Christmas is just around the corner, and it’s not too late to spice up your device with some Christmas cheer. Gift giving will never be tough as long as tablets are around. Whether the person on your list is a digital artist or just someone who likes to Draw , a tablet offers something for this people .

Unleash your creative side with these stunning tablets. Combining the flexibility of freehand drawing and precision of digital design, these amazing tools are only limited by your imagination. So if you are looking for a Christmas gift or something , you are sure to find something that fits your needs and budget.

This is the season to paint with pixels… here are some nifty gift ideas for the tablet-totin’ creative type in your life (and maybe that someone is you!) With a specially designed Christmas and New Year gift pack, the easy-to-carry Artist 12 / DECO 02 /Star G640S makes an ideal gift choice for your beloved ones. The XP-Pen drawing tablet / monitor will mimicking a comfortable sketching experience on paper.

what is the difference of Christmas version and the normal deal product ?

The only difference of the Christmas version and the normal artist 12 is that the Christmas version has more includes like the protective case and key ring.

One of the leading rivals to the famed and revered Wacom tablets is XP-Pen. Who the heck is XP-Pen? XP-Pen is a company born in the great tech-giant country, China. XP-Pen’s office is in ShenZhen, China (near Hong Kong). Their offical website is https://www.xp-pen.com .The XP-Pen Graphics Tablets is the perfect option for an affordable graphics tablet.

XP-Pen’s Star /DECO /Artist series tablets launched them as actual competitors to Wacom, yet at a quarter of the cost. You can’t argue with that.

I’ve owned and used Wacom’s Intuos 3 medium, the wired and wireless versions of the Intuos 4 medium, and Wacom’s Bamboo CTH models. Each of these confirmed Wacom’s excellence, both with hardware and drivers. Though Wacom sells the most tablets, they’re not the only company that sells excellent tablets.

If you’re in the category that’s looking to purchase a Wacom Bamboo tablet - don’t! There’s no reason for the Bamboo to even exist when there’s a far superior model for a comparable price. If you’re thinking about buying the Bamboo - buy the XP-Pen instead.
XP-Pen Artist 12 Tablet with screen Christmas Gift Pack



The XP-Pen Artist 12 is ergonomically designed with adjustable stand and anti-slip rubber cover, you can adjust the screen according to your needs and comfort no matter you’re standing or sitting, the XP-Pen Artist 12 lets you draw your art without any kind of discomfort. The 11.6-inch screen on the front produces good brightness and contrast with real colors so that you can draw your art even more accurately. Moreover, the 1920 x 1080 pixels of resolution with 16.7M color support is enough sharp to meet the requirements of artists. With pressure sensitivity of 8192 levels, you can draw a variety of lines. For instance, if you apply more pressure then it will render a thicker line. This is really a good feature especially in a tablet for artists.

The XP-Pen Artist 12 is compatible with all versions of Windows and Mac operating system and works with most of the software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator 3D Max, AutoDesk Sketchbook, Corel Painter, Autodesk MAYA, ZBrush and many more. Hence, there’s no need to worry about compatibility. In the package, along with the device, you will get a screen protector, 1 pen, 8 replacement nibs, 1 USB cable and other necessary cables. All in all, the XP-Pen Artist 12 is a complete package of features and is also one of the best tablets for artists, designers, architects, and students who are expecting a good value for their money.

Hardware Specifications of XP-Pen Artist 12

Display Area: 11.6-inch IPS Display
Pressure Sensitivity: 8192 levels
Connection: USB-C
Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Full HD Resolution
Response Time: 14ms
Support Color: 16.7M(RGB 6-bit data + HiFRC data)
Colors: 72% NTSC Color Gamut
Visual Angle: 178°
Report Rate: 266 PPS
Keys: 6 Shortcut Keys and 1 touch bar
Where to get One: https://www.storexppen.com/goods/activity/id/68.html



Artist 12 Customer reviews :

I have a tendency to ramble, so bear with me.

I’m already fairly familiar with XP-Pen products (I have the Artist 16 Pro, and will be trying out the Decon 02 soon so I can better teach my nephew to use it). I dare say, I prefer this over my Artist 16!
•The smaller size makes it much easier for me to lug around, it takes up less storage space (I have no desk to leave the 16 on).
• It has a great look, feel and weight to it; for the price, I’m blown away. It looks more costly than my 16!
• Screen is clear and sharp. The 16 has the same amount if pixels spread out on a larger space so it looked a tiny but fuzzy.
•I love that the cords all plug together vs three separate cords like the 16; that drove me nuts.
• The track pad is amazing. I honestly didn’t think it’d speed up my workflow nearly as much as it does.
• The pen nibs seem sturdier than the 16s pen; I see absolutely no sign of wear after using it all day, which I did on the 16. The nibs also don’t wobble which is great.
• The matte surface shows no sign of scratching so far, but we shall see in a few months. My 16 has a lot in the center, though they aren’t visible while the screen is on.

Cons
My only con’s so far, are with the darn pen.
• there’s only one button, and it’s recessed into the pen; you can’t feel where it is, you have to pause to find it.

And to note, there is no stand for this; that is sold separately.

XP-Pen DECO 02 Christmas Gift Pack



Well, if you’re just starting with digital painting and looking for a drawing tablet to hone your drawing skills, then the XP-Pen Deco 02 is probably the best in the segment in terms of features and pressure sensitivity. Yes, the XP-Pen Deco 01 can detect pressure sensitivity up to 8192 levels which is indeed a very good feature for users to draw varying width of lines and enhance their creativity. Moreover, the active area of 10 x 6.25 inch offer enough space to draw on which lights up at night so that you can draw conveniently even in dark conditions. The Deco 02’s thickness is only 8 mm which also doesn’t weigh much making it easy for you to throw it in your backpack.

The XP-Pen Deco 02 is designed with both right and left-hand users in mind, there are basically 6 express keys and 1 touch ring on the left which help you maximize your workflow and delivering the most ergonomic and convenient platform to draw on in its segment. The pen that comes with the package is battery-free so you don’t need to charge it as there is no way of running out of battery. However, the tablet needs to be connected to your PC or laptop via USB Type-C cable. Moreover, the quick toggle button onboard lets you switch between pen and eraser instantly. Overall, the XP-Pen Deco 02 is one of the best value for money drawing tablets offering a package of features at an extremely affordable price of $90 which even slightly expensive Wacom Intuos misses out.

Hardware Specifications of XP-Pen Deco 02 Tablet

Active Area: 10 x 5.63 inch
Pressure Sensitivity: 8192 levels
Resolution: 5080 LPI
Report Rate: 266 RPS
Connectivity: USB Type-C
PenBattery-Free Pen with 8 Nibs
the stylus have digital eraser
Newer drivers for the Deco 02, compatible with Windows 7/8/10 and OSX 10.10

Where to get One: https://www.storexppen.com/goods/activity/id/67.html



DECO 02 Customer reviews :

Deco 02 by Xp-pen a great wacom alternative.

Where can I start? first off, I like this one, which is going to be my new tablet for my day job. The box looks nice and have that look that you wouldn’t’ expect to find on a graphic tablet made in China. The box is sturdy, firm and feels like it can withstand almost everything and very well designed by the way. what’s on the box is what really matters.

A Deco 02 tablet that comes with a ring or roller wheel to set with the last shortcut key and has a lot of built-in functions. This roller wheel will save a lot of time for you because when we artist tend to calibrate sizes of the brush or doing the zoom in and out, this roller wheel comes very handy ( way better than shortcut keys). Also it comes with a sort of lid or cover for the ring made out of rubber, which is nice to the tact and easy to handle. The pen is a passive pen that won’t need any charge and very ergonomic and light ; even this time xp pen put an eraser on the pen...that is cool. I remember that the old wacoms had it, not anymore though on the more advanced models. This eraser will save you time since you don’t have to use the switch buttoms on the pen to change from brush to eraser. The pen comes with a practical pen holder, very hard and durable, it will old the pen on your desk, also carries the pen nibs and the pen. I wish my artist 15.6 should have had one of those.

