity from the active pen, it really does have many of the features of the Artist12. What makes it different is that it offers 10 assignable function keys (lined up in a column on the left edge of the device), which is more than the Artist12. However, you’ll have to pay nearly $100 more for this device. The IPS display’s brightness and the extra function keys might be enough for you to spend that higher price tag, but the awkwardly wide form factor (different from something like the less-sprawling Cintiq 15) makes it a device that will take up a lot of space on your desk. There’s no denying, though, that this is a great peripheral with truly impressive pen specs. Our reviewer, Jeremy Laukkonen, found the pen performed flawlessly during testing, although he noted that the side buttons could be more pronounced. Screen Size/Active Area: 15.6 inches | Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 | Pen Type: Active, rechargeable | Standalone: No What this tablet does better is drawing. And that’s for two reasons. It comes with an active stylus right out of the box, allowing for solid palm rejection (crucial for avoiding mis-presses while drawing). It also comes with Autodesk Sketchbook and Artflow preinstalled—two excellent beginner sketch apps for Android. As far as tablet specs go, these aren’t all that impressive, but they’ll work well for a standalone drawing tab. There’s a 1.3GHz quad-core mobile processor, a 10.1-inch IPS display that sports a resolution of 1280 x 800, and even a 2MP front-facing camera and a 5MP rear-facing camera. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and even a microSD card slot are here. You also have the capability of using a micro-HDMI port to connect this tablet to an external computer. And it’s that latter point that makes this really friendly for budding artists. They can start with the on-board sketch app basics, but then graduate to real Adobe apps and use an external monitor, while using this tablet as a peripheral. It’s a good balance of both worlds, and it goes for right around $200. Screen Size/Active Area: 10.1 inches | Screen Resolution: 1280 x 800 | Pen Type: Active | Standalone: Yes But what corners are you cutting for that price? Well, with 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity, you have some precision, but far less than you’d find on more expensive tablets. The “resolution” (essentially how many sensors there are per inch of the board) sits at 4,000 lines per inch (LPI), which is a little lower than other options, but totally serviceable for young designers. There are three assignable keys on the left side of the unit that give you function options for your design programs, available right at your fingertips. Another interesting feature here is that the pad measures only about 4.5 x 7 inches, and the active area is even smaller at 4 x 2.25 inches. While the smaller size might seem limited, it’s helpful for designers on the go, as they can just toss it in their bag and use it with their laptops. This package comes with an active pen that allows you to use digital functions (such as push-button scrolling), and it offers plug-and-play compatibility with both Windows and Mac OS X. Screen Size/Active Area: 4 x 2.23 inches | Screen Resolution: 4000 LPI | Pen Type: Active | Standalone: No Some other impressive features are the eight dedicated function buttons you can assign to programs on the fly, the assignable touch wheel for navigating programs more fully, and even the hand-recognition switch that allows the tablet to respond to gestures much like a trackpad would. Of course, it’s Wacom’s Pro Pen 2 that brings with it the most notoriety. This active pen provides a whopping 8,192 levels of pressure-sensitivity, allowing for excellent sketching precision. Wacom has also baked in a latency time that is four times faster than the first-generation Pro Pen and has even included tilt support for sketching more natural, fading lines. It also includes Bluetooth in addition to wired connectivity. The whole package works with the latest operating systems and design softwares, and though it isn’t the most affordable tablet out there, it’s a pretty reasonable price for a creative professional. Screen Size/Active Area: 8.7 x 5.8 inches | Screen Resolution: 5080 LPI | Pen Type: Pro Pen | Standalone: No That display measures 15.6 inches diagonally and features an HD resolution of 1920 x 1980. The glass encasing the top of the display, while a bit glossy, features a glare-reducing coating that’s easier on your eyes. Speaking of accuracy, the Cintiq 16 can portray up to 16.7 million distinct colors, giving it a Gamut accuracy of 72%. This is pretty standard for design needs and will work well for most art projects. The other side of the Wacom equation is the physical feel of drawing on the tablet. Wacom is known for its accuracy and functionality, and the company has done its best to include those features here on an actual screen-based tablet. At the center of that is the Pro Pen 2, providing 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity (great for sketching), up to 60 degrees of tilt recognition (for fattening up your lines), and an impressively low latency level that is basically undetectable to most users. You’ll sacrifice some control, such as the multi-touch capabilities and assignable function buttons found on other Wacom units, but you’re doing so to get the best possible display-oriented tablet you can for a steep, but not exorbitant, $650. Screen Size/Active