It’s been great to see how much more affordable digital art drawing tablets have become thanks to brands like XP-Pen. With the holidays fast approaching, you might want to keep your eyes open for their generous discounts. Prices may differ from what’s mentioned at the time of reading this depending on where and when you are.
New and trying to figure out how to get into digital art? Give my Digital Art For Beginners post a read.
All the options mentioned here have the same following features: battery-free pen, 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, 60 degrees of tilt recognition, express keys and at least one convenient little red dial. Also important to note that these are not stand-alone devices and require a computer to be plugged in to. Might seem obvious but sometimes folks miss that detail.
Big screen tablets!
On the higher end of the price and size scale, we have the Artist 24 Pro. It’s comfortable for both left- and right-handed use with a dial and express keys on both sides of the display.
The Artist 24 Pro – $900 (frequently discounted to around $700)
To note with the 24” Pro is the 2K QuadHD display. Not essential, but jolly nice to have. It definitely makes a difference with bigger displays to have that higher resolution.
The Artist 22R Pro – $700 on Amazon
The Artist 22R is obviously slightly smaller, has a Full HD display, but also considerably more affordable and keeps the same physical design of the 24 Pro.
The stand on both models allows you to adjust the screen between 16 and 90 degrees.
16” Options
16″ is pretty much the sweet spot in terms of both size and affordability.
Innovator 16 – $500 on AmazonUS ($400 with discount coupon applied)
The latest addition to XP-Pen’s range of pen diplays is the Innovator 16, the design of which I really like. It has a similar look to the award winning Deco Pro of theirs. It boasts a slighter better colour range and brightness than the Artist 15.6 Pro mentioned below. It’s a fully laminated display, reducing that gap between where your pen touches and the cursor.
Buy the XP-Pen Innovator 16 Graphic Display
Artist 15.6 Pro – $400 on Amazon (often discounted to $300)
Same size, similar specs to the Innovator 16 but for 100 bucks less is the Artist 15.6 Pro. If you need a decent sized display tablet and you don’t need the latest device, then this is the one you might want to go for. It also has a stand included.
The 13” option
The Artist 13 2nd Gen – $300 on Amazon
Ideal for compact workspaces and also portable enough to be able to take with you to work at a coffee shop or to school. 13” is probably the smallest I would go for a device like this. The new line of 2nd gen Artist display tablets boast an improved display and the brand’s new X3 pen tech. The X3 stylus has a drastically improved initial activation force meaning less pressure is needed to register a line.
We did a review of the Artist 12 2nd Gen if you want to know what to expect from the device
Reviews:
It’s important for me to point out that I have not tested these displays myself yet, so I recommend checking a few reviews before making your purchase. We have a couple of device reviews here on DrawYourWeapon and slowly growing that.
Brad Colbow has a great youtube channel testing out a bunch of drawing tablets for digital art so be sure to check him out too. Below is his review of the Artist 24 Pro.
If you’re young, and/or you still simply do not have the budget for a display, fear not! I’ve also go a post about pen tablets for under $100. Many professionals in the industry that I look up to actually prefer a pen tablet to display for various reasons. Posture, ergonomics, and just the financial spend can all factor in to this. Whichever tool you choose, you can create equally strong and professional work, so be sure to check that post out as well.
Full Disclosure: This post does contain affiliate links, so should you make any purchases through them, as an Amazon Associate, I might get a small commission. This doesn’t affect the price for you in any way, but it does help me to keep creating content here for you.
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