When it comes to performance, this tablet is way better than my old wacom. It can register 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity that helps a lot when you are doing digital sketching, painting and inking on many programs, I have tested it with Photoshop, Krita 4.0 and Sketchbook Pro. It works like a charm with all the pressure needed in all of them.

The only cons is with Krita, that sometimes start behaving erratic but that is not only with xp-pen, also has been reported with the latest wacom’s. I think this tablet is great for everyone who is on graphics with a budget and also for professionals digital artists like me that are looking for something smooth and precise that will perform great and would not put you on a serious debt. As an additional, the pressure sensitivity and the tablet drivers are so easy to calibrate that it works right out of the box on my 12gb old Imac 2011 with OSX High Sierra... Yep this tablet will do its duty very well.

XP-Pen Star G640S Christmas Gift Pack



XP-Pen Star G640S drawing tablet comes with 6 programmable Express Keys to create shortcuts, easy to setup; Compatible with Windows 7/8/8.1/10 and Mac OS X 10.8.0/later versions.

8192 Levels of Pressure Sensitivity: Resolution 5080 LPI, Report Rate 266RPS.
The graphic tablet can compatible with most currently available drawing software: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Fireworks, Lightroom and so on. One year warranty.
A mouse alternative, Precise pen control Can be used for osu! Digital art creation, annotating in PowerPoint slides . game, document signing, causal art work editing, inking, sculpturing, and more. It’s good choice of Christmas Gift for children and adults.

Active Area: 6 x 3.75 inch, Easily fits into a laptop case pocket or in a briefcase, portable carrying on the go or on a trip.Signature Pad: widely applied in banking and finance, retail, telecommunications, healthcare,government, tourism .

Where to get One: https://www.storexppen.com/goods/activity/id/66.html



Star G640S Customer reviews :

This is a great graphics tablet for this price range! Here’s why:

*It’s bigger than it looks, but small enough to not take up a lot of desk space if your space is limited. I was able to draw using this tablet with no issue, the surface area is large enough to capture larger strokes of the brush.

*The pen pressure is sensitive enough to work well with watercolor and paintbrush tools on graphics programs so that you can still achieve a gradient or tapered brush look. The pressure is also adjustable so that you can adjust for heavy-handedness if need be.

*Express buttons -- I’m used to the express buttons from my personal Wacom tablet(this is a gift for someone) and it’s nice to see them in this tablet, they’re great to create shortcuts when working.

*It takes very little time to get used to the way the pen works.

*Great starter tablet or tablet for casual users who don’t want ti spend 100+ on a tablet they aren’t using everyday.

**CAUTION** the pen can lose pressure because it registers your hand if you are someone who touches the side of your hand to the tablet when writing or drawing(like I do), I recommend adjusting your hand position when using this tablet or getting a half glove
More notice

The line of XP-Pen tablets sold at offical store seems focused on clients from the West, specifically even the U.S. The box and instructions come labeled in English, they ship to the U.S. for a very reasonable shipping cost. And a minor detail, they shipping worldwide , in australia ,USA,Europe， they have office and warehouse, the product ship from local warehouse , then you can get it within one week .

Going above and beyond, XP-Pen also responds personally to questions, usually within one or two days at most, and they respond in near perfect English.

NOTES & SUGGESTIONS Pressure sensitivity problems? I found that if I started the graphics program (ie, Manga Studio) before I plugged in the tablet, the pressure sensitivity didn’t work. To fix this, I simply had to close down the program, plug in the graphics tablet, wait a short moment, then restart the program – always plug in the tablet before starting your drawing program.

Driver issues or tablet glitches? First, uninstall All other tablet drivers if you have any installed. Second, make sure you download the most recent and appropriate driver. Third, restart your computer. Fourth, plug in your tablet before you start your graphics program.

Many years ago the only options for digital painting I had were MS Paint, Adobe Photoshop and Corel Painter. Fast forward to 2018 and there is a bewildering choice of software and tablets.

These days getting into digital painting is easier and more affordable.

When I started out, prices of digital painting software were much more expensive, the only decent pressure sensitive drawing tablets available were by Wacom ( but now I changed to some affordable alternatives ) and there was no where near the amount of training support available. I will give a general overview of the software available. So you should pick the right software for your needs and preferences.

Graphic tablets can be split into two categories: those that have a screen (like the XP-Pen Artist Line ) and those that don’t (like the XP-Pen DECO Type). Almost any professional graphics software will work for XP-Pen tablets, XP-Pen Was a professional pressure sensitive Graphics Tablet manufacturer on the digitizer tablet market. they provide affordable Art Tablet fot Digital Artists , the driver is powerful and update quickly .

offical site : https://www.xp-pen.com

offical store : https://www.storexppen.com

Here is the portrait I made with XP-Pen Artist 22E Pro Tablet Monitor.



I’ll be mentioning software which tries to emulate natural artistic media but with digital painting you can pretty much get any effect you want.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is well known as the industry standard of photo editing software. Photoshop is a popular and very versatile program specializes in photomanipulation that can be used for photo-manipulation, compositing, digital painting and illustration and even print and web design. all that was because it have a really good brush engine . to be honest it’s brush engine is better than krita’s in some places .

The term industry standard has no weight in why I choose which software to paint with though, I like to keep open minded and try software based on the features it offers. For this reason I will mention software that is not as well known. I’ll also list some mobile software options I’ve heard of as they are increasing in popularity. It’s up to you to do further research for what will work for you and there are always more options if you dig deep enough.
Open Source and free options

Krita
The Gimp
MyPaint
Speedy Painter
Fire Alpaca
Medibang Paint
Adobe Photoshop Sketch (mobile)
Tayasui Sketches (mobile)

Paid options

Here is a list of affordable software from cheapest to highest price:

Procreate (ipad)

Infinite Painter (mobile)
Paintstorm Studio
Mischief
Pixelmator
Autodesk Sketchbook
PD Artist
Jugi Paint
Leonardo
Artweaver 6
Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo
Black Ink
Expresii
ArtRage 5
Rebelle 2
Clipstudio Paint
Adobe CC
Corel Painter (current version Painter 2018)

My Thoughts

Over the years I’ve tried Paintstorm Studio, Mischief, Artweaver, Affinity Designer, Black Ink, Expresii, ArtRage, Rebelle, Clipstudio Paint, Krita, Adobe CC and Corel Painter. Here are my thoughts on them so far.

Paintstorm Studio is a recent addition to my collection and I’m impressed by the brush engine. It is easy to use and nice to paint with.

The free version of Artweaver is something I tried years ago and I thought it was ok. It has brushes like Photoshop and blendy brushes like Corel Painter. The only reason I haven’t used it is because I’ve already got Photoshop and Corel Painter. The interface is a mix of Photoshop and Painter and it has similar brushes.

Affinity Designer is good for vector graphic creation and painting. It can mix both raster and vector artwork together which is interesting. There is free online support and tutorials which are great for beginners.

Black Ink impressed me with weird procedural brushes but I found it too technical for my general use. It’s great for someone who is already confident with digital art but I wouldn’t recommend it for beginners.

Expresii is one of a kind for it’s realistic Eastern watercolour painting brush engine. Artwork can be exported as PSD files. This software is very specialised, but if you are familiar with digital painting it is worth a go.

ArtRage 5 is the best I’ve tried for realistic digital oil painting and the interface is easy to learn. The way the paint seems to react to the canvas texture is the best out of all the software I’ve tried so far.

Rebelle 2 is another watercolour painting software and is easy to use. Editing options are limited but formats can be exported for use in other programs. Painting in Rebelle is fun, but I would suggest using it along side something like Photoshop or Krita to give more editing options.

Clipstudio Paint is a good all round alternative to Photoshop or Corel Painter and the inking brushes are fantastic. It also has animation tools.

I used Krita last year and really liked it. I started using it more than Corel Painter because it has nice brushes and the layer support is much better. The latest version of Krita is a big improvement so far and now works with my XP-Pen Artist 22E Pro tablet Monitor (with the newest XP-Pen driver).

I tried the Adobe CC last year but I still have Photoshop CS3 so I had no reason to upgrade and the subscription model puts me off.