Area: 15.6 inches | Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 | Pen Type: Pro Pen | Standalone: No What’s interesting is that Flueston (the manufacturer) has managed to adapt the flexibility of LCD crystal to allow for something that lets children press down with the included stylus to make it feel more like a marker. It’s a really beautiful idea, and it will allow for endless creativity. There’s eraser functionality, screen lock options, and even the ability to save drawings to look at later. Because it doesn’t have a backlit screen, this is only meant for use with the lights on, but that will end up helping children’s eyes by limiting the amount of traditional “screen time” they have. And, because the unit is using non-backlit tech, the replaceable watch-style battery will last upwards of 12 months. Screen Size/Active Area: 10 inches | Screen Resolution: N/A | Pen Type: Passive | Standalone: Yes, a drawing board So, if you want to get into that level of gaming, a great place to start is with the XP-Pen StarG640 tablet. Why? Well, for starters, at only about $40, it’s a great, low-cost, low-risk way to try out this new way of playing. The 6 x 4-inch writing surface is enough space for most players to cover their needs, and the passive stylus that comes with it allows for 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity. This is, in essence, XP-Pen’s budget non-screen drawing tablet, so to be fair, it will work for design programs as well. It’s compatible with Windows and Mac and requires no drivers, so you can just plug it in and play. This makes it ideal for other non-art processes, such as capturing signatures for your business or even just taking notes on a laptop. And, because the thing is so compact, it’ll slip right into your bag. Screen Size/Active Area: 6 x 4 inches | Screen Resolution: 5080 LPI | Pen Type: Passive | Standalone: No That massive display means a lot more real estate that Wacom has to cover with its pressure-induced sensors and color accuracy, driving the manufacturing price up. But you do get truly excellent performance. The 72% Gamut accuracy is every bit as professional as you would expect, and the excellent 1920 x 1080 HD resolution is strikingly beautiful. This is a massive screen, so perhaps Wacom could have loaded in a bit more resolution to go with the high price tag, but that’s a small gripe. The build quality here is really second to none, and the impressive Pro Pen 2—Wacom’s proprietary second-generation active pen technology—provides 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt recognition for more accurate line widths, and virtually no detectable latency. This really is the option for the designer who already loves their laptop, but wants the functionality of something like a Microsoft Surface Studio: tons of touchscreen real estate, beautiful accuracy, and a workhorse for your design needs. Screen Size/Active Area: 21.5 inches | Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 | Pen Type: Pro Pen | Standalone: No This 6.0 x 3.7-inch tablet measures only 0.3 inches thick, and has a nice, durable plastic build with rounded edges. This makes it a joy to use and ensures that it can be tossed into your laptop bag for travel. The pressure-sensitive stylus does offer only 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity—akin to the rest of the budget tablets on the market–and at 2540 LPI of sensor density, it isn’t the most accurate tablet out there. But what the One lacks in raw specs it makes up for in ease of use and, of course, affordability. It connects via USB, works right out of the box with Windows and Mac operating systems alongside all your favorite design apps, and this package comes with a premium-feeling stylus at no extra charge. Screen Size/Active Area: 6.0 x 3.7 inches | Screen Resolution: 2540 LPI | Pen Type: Digital | Standalone: No Jeremy Laukkonen is a tech writer and the creator of a popular blog and video game startup. He specializes in consumer technology and tested the Gaomon PD1560 on our list.
What to Look For in a Drawing Tablet
Type of Tablet
While drawing tablets are more expensive, they’re a bit more intuitive because you draw with a stylus directly on the screen. Graphic tablets—which need to be hooked up to a computer—usually deliver a faster workflow because they’re backed by more processing power. They also don’t need to be charged and are usually more durable. We haven’t had a chance to put any of these drawing tablets through their paces just yet, but we’ll be trying each tablet with a variety of creative applications and machines to help determine the best-use scenario for each particular model. Because drawing tablets are all about bridging the gap between your inputs and seeing them on screen, our testers will also be judging each unit on its overall feel and ergonomics as well as their hard specs and compatibility.
Pressure Sensitivity
Pressure sensitivity determines how much you can vary the width of the lines you paint, based on the amount of pressure you apply to the stylus. The standard tablet offers 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity, which should be more than enough for most creatives.
Budget
Drawing tablet prices can start as low as $30 and creep up to nearly $1,000. The difference in price is largely related to the display. The better the resolution and pressure sensitivity, the more expensive the tablet. But of course, if it doesn’t have a display, you’ll likely get it for a lower price.
