Hi everybody
I have a question for the pro artists who have used drawing tablets before.
I'm planning to buy either a Wacom Intuos Pro medium or XP-Pen Artist 15.6 , but I can't decide which one to choose since I haven't used any drawing tablets before. I watched reviews of both of them, and I liked XP-Pen Artist more since it's a monitor and its pen doesn't need charging plus both of the tablets have approximately the same price. My budget is around 400$
Any help would be appreciated and thanks in advance.
Here are the links:
XP-Pen 15.6 :
Wacom Intuos Pro medium:
I've never used Wacom, but my current tablet is an XP-Pen and I love it. It is worth about $50. My previous tablet was UGEE and I hated it. The drivers uninstalled themselves every time the computer turned off.
After taking a quick look, the XP-Pen looks like the better choice. I have Wacom products, and they're pretty good. Personally, I would go with the one with a screen because it's so much easier to see what you're drawing right under your pen whereas a screenless tablet is harder to predict where you want your lines to go. The XP-Pen looks like it has twice as much active area, which is the area you'll be drawing in. The advantages are you have more area to make small strokes (not as cramped). The pressure sensitivity is way better, too, meaning you can get much more subtle shading.
I'm not sure which Wacom pen needs charging, but the pens I've had never needed charging. Maybe the tablet needs charging. It looks like it's wireless. The XP-Pen looks like it comes with a glove, too, which I've found helps so much when making long strokes as my skin doesn't stick to the surface. Of course, you can take an old glove and use it the same.
So, for criteria when looking at a tablet is the drawing area, pressure sensitivity, resolution, and in cases where the screen is built in, display color gamut. You want to make sure the colors you're selecting are the right colors lol. That's the nature of screens. I have an "artist" grade monitor and a regular random monitor. Colors look way different on each monitor.
The XP-Pen looks way better than the Wacom for the price range.
each to their own. i have the wacom you mention, and love it. wacom do a Cintiq that is like that XP-PEn thing, but i prefer to use my monitor. the Wacom pen doesn't need charging either and comes w/ multiple different tips for a different feel to simulate brushes etc, and has an eraser feature on the reverse end.
also, which may be of no importance to you, i'm not sure you could use that Pen set-up to sculpt in Blender etc?
kkiller-wolf Sculpting is the reason why I'm planning to buy one. And yeah you can use XP-Pen for sculpting I've seen on youtube and here is a picture
Even though it looks like you already made a decision I want to add that I also have a XP-Pen tablet (Deco 01) and that I'm pretty happy with it. Guess it's a good choice.
hhitmankiller99outlooksa No problem. Reading down the replies if you're going to sculpt, I like the screen one better, personally. And the features are really good for the price.
I watched some reviews on YouTube, and my choice would be the Wacom tablet.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I saw no support for application profiles in the XP-Pen tablet driver. That could be a slight problem when using multiple applications, like Blender and Photoshop, or Krita. You can set different button functions per application with a wacom tablet.
It's true that a screen tablet makes drawing easier, but drawing with a screen less drawing tablet isn't all that bad. And this Wacom tablet has touch sensitivity, which makes zooming and panning in program's like Photoshop a lot more intuitive.
But the better support and compatibility in software all round would be pretty important to me.
If you really would want a screen, than a second hand Cintiq would be an option too. Iv'e done that for years now, and there getting a bit cheaper now.
ccarrotnl About the support for applications they say it's Compatible with many major designer software such as Photoshop, Painter, Illustrator, Clip Studio, Krita, Gimp , SAI and more. I read a customer review and he said the express keys are programmable. I would definitely buy a cintiq if I had the money, but even the used ones are more expensive than this XP-Pen so I guess I'll get the XP-Pen. Anyway, thank you for replying
silentheart00 Yes you're right the features and the price are enticing.
Just wondering if you went through with the purchase and got the XP-Pen 15.6 pro? Thinking of getting it myself, but was wondering what your experience was like.
Thanks!
Wacom is still the best, but xp-pen was good too and much cheaper.
In my opinion, you are receiving more value for your money if you go in the direction of XP Pen Artist 15.6 Pro.
Because you can draw directly on the screen, so it’s easier to learn drawing with it.
Wacom Intuos Pro has many upsides, but it’s way harder to draw precise lines without a lot of practice.
Here has a detailed comparsion post between wacom cintiq 16 and XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro: https://pctechtest.com/wacom-cintiq-16-vs-xp-pen-artist-16-pro