I’ve used Corel Painter less and less in favor of Photoshop and other programs. There seems to be a paid update every year which is far too expensive for me to maintain and I don’t need more features than it already has. If anything I would like fewer features, more stability and no internal advert nags. Other than that it’s a great program and still has gorgeous and customisable brushes. I find the layer system very frustrating but it is fine if you generally paint on the canvas layer. The version I use is the 2016 release. Layers may have been improved in future editions. What I do to overcome the layer problem is paint in Corel Painter on the Canvas layer only. I then go into Photoshop or Krita with the image if I need to do further work on other layers and editing.

I am trying Affinity Photo because the features rival Photoshop for editing. It supports the more recent file types and I want to try 360 Panoramic painting. I’ve tried out several brushes and they are great to paint with. There is also a mixer brush option for doing blendy painting techniques. So far it looks very promising.
Some features to look for in digital painting software :

A crucial rule for painting software is it should run well on your operating system and work with your choice of tablet.

Stability is important. Painting can take a long time to do and file sizes can get large, you don’t want to lose hours of work with crashes or bugs. How far it is in development is also a factor to consider.

The painting engine and what you can do with the brushes as well as photo editing capabilities are factors. Some of the software I’ve mentioned does not have photo editing features. Because of this file compatibility and PSD support is important. Being able to save and export your painting in the top supported formats is essential.

The interface is a consideration as well. The main questions I ask are is it easy to understand, does it look nice and can I customise it? If the interface is hard to use or looks old fashioned it puts me off no matter how good the program might be.

Community, documentation and training support available are also vital to consider as a beginner.

Here is another Art Work I made by Phhotoshop CC



Conclusion

These software’s have their pros and cons, it depends what you want to achieve and what your budget is. Krita is great for a free all round option and it also has 2D animation tools.

For 2.5D painting and audio brushes you can use Corel Painter, but PD Artist also has these features.

For nice oil painting look at ArtRage and Paintstorm Studio. For realistic watercolour Rebelle and Expresii are both worth a look.

Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo look promising for cheaper and non-subscription alternatives to Adobe CC.

The more expensive software options are the Adobe Creative Cloud and Corel Painter. This reflects their brand equity and amount of features. I started with Corel Painter around 2012 and used it for years. I still use it from time to time. It is an impressive program for digital painting. However, Corel Painter has a high price and steep learning curve. If you can afford it I would recommend Photoshop over Corel Painter to learn the basics with. Clipstudio Paint is a great cheaper alternative to both when it’s on sale. I cannot fault Krita over these options for continuous improvement, community support and price (free).

My recommendation for beginners to digital painting is Krita because it has digital painting tools, editing tools, great community support, lots of online tutorials and it is free Open Source. It works with lots of tablets and its cross platform for Windows, Linux and Mac.

I hope this article has been useful to you for discussing some options available for digital painting. I advise you look at the software’s websites and weigh up the options for yourself depending on what you need.

My Wacom Bamboo CTL470 capture’s port broke, and I wanted to invest in another drawing tablet. This is my review of the XP-Pen Deco 03!
Wacom is the industry standard, but I think the competition is getting better, which bodes well for us artists! I did a bit of research and decided that this tablet seemed like a great deal, considering its prices and features.

My old Wacom Bamboo Capture was well loved, but did get laggy at the very end. It was also a bit small. This tablet is bigger and better, and I am quite enjoying it so far.



The XP-Pen Deco 03 Is what I would call an indirect graphics drawing tablet or digital drawing pad . That is a tablet that is attached to a computer monitor where you draw on the surface of the tablet and the the image appears on the monitor.

It was quickly delivered and I opened the packaging to find the tablet and accessories contained in a sturdy flip top box. On inspection I found that the box was quite substantial and really secure unlike like some other tablet packaging I have experienced in the past.

Common Features Of Drawing Tablet’s Explained

Are you completely new to the world of digital art?

To find the right tablet for your needs, it is important to understand the different features.

Below you will find a quick definition of the standard features on a digital drawing pad.

Pen / Stylus

A stylus pen is a pen shaped device that is used when drawing on your tablet. A digital pen for drawing often includes function keys, nibs, and erasers.

Active Area

The active drawing area is the area on the tablet that you can draw on.

Resolution

Tablet resolution, measured in LPI (Lines Per Inch), tells you how many digital lines fit into one inch of the tablet’s physical screen. The higher the LPI, the greater detail and sharpness of your image.

Pen Pressure

Pen pressure is how sensitive a pen is to the pressure applied to the active area. It allows you to draw subtle variations in lightness or darkness.

Nibs & Erasers

Nibs are the part of a digital pen that touch the surface of your art tablet. You have the main type of nib, which tells the tablet you are drawing a mark, and an eraser nib, which informs your tablet to erase whatever you are touching.

Pen Response Time

Pen response time, also known as latency, is the time it takes between moving your pen on the surface of Tablet , and when the stroke is updated to the tip position on the surface of Tablet .
Express Keys

Express keys, also called Hotkeys, are built in buttons that allow you to set up short cuts for common key commands. Often these are customizable, however, sometimes they are not. Be sure to check.

XP-Pen Deco 03 Digital Drawing Tablet – What do You Get in the Box?



The first thing that struck me was how stylish and sleek this tablet was. It certainly looked the business as I was unwrapping it.

It had a nice feel, fairly light and felt strong enough to take the usual knocks and bangs when being moved about…so far so good.

I was pleasantly surprised at the contents in the box:



XP-Pen Deco 03 Digital Drawing Tablet
Passive Pen Stylus
Pen Stand
8 spare Graphics Pen Stylus Nibs
USB-C to USB Cable Approximately 1.5 meters in length
Comprehensive Manual
Anti Fouling Graphics Tablet Glove

The Deco 03 has a classy matt black finish. the matt black really does look cool!It is ultra thin at a mere 8mm. How do they pack everything into such a small space ?

I know that everyone is trying to make some electrical items such as laptops and smartphones as thin as possible but for me that often means ‘flimsy’. Not so with this tablet as it is obviously well bonded and not a hint of flexing. I think if I dropped this on a solid floor it wouldn’t hurt it – but I wasn’t going to try that out!

Drawing Surface Texture



The feel of how the pen moves over the surface of a tablet is important to many artists. Some tablets feel silky smooth when drawing, others feel more like the texture of paper. It all comes down to personal choice.

Specs & Overview
Pen: passive and wireless (doesn’t require batteries)
Active Area: 10” x 5.62”
Resolution: 5080 LPI
Express Keys: 6 customizable one and this nice circular dial
Report Rate: 266 rps
Pressure Sensitivity: 8192
Interface Support: Type C (nice! Plugs into Type C on tablet, but full-sized USB on the computer side)
Compatibility: Windows 7/8/10 & Mac OS 10.8 and above Both wired + wireless interface.

Full specifications + compatibility information

Overview

+ Clean, thin, and sleek design.
+ Passive pen is accurate, responsive, and a good size and weight.
+ The dial is a great feature

The surface seems like it’s a bit easy to scratch, but not really much more than the old Wacom bamboo.
Using Mac OS drivers, does not have pressure sensitivity in Autodesk Sketchbook. It does for Krita, PS, and a lot of others.
Overall, great bang for your buck! $99 USD on average. This link to offical XP-Pen Store : https://www.storexppen.com/buy/56.html , if you are interested in purchasing it.

Form & Function

The tablet is thin and light, which I really like. The corners are rounded, but the edges where your arm rests probably could be smoother. The whole thing is large enough that it’s not that much of an issue for me, but I could see that as a place to improve.

Configuration



This is from a Mac perspective, so if you have windows, it may be different. From what I’ve read, the installation process seems pretty smooth.

On Mac, installing drivers is really easy. On their site, they list compatible programs, so I recommend looking at the specs + compatibility link that’s listed in the beginning of this review to see if this tablet will work for you. A lot of popular programs are fully and officially supported, like SAI, Photoshop, and Clip Studio Paint.

I use Krita, and the lines are a tiny bit shaky, but not that noticeably so, and Krita comes with stabilizers, so I don’t have a real problem. The software also just reached a major new version, which may also play a factor.

