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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.

Recommended Tablets

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)

Medium (≥16in and <20in)

Large(≥20in)

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)

Medium (≥8in and <12in)

Large(≥12in)

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.

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