Configuration is easy, through “Pen Tablet Settings.” It’s pretty straight forwards. I did configure my pressure curve to be a bit shifted to the left so that I don’t have to press as hard as default. This way, I can presserve the pen tips.

The pen



The pen comes with a handy holder that contains spare nibs, as well as a place for the pen to stand on your desk. There’s felt on the bottom of it, and the whole assembly is a nice touch.

For the drawing instrument itself, it’s quite well made. It isn’t too light, but lighter than my old wacom pen, has a nice grip that is comfy to hold, and has 2 configurable buttons that are easy to press. The nibs are long, so I think they will last a while. If there are any issues, I will let you guys know in a future update.

It’s a responsive pen, and I like drawing with it just as much as I did my Wacom Bamboo.

The tablet



I am a huge fan of the dial (and the express keys). That’s a unique feature to this tablet, and is a great tool. I have it currently set to brush size, but you have options! It’s easy and smooth to turn, and you have clickiness that allows you to feel and control it without looking. You can also press down on the button on the middle of the dial, as yet another express key.

The surface of the tablet itself is nice because the drawing texture is nice. It’s not too glidy or glassy, but also not so rough that it’s annoying to use. It scratches a little when you draw on it, but that’s what happened to the old bamboo as well. The DECO 03 may be a tad softer, but I will need more time to fully evaluate the long time durability of this tablet.



I am guessing this tablet will last a long time, though. The choice of USB Type C rocks, because you’re less likely to jam it in the wrong way and break it, compared to the fragile micro USB. I also like that you can use it wireless, though it’s less smooth when using it that way.

Intuos Pro Vs Bamboo - A Review



When I decided I wanted to upgrade my tablet, my biggest concern was: Is it worth it to go from Bamboo to DECO 03 ? Is it a significant improvement, or should I save money for a Cintiq or xp-pen artist instead?

I did a lot of research and couldn’t find anything of much help, so I went ahead and tried the DECO 03 to see for myself, and now I’m going to share what I found in this review while comparing it to the cheaper alternative Bamboo line for those who are wondering, like I was, which one should they buy, or whether or not they should get rid of their Bamboo. I hope you’ll find this helpful!

Here they are: Bamboo Connect CTL470 (2.5+ years old) on top, Intuos Pro (4+ months old) on the bottom. They are both “small” sized but they look radically different, right?

The DECO 03 Digital Art Pad has the bigger drawing area than the Bamboo, which giving you more room for arm movement, which is a big plus; it makes drawing easier and a lot more comfortable.

DECO 03 has 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity versus the 1024 levels of the Bamboo line. Now, it’s not like it makes a world of difference, especially in the looks of the final product (a painting) BUT I can tell/feel the difference.

Drawing surface texture: The Bamboo’s texture is good but DECO 03 is smoother, I prefer it!

The DECO 03 has buttons in it which you can configure as you wish with pretty much any of your software’s shortcuts, it’s pretty awesome! It’s not a huge advantage for me because I’m used with using the keyboard for shortcuts, but some people love them. It also has that wheel which you can use to zoom in and out, change layers, change brush size and rotate (you can switch between these commands by pressing the button in the middle).

The DECO 03 has a wireless adapter. I thought I wouldn’t care for it so much but oh man was I wrong! I love not having even more cables on my desk! The charge lasts for a wonderful amount of time, I have no complains! However, the bigger the tablet size, the less the charge will last.

The DECO 03 feels more bulky and durable than the Wacom Bamboo , and people on the intwerwebs seem to find it durable too (mine is new so I don’t know. I had my Bamboo for 2.5+ years, beaten it up a lot, carried it with me all over, dropped it and it’s pen, and it still works perfectly and the drawing surface is worn out but fine and has no scratches)
The XP-Pen DECO 03 driver lets you customize pen pressure in a more effective way – which you should do! It also allows you to configure it differently for general use and for drawing-software use! For instance you can keep the touch on only for general use, etc.

The DECO 03 doesn’t has a touch feature (most Intuos and some Bamboo have that Features ) and it works beautifully, it doesn’t get confused by your hand on the tablet while drawing or anything .

Both the Bamboo and DECO 03 doesn’t have a Pen tilt sensitivity , the Intuos’ Grip pen has a tilt angle of up to 60 degrees (which can be very useful when using certain brushes, if you’re into them).
The Bamboo has that thing to keep your pen in which I actually like a lot, but the XP-Pen’ pen stand is just beautiful, especially because it also serves as pen nibs storage.

Some people said that the DECO 03 surface scratches easily (in like a week or two of use). They said the same thing about the Bamboo – didn’t happen to any of my tablets. All you have to do to avoid this is change the pen pressure levels, make it more sensitive, so that you don’t need to put much pressure on the pen. Another thing you can do to further protect the surface is to put a paper on top of it, it actually feels pretty cool!

Twice so far has the DECO 03 tablet gone crazy. One time it went back to the default settings and I had to re-configure it. The second time it was simply out of control entirely, acting up really bad. I re-installed the driver then, uninstalled the old tablet’s driver, and thus far it’s been behaving itself wonderfully (issues-free for about 2 months). The good news is that every XP-Pen tablet allows you to make a backup of your tablet’s settings so all you have to do is and load it if you have any problems!

Drawing Experience and Samples

This is A design contest entry I created



Overall, this thing is great to work with!

I love the texture, since it balances perfectly between roughness and smoothness. The pressure sensitivity is awesome for this price point, as it’s on par with Wacom’s Intuos Pro line of tablets.

These types of tablets are also really helpful in graphic design work. I also hope to start dabbling in vector illustration.

Drawing art work I created by xp-pen deco 03 digital art pad.



Final Words

In the end, I decided the XP-Pen DECO 03 Graphics Drawing Tablet was a worthy upgrade and kept it.

However, I am convinced that one can achieve the same level and complexity of artwork in both tablets. Considering the XP-Pen tablets are usually less than half the price of an Intuos, if you have a budget or if you’d rather save some money, go with the DECO 03 , it’s going to serve you well.the DECO 03 is a really, really good tablet and I don’t regret getting it for one second!

Now if you can spare the extra moneys (or if you’re getting it for Christmas lol) then I do recommend the XP-Pen Artists line, XP-Pen Artist line tablet is a monitor tablet by which you can draw directly on the screen .

I hope this review helps! I recommend purchasing this product. It’s been a great replacement, and I really think it’s a quality product. XP-PEN seems to show passion for their products, and their customer service is pretty responsive as well!

Thanks for reading! If this post helped, please consider sharing it with your friends!

Whether you are painting digitally, sculpting in ZBrush or using 3ds Max, chances are you use a graphics tablet of some description. In this review we will be looking at the XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro to see if this can help you take your work to the next level.

We all probably started with an entry level digital art tablet , with limited functions and space to work. I know I did, I had a tiny Wacom Bamboo and a few years later upgraded to a Wacom Intuos 5. Maybe Im the only one, but Ill never forget the first time I saw someone painting directly onto the screen of a Wacom Cintiq. The first thing I did was open the Wacom website and take a look at the cost of this magical device. $2000 GULP! I have since spent time using a Wacom Cintiq and I know that they are worth every penny, but it is a lot of pennies.

We have been asked many times before to take a look at some of the more affordable display tablets and the kind people at XP-Pen were happy to oblige and provide me with their Artist 22 Pro tablet which I will be considering in this review.

The XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro is a Graphics Monitor Display developed by XP-Pen Technology which was founded in 2005 according to their website.you can find the XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro on their website, If you purchase the package deal you will receive a screen protector, drawing glove, a VGA connector cable, so I advise you to have a DVI cable on hand if you need it. You also receive an HDMI cable, USB connector, two stylus pens, a pen stand with extra nibs in it and two pen charger cables. Overall, I consider this a good tablet and definitely a great affordable alternative to Cintiq.

So let’s get the big bit out of the way to start with, price. This is a huge plus point for this tablet. This is currently retailing at less than $550 on https://www.storexppen.com/buy/60.html . A comparable sized Wacom is going to cost three to four times as much. This is still no small amount, but it does bring the price into the realms of realistic even for a hobbyist.



Features

Weight: about 15.4 lbs (7 kg)
Pressure Levels: 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity
Viewing angle: IPS LED screen with good viewing angles (178 degrees, or +/-89 degrees)
mode: Dual-monitor, Mirror/Extended mode
Display Diagonal: 21.5″
Dimension: 57 x 321 x 30 mm
active area:18.76″ x 10.5″ (476.64 x 268.11 mm)
aspect ratio :16:10
Display Resolution: 1920×1080 dpi up to 16M colors
Stand:VESA-mount compatible
Report rate : 266 rps
Accuracy:Accuracy (parallax, gap between pen’s drawn line and screen) plus or minus .01 in
Resolution: 5080 lpi
digitizert:UC-Logic digitizer
Compatibility:Windows 7/8/10 and Mac OS 10.10 or later , no linux .
The tablet is not multitouch, meaning you can’t use your fingers to paint or do anything on it.

First Impressions

When your XP-Pen arrives it will come in a very standard brown box with no obvious branding or flashy graphics showing off what it can do. I guess it keeps the price down and I’m in favour of that. You will find everything you need in the box to get you hooked up and ready to go. The instructions are pretty basic; however I had mine up and running in minutes with no complications.
You will need a plug socket to power your device, a USB and either a VGA or HDMI socket free to get everything connected up. These are all provided along with the driver which was super easy and quick to install and Im hardly a tech wizard. I had it up and running in no more than 5 minutes which I found surprisingly good.



I must admit I was positively surprised by the weight and feel of it. Ok there are a few plastic parts, but it doesnt feel like a cheap device. It is not a flimsy graphics tablet that feels like it is about to fall apart. The screen is fantastic and it sits very firmly on my desk without any concerns.

The buttons are on the bottom. They are not too hard to reach because the stand lifts the tablet above the table; still, it would be nice if they were in a more convenient place.

The monitor build quality as a whole isn’t as premium as Wacom’s, but it’s solid and stable. Though there are volume controls, there are no speakers; they are for speaker support.

The monitor sits on the stand above the table, making the buttons, which are on the right and along the bottom, easy to access. The ports for the cables are on the back, and a little hard to get to because of the stand. The cables can also get mixed up in the stand.

The device is made of rugged textured plastic with rubber on the base and bracket.The stand can be adjusted up and down to any angle but does not rotate .The stand is removeable and VESA-compatible; you can replace it with a mounting arm.



The IPS Screen / Tablet

The active area on the Artist 22 Pro is the same as on the Cintiq 22HD, as they both have a 22″ LCD screen for a drawing surface. the XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro has a UC Logic digitizer. For those of you who don’t know, the digitizer is what enables the tablet to read pen pressure and location input to allow you to draw lines on the screen surface.

It has 1920 x 1080 resolution, at around 100 PPI (pixels per inch), equal to the Cintiq 22HD. The tablet will come uncalibrated in the box, and you will need to complete your physical tablet setup and put it in it’s permanent position before you start calibrating. I tested it and It looks similar from the various angles, so I’d say it’s around 170 degrees as well. I recommended that you finish your physical workspace setup first because vertically, the viewing angles are not as good as horizontally.

Once the XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro drawing tablet for pc was installed it has been a wonderful experience. The screen protector doesn’t hinder my artwork and since I haven’t spent time on a graphics monitor for a while, it seems anything is better than the usual graphics tablets. Still, I felt the surface wasn’t a hindrance overall.

My background is in illustration and I have been a very satisfied user of Corel Painter for many years. I opened up the software to check out the pressure sensitivity. Immediately I was impressed. Im pretty heavy handed with my tablet, but straight away this felt very comfortable to me. I have always found it easier with my Wacom to go from a thin line to a thick line; however with this device it felt just as easy to go from thick to thin.

It‘s really hard to capture the quality of the screen in a photograph, but I opened up a painting I had been working on recently and viewed it on the XP-Pen and my Samsung LED monitor at the same time. The colors looked more vibrant and the image was clearer. In fact it made me want to get stuck into working on the painting more as it now felt clearer and crisper.

Colors are bright and clear, and matched my computer’s with a little adjustment to the brightness. The Cintiq have a textured screen. The others have a smooth glossy screen, including the Artist 22 Pro. I don’t have a preference, but some people like the Cintiq’s matte screen because it cuts out the distracting glare from the gloss finish. Other people hate the matte finish because it makes the screen a little darker and foggier than they are used to. It’s all a matter of preference, so just go with whichever you like. With the glossy screen, you have to wear the drawing glove all the time, since the bottom of your palm with leave oil marks all over your screen.

If you don’t like the Cintiq and are adamant on getting a XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro or similar tablet, The screen protector will cut down glare and make the screen a little textured so that it feels more like drawing on paper. It went on very easily, did not bubble, and was a nice matte surface good for drawing.

There are no hotkeys on this tablet, you can buy a remote for it. Wacom has a remote for their Wacom 27QHD that includes a handy touch ring for zoom and rotate. I only own the Cintiq 13HD, which has a rocker ring and not the touch ring, but I also have an Intuos Pro and Intuos 4 that has the ring. Personally, I love the touch ring and got so used to it that I’m always disappointed when I review a tablet that doesn’t come with a touch ring. To optimize your workflow, get a wireless remote to use with your XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro so that you don’t have to reach across the table to do your shortcuts.

So far, I haven’t come across a tablet other than the Cintiq Cintiq that has tilt-sensitivity. There are some other reviewers who will say that a XP-Pen, Yiynova or Huion has tilt-sensitivity but THEY DON’T. Certain programs like Photoshop are able to detect the tilt of the pen and change the pen jitter to give you thicker or skinnier lines. This is how it works with real drawing instruments, so it’s good if you have it, but it’s also not that big of a deal since only certain programs support it and not even all the brushes in these programs are tilt-able.
In terms of pen sensitivity, it has 8192 levels, which is on par with the other LCD drawing tablets, and you’re able to change much of the same settings: pressure sensitivity, program the two pen buttons, and calibrate.
As far as support, there’s never really any guarantee that these non-Wacom companies will fix issues that you have. I’ve gotten pretty lucky so far with these Wacom alternatives, every company whose product I’ve tried has been good with customer service.



The P02S Stylus

The pen weighs 17 grams and is comfortable to hold. It doesn’t have indentations or a grip, but it has a good balance in the hand. It slides quickly over the glass, since the screen is slick, though not super-slippery.

Using the screen protector slows it down somewhat. Some people like to draw on a glossy surface; others prefer a textured screen such as that on the Cintiq, or a more matte screen protector.

The pen has good tracking, with a bit of parallax due to the thickness of the screen, as does a Cintiq tablet. I did not notice any jitter.

The pen features an auto-sleep function to save battery life. It takes 1 to 2 hours to charge, which will last a couple of weeks, up to 130 hours depending on use. Because two pens are included, you can keep one charged and switch to it when needed. The pen weighs 17 grams.

There’s a blue light indicator to signal when the battery is low. The pen is rechargeable, but the battery that comes in it is not replaceable.

While charging, the pen light will be red until fully charged.

The two buttons on the pen are programmable in the driver. You can toggle it with just one click and one hand, since the button is within reach of your drawing hand’s fingers, so you could program one button to switch to the eraser, which could save you time.

Unlike the Wacom Pro pen, this pen does not have an eraser on the back end. The buttons can only be customized for mouse functions, such as right-click, as well as eraser.

At first, I thought the battery powered pen that needed to be recharged would annoy me (it has to be charged out of the box for a quick second). But I got used to it and the battery lasts for a long time! I also use the iPad where the Apple Pencil needs to be charged, so this is a similar concept but the pen can be used and charged at the same time. There are two button configurations for the pen which are useful.



Drivers
Some users report no problems at all and others had some glitches. The XP-Pen site has a page of troubleshooting tips. Drivers from other tablet systems, such as Wacom, should be uninstalled. So if you want to switch off with a Wacom Intuos or Cintiq, you would have to reinstall those (it’s probably a good idea to uninstall the XP drivers before reloading the Cintiq ones). There don’t seem to be major driver issues overall.

Very easy setup. Download the right driver from the XP-Pen website. I had to fiddle with the Color to get it right on and off and at the end it was not noticeably different from my laptop screen. Meaning I can paint on the tablet screen without final adjustments to match it to my laptop.

I was able to adjust the color the XP-Pen settings and my laptop color profile settings. It took one or two passes but it came out 95% accurate. I’m a stickler for color so I was surprised. The screen was a little brighter than I expected, but that was adjustable as well.


Art Software

Programs for Mac and Windows,including open-source software, work fine, including Photoshop, Paint Tool SAI, Illustrator, Open Canvas, Comic Studio, and Zbrush.

On Mac El Capitan, I tried Photoshop CC, Illustrator, Krita, Gimp 2.8, Manga Studio/Clip Studio Paint, Rebelle, Sketchbook Pro, and Sculptris, which uses ZBrush. Pressure and everything else worked great in all of them.

On Windows 10, I tried out Photoshop CC, Gimp, Paint Tool Sai, and Sketchbook Pro. The pressure sensitivity and overall drawing experience were great in Photoshop and Paint Tool Sai. Paint Tool Sai delivered really smooth lines.

As expected, Illustrator and Inkscape did not get pressure, as expected (because only Wacom’s do), but you can still use these programs. Pressure works with vector layers in Manga Studio, so vector painting is not a lost cause.

Drawing on the XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro

Anyone who has used a tablet will tell you that there is a slight delay when you move the pen. This is always going to be the case and this was probably the thing I was most concerned about before reviewing this device, as a long delay could be a deal breaker. However the delay is not in any way a problem. In fact I considered it to be very responsive.

Pressure sensitivity flows pretty well. If it is too sensitive to you then you can pull up the monitor’s control panel called Penates and set your sensitivity. Once set everything works fine. I spent several hours illustrating characters on the XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro without any problems. No crashes on my system, nothing. Everything flowed perfectly fine.

So then it was time to really put it through it’s paces. I always struggled to sketch directly in Painter using my Wacom, it never really felt natural to me. I would always do a traditional sketch and scan it before working on the painting. I wanted to see if painting directly on the screen would make a difference and the truth is that it really did. It was no issue at all to quickly throw down some lines and get a sketch started. In fact it felt very much so like drawing on paper in front of me.



XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro vs. Cintiq 22HD

No XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro review can claim that the XP-Pen is “as good” as a Cintiq. But the XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro is enough for artists who don’t need all the bells and whistles. It has the same levels of pressure sensitivity and display resolution, and it’s brighter (250 nits vs. the Cintiq 22HD’s 230). The screen is glossier, because it doesn’t have the coating that Wacom uses to give the surface some bite. The included screen protector from 3M works well in giving the drawing surface a little friction.

The Cintiq 22HD lets you customize express keys and the pen buttons to keyboard shortcuts. The pens also have a variety of types of nibs. Cintiqs support tilt and rotation sensitivity and their stand rotates. They offer a touch version with which you can use your hands to do gestures or draw.

Wacom Cintiqs offer more features, but you don’t really need these to draw; they are to streamline workflow. The XP-Pen gives you most of the features of the Cintiq. The choice depends on your own needs and preferences.

Vs. tablet PC: The drawing features of the XP-Pen and other Cintiq alternatives are like those on tablet PCs such as Surface Pro and Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga–there’s no tilt recognition or express keys.



Pros

Affordability
Size , Screen and display of high quality
Cables simple to set up (no splitters and such)
Adjustable stand
VESA-compatible (meaning you can attach it to VESA stand, so it can go on a wall or mounting arm)
Excellent pressure curve and pen sensitivity
Good build quality
no jitter , Good accuracy
programmable pen buttons
uses EMR, a sensitive digitizer system allowing excellent drawing control
Comes with generous amount of extras (extra pen; several types of cable; cleaning brush and cloth, screen protector, adapter for Mac)
Cons

No programmable express keys
No tilt or rotation sensitivity; pen tilt is manually adjustable, though.
No multitouch option
Pen needs to be charged, though the extra pen helps
Only one type of pen and one type of nib, as opposed to the variety available for Cintiq


Summary
So what is the verdict? I have always found using my Wacom and painting digitally from the start tightened me up and made my illustrations much less loose and exciting. I have always presumed this is because of the unnatural processes of looking up at a monitor, while my hand was on a Wacom at my side. I feel this device will really help to shake that off.
If you are currently using a regular tablet and are looking for something to help you take that next artistic step forward this really could be what you are looking for. Its so easy to use and feels natural on the very first go. Whether you are a 3D or 2D artist Im sure you can imagine the possible improvements a pen display tablet could make to your work, but I imagine much like me you are either put off by the price of a Cintiq or nervous of buying a cheaper device.

This XP-Pen Artist 22 Pro professional graphics tablet can be bought with confidence. Okay it lacks buttons to use as hot keys and the stand on the back feels a little plastic. Also you will find a very limited amount of support online compared to a Wacom device. These are the only reasons I havent given it 5 stars. This is however a genuine option for hobbyist and professional artists alike and I am certain that within five minutes of using it you will see how it can help your workflow. Save up and get yourself one of these, I know it will put a smile on your face and it will be a great investment to help you improve your own art.

Received my XP-Pen Artist 15.6 two months ago. This is a full HD 1920×1080 tablet monitor — no touchscreen, stylus pen only, with 8192 degrees of pressure sensitivity. I wanted to write a review right away, but it took me sometime to tweak my device to a satisfactory drawing condition.

XP-Pen, the shenzhen china-based retailer and manufacturer has recently introduced a number of products into the pen display and tablet market. With many pen tablets already available in the past year, they have made great headway in the competitive market of pen displays. With Wacom being the leader in pen display technology, a competitive challenger that can meet the quality of the standard at a more agreeable price has been desperately needed for years.

The Artist 15.6 is XP-Pen’s highest end tablet monitor, featuring a 15.6-inch diagonal 16:9 display with 1920 x 1080 resolution. The pen offers 8192 levels of pressure and ships with eight replacement nibs. Most importantly, the tablet monitor retails for less than $500 (not include shipping fee in the whole world ), making it a great device for the price.



WHAT’S IN THE BOX

In the package, along with the device, you will get a screen protector, 8 replacement nibs, 1 HDMI to MAC adapter cable , one 3-1 cable.

The Artist 15.6 also came with XP-Pen Artist Gloves, a pen stand, a battery-free P05 Stylus,which come with the new hard plastic case with stands . There are extra nibs and nib removal tools included with each.

Where I Can gei it ?

you can buy it from the internet , they shipping it to the whole world by DHL / UPS / fedex /EMS from Hong kong , I live in sydney australia .I get it 5 days after I ordered . this is quickly . Here is a link to their online offical store : https://www.storexppen.com/buy/51.html



Technical Specifications
Size:- 443 x 280 x 12.6 mm

Active Area:- 344.16 x 193.59 mm

Screen resolution:- 1920 x 1080p.

Pressure sensitivity:- 8192 levels.

Visual Angle:- 178°

Response Time:- 25 ms

Aspect ratio:- 16:9

Weight:- 3.2 lbs

Drawing resolution:- 5080 lines per inch .

Fast Access Keys:- 6 Express Keys

Multi-Touch:- No

Pen Reading Speed:-266 rps

Warranty:- 18 months

Input Signal:- USB Type-C / Included Link & Cables

Compatible with Windows & Mac OS X:- Windows 7 /8 / 10 , Mac OS X 10.10 and later.


The Screen/display

From the name you can pick up that this tablet comes with a Artist 15.6 display. This means 15.6 inches diagonally from end-to-end.

XP-Pen Artist 15.6 has a Screen which has a full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution, IPS panel with 16.7 million colours, 250cdm2 brightness, 16:9 contrast ratio. Colors are reproduced fairly accurately with a gamut of 75% Adobe RGB; not overly saturated. There is a matte anti-glare protector over the screen, with a slight paper-like texture and resistance, offering a more natural and glare-free experience. Which is the common resolution to see on pen displays with this size, the picture quality the screen provides is good too. which will allow you to get all those nice little details when using the tablet display.

Everything about this tablet physically is just plain gorgeous. The screen is clearer than you’d imagine and the pen feels incredible in your hand. Setup may take a little bit of work, but once you get going it’s easy to fall into the zone.

Everything about the tablet’s monitor is beautiful. It offers very high contrast for drawing. It’s actually perfect from all angles which I found by propping up the tablet on a 30-degree angle on my desk. No glare that I could see and the pen drags across the screen with smooth accuracy.

the LCD panel quality and drawing feel were about on par with Wacom’s Cintiq 13HD at less cost. I pulled out an Artist’s Glove and found that this greatly improved my drawing experience with the tablet monitor .



The advantages to this small display .

For one, you can hold the XP-Pen Artist 15.6 right up to your face and not see any jaggies on its 1080p display. 1920×1080 FHD resolution is very acceptable for close work.

The second advantage of a small display is that your hand and pen don’t need to cover a lot of ground to hit any point on the screen. The limited real estate will definitely force you to do more panning and zooming with your free hand, but at least your pen arm won’t have to travel as much as two feet to hit the file menu.

I suggest you can considering it by think about your workspace, the distance at which you work from your canvas and the dimensions in which you like to work.



The P05 Stylus

The stylus that came with the XP-Pen Artist 15.6 came with 8192 levels of pressure for a good variety of line weights.

The P05 pen was very comfortable to hold due to the rubberized grip and decent length of the stylus. It doesn’t feel like an actual pen or pencil but it’s pretty darn close.

I was also happy to see that the stylus required no external battery and did not need to be charged with a USB cable which means you can just pick it up and draw!

There are some problems with these battery-free stylus’ feeling too light without the inclusion of a battery but as mentioned before this pen felt great.

Like most pens included with graphics tablets and tablet displays, this stylus included two programmable buttons that can be programmed using the included drivers.

The menu included by XP-Pen was fairly simple but allowed you to program certain commands to the buttons and was fairly straightforward. There was also an area to calibrate your stylus correctly, which definitely helped me get more accurate strokes than I would have without the calibration. All in all, this menu is used only when initially setting up the tablet display and never really touched again, but it served its purpose well.



Simplified connections

The new 3-in-1 cable is a marked improvement over its predecessor, connecting to the tablet with just one cable via USB-C, allowing for a clutter-free workspace. This side of the cable would benefit from being somewhat longer, to cater for greater distances between working area and computer. The other ends of the cable connect to the HDMI output of your computer (or Thunderbolt/Mini Display Port via included adapter), and to a standard USB port. The tablet was powered sufficiently from my computer alone via USB 3.0. The supplied mains adapter connects onto the 3-in-1 cable, for those who need to power their tablet via mains supply, in the event of insufficient power allocated to USB ports within your computer.

There are two rubberized non-slip strips to the rear which keep the display firmly on the desk. I would have liked a stand to be included, though any built-in stand would add significant bulk to an otherwise sleek product. The AC18 stand is compatible and available from the XP-Pen offical shop ( https://www.storexppen.com ).



Installation

You may download the drivers as well as user Manuals from this page on the XP-Pen site : ( https://www.xp-pen.com ).

The drivers are for Windows 7/8/10 , and Mac 10.4 and later.

The tablet is Linux-capable but doesn’t offer Linux drivers.

The digitizer’s chipset has been upgraded to the latest tech UC-Logic has to offer. Some users of UC-Logic tablets and tablet monitors experienced line jitter when drawing at slow speeds. This update addresses that problem. Slow strokes felt much more natural. Diagonal strokes, also affected with jitter on some tablet models, are also improved. Drawing feels fast and accurate. The XP-Pen Artist 15.6 feels very natural to draw on as a result.

The drivers create a new control panel item called Tablet Setting where you can configure your monitors, program your pen buttons, adjust and test pressure sensitivity, program your express keys and calibrate your screen. The tool offers 4- or 9-point calibration.

Once I went through the tablet settings, I was able to see pressure sensitivity in Manga Studio and Photoshop.

The drivers can be used to adjust pen sensitivity and to make drawing a little easier. The pressure curve is very light by default, so even barely touching the screen will leave a mark. You can adjust pressure values in the settings app if you need more rigid control.

There are few things you need to keep in mind when it comes to XP-Pen Artist 15.6. For one, you will need to uninstall all the Wacom drivers on your computer before you install XP-Pen Artist 15.6’s driver, and possibly the drivers of other tablets, as they can conflict with XP-Pen Artist 15.6’s drivers. So keep this in mind in case you already use another graphics tablets right now. Also, be aware that XP-Pen Artist 15.6 has no multi-touch capabilities, but let’s hope we will get to see that feature in the future.

Pen tip accuracy and response is on par with Wacom with a generous hover space of ½” and no offsetting in any of the corners. In both Windows and Mac, no lag could be detected in basic OS functions.



Application Testing

The aim of this review being based on the point of view of a digital artist, I ran tests for compatibility and workflow with a selection of popular 2D and 3D art applications. These test included the pen’s accuracy in menu selection, pressure sensitivity and, where applicable, tilt functions.

Current Tested software as of 10/15/2018

2D software

Adobe Photoshop CS6 and CC – Pressure functions
Adobe Illustrator – Pressure
The Foundry Mischief – Pressure, Recommended
Autodesk Sketchbook pro – No pressure (Pressure Functions on MacOSx)
Gimp – Pressure Functions
ClipStudio/Manga Studio – Pressure
Corel Painter - Pressure

2D software

Autodesk Mudbox – Pressure (requires Windows Environment Variable to work)
Autodesk Maya – Pressure
Autodesk 3ds Max – Pressure
Algorithmic Substance Painter- Pressure
Blender - Pressure
Pixologic Zbrush – Pressure, Recommended
Pixologic Sculptris – Pressure, Recommended
Pilgway 3D – Coat – Pressure, Recommended



Drawing Experience

XP-Pen Artist 15.6 graphics Pen Display Monitor supports 8192 level of pressure sensitivity , and no tilt support. In case this is your first drawing device, this feature allows you to draw thicker lines by pressing harder with the pen, just like pencils & other traditional drawing media works. Pressure sensitivity can be used in other ways too, like creating more or less transparent strokes. The best advice I tell you is not to stress over pressure sensitivity so much, that anything above 1024, and sometimes 512, is more than enough for most of your needs. Some people are happy with pressure sensitivity as low as 256.

Aretist 15.6 had 6 hotkeys you could customize to speed up your workflow, XP-Pen Aretist 15.6 have always had great pen tracking. There have been a few generations of pen and some firmware adjustments to pressure sensitivity, but it has always been great. I have no issues whatsoever with line straightness doing a ruler test.

There is no “waviness” from imprecise tracking behind the screen. There is no jitter outside from that of your own hand. The tablet was perfectly calibrated all the way to the edge of the display, out of the box . I am able to draw literally to the exact corner pixels, at all four corners. If you haven’t drawn on a Artist 15.6 yet, it’s basically excellent, and quite comparable to Wacom, barring tilt.





To Summarize

Everything about the XP-Pen Artist 15.6 tablet display screams professional.

It is undeniably one of the most affordable tablets on the market at this size and it’s definitely comparable to a Cintiq.

The display is brilliant with accurate colors and customizable brightness settings. The default pen is also very comfy and when you get in the groove you might forget you’re even holding it.

Just be wary of potential driver issues when installing the tablet. There can be jitters and freezing/flash pauses if you don’t uninstall other previous drivers first. Calibration should go smoothly and once you start using the tablet you’ll know within a couple days if it’s gonna be a fit.

If you need a cheaper Cintiq replacement look no further than XP-Pen Artist 15.6 display. For physical quality there is no comparison and this will save you a lot of dough in the process.

Anyone working on an image in Adobe Photoshop or on a drawing in Corel Painter realizes how nice it would be to just pick up a pen and "draw" rather than trying to use a mouse. This is why graphic artists have long turned to XP-Pen pen tablets for editing digital photography and digital art.

For photographers and graphic artists who haven’t already embraced the idea of a pen tablet or tablet PC, the appeal of the XP-Pen G640S is that it is a full-featured "graphics tablet." Tablet PCs offer a great deal of flexibility and a range of practical applications; leading to their popularity with artists and other creative professionals.

So recently I’ve purchased the XP-Pen G640S USB Pen Tablet. I’ve bought this nice piece of gear with the intention of being able to expand the way I use the cursor to select things on my computer. For some people, that may mean being able to draw more naturally, write digitally instead of using the keyboard, for playing OSU professionally; and/or acting as a mouse replacement for the ergonomic benefit, preventing/letting carpal tunnel to heal.

I also imagined that a graphics tablet would help me in video or photo editing. Video or photo editing can require an immense amount of time and concentration, and using a mouse in such a rigid fashion can lead to complications like strain, RSI, carpal tunnel, among other things. Whereas using a tool like a pen tablet feels more natural to use in the hand without putting strain on your wrist. And for this reason, there are many people who use a graphics tablet like the XP-Pen G640S as a total replacement to the common mouse.

The point at which I realized the true value of the tablet is simply when I started seeing how much faster I can edit faces with the pen tool. Because the tablet has a relative positioning attitude (so your tablet is mapped to your screen, and a specific point on the tablet will always be the same point on the screen) you tend to be able to move to exact locations on XP-Pen tablet surface image and edit out blemishes much faster than with a mouse. Also, changes made with a Photoshop tool that requires a natural flow along the lines of your object (like a face) is just so much easier to do well with a pen or stylus than with a mouse. I would not be over-exaggerating to say that it has cut editing time in half.

I absolutely love my XP-Pen G640S , and I’m ashamed that I didn’t place a review for this superior product before now. I was helping a coworker select a XP-Pen tablet for her desk this morning when I decided to write this review for the Wacom tablet. Bottom line for the Star G640S: convenient size, excellent pressure sensitivity, durable construction, excellent value for the price. I would consider this a must-have for any serious digital illustrator or designer.it’s price is $49.99 .you can get more information from https://www.xp-pen.com/goods/show/id/371.html .



What are the Specs for the XP-Pen G640S Pen Tablet?
The size is of the G640S tablet is 259mm wide by 160mm inch height . But the active area on the tablet is 6 x 3.75 inch .the Star G640S is small and light enough to pick up off the desk and work with right on your lap. With a thickness of just 9mm, it’s thinner than just about any device on your desk.
I mean the tablet works very smoothly, but the small area is a tad bit hard to use. If you plan to heavily use a drawing tablet, I would suggest looking at the XP-Pen DEC0 01 tablet if it fits your budget, as the increased drawing space is more ergonomic and comfortable to use.

The G640S tablet has a reporting rate of 266RPS, and in my experience moving the cursor from one end to other on the monitor was as smooth like with any other standard mouse. The G640S pen come with 8192 levels of pressure, which is more than enough for showing the density of a drawing stroke. Just make sure that you check the “Support TabletPC” checkbox on the XP-Pen Driver if the pressure sensitivity isn’t working with your Adobe Photoshop CC software.

The included grip pen is XP-Pen’s standard two-button unit.the new Intuos pens are much more comfortable to hold that the old plastic pens because of the rubber coated grip. I personally found the pen to be perfectly weighted and balanced. The contoured grip area is thick enough to promote good pen holding habits and reduce fatigue.

The tip on the pen seem much more "springy" and responsive. Pen tips are removable/replaceable, and XP-Pen supplies several different tips (also called nibs).

The resolution of the pen tablet is 8192 LPI, or Line per Inch.
The new Intuos features a USB connection that permits hot-swappable, on-the-go design. the G640S also have 6 Express keys that you can assign any keyboard shortcut that you’d like.

The XP-Pen G640S is compatible with many major graphics applications including Corel Painter, CorelDraw, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Fireworks, Macromedia Flash, Comic Studio, GIMP, SAI, Infinite Stratos, 3D MAX, Autodesk MAYA, Pixologic ZBrush, USB interface. Note that you can perfectly use the G640S as a mouse.

The G640S pen tablet also supports Window’s Vista/7/8/10 and Mac OS 10.8.0+


What are the Pros of the XP-Pen G640S Pen Tablet?

Highly Portability

I find that the G640S tablet can be pretty useful. It’s extremely portable due to its extremely small notepad-like dimensions and extremely light weight; you’ll hardly notice a difference if you add the XP-Pen drawing tablet to your hand bag or backpack.

Customization & Programmable Keys

I mentioned before that there are 6 programmable keys to the side of the G640S tablet. These are great, because when you are in the middle of drawing something out, you can quickly perform a command inside the graphics program that you choose to use. There are also an additional 2 programmable buttons on the pen itself; you can either designate them as left & right mouse buttons or anything else if you wish. it is easy use by both right-handed and left-handed artists.

Along with programmable keys, there are many features that you can customize for the G640S drawing tablet. That includes the levels of pressure for the pen’s tip, the active area of the tablet, which monitor to select if you have multiple displays, and more. You also have the option of matching the active area size to match your display ratio.

The significance of G640S’s new ExpressKeys is that they greatly speed up workflow in graphics and other applications. The innovative ExpressKeys provide quick access to commonly used modifiers, mouse clicks, keystrokes, and other time-saving operations used by photo editors, graphic designers, and digital artists.



Pressure levels

The pressure sensitivity of the XP-Pen G640S is pretty amazing for such a cheap price. With the correct settings enabled, I found that I could smoothly ramp up the gradient of darkness & lightness depending on how hard or soft I pressed my pen against the tablet- given that the XP-Pen drawing tablet’s software is properly configured. The tablet’s surface was smooth enough to feel like I was using pen and paper, albeit with a tad bit more scratchy feedback than an actual graphite pencil on paper.

The pressure sensitivity is amazing and allows me the complete control over the virtual medium that I am handling (airbrush, pencil, ink, paint, etc). Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash are all designed to work with the pressure sensitive pens, and the level of control is amazing. Photoshop’s new custom brush palette, combined with the Wacom tablet, permit me to create custom brushes to simulate the appearance of color pencil, pastels, and chalk in such a realistic manner that it’s difficult to discern what is real and what is digital.



Highly Responsive

With resolution and data rates (5,080 lpi, 200 pps) on par with XP-Pen’s other higher-end tablets, performance was predictably smooth and precise. The G640S tracks quickly, without any noticeable lag even when rapidly moving the pen back and forth. The G640S has 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity and pressure-sensitive functions in both Photoshop and Corel Painter performed exactly as expected. I particularly enjoyed the ability to use pressure sensitivity when applying Nik Color Efex filters to images in Photoshop.

Again, I would like to add that new tools requires a bit of time to become accustom to.


What are the Cons of the XP-Pen G640S Pen Tablet?

There are a few downsides or features that could have been improved upon the XP-Pen G640S drawing tablet.

Drawing Room

First of all, I feel that the drawing area is a tad bit too small. Sure, the tablet is exceptionally usable and smooth to the pen movements. But I feel that due to the small drawing area, it takes me longer to to accurately draw what I want with precision. Maybe with enough time I would get used to the small drawing space, but if I had the budget I would go for the spacious XP-Pen DECO 02 tablet, just for ease of use.

Wired

Maybe this is just nitpicking, but I really don’t want to add anymore wires to my desk. My keyboard has a wire. My mouse has a wire. My webcam has a wire. My desk lap has a wire. My microphone has a wire… I could go on. It’s no surprise people like going wireless. So ignore this nitpick if you don’t mind adding an extra wire to your desk. Or alternatively, you could look into a wireless solution, like the XP-Pen Wireless DECO 03 Drawing-Pad.

Requires Software Installation

The XP-Pen G640S tablet requires software installation. You can install the software by download it from their website. it opens a window with a list of drivers; you simply have to choose which tablet you have out of that list. Then the software installation begins. Again, this is nitpicking. But for people who have virtually zero computer skill, they’ll need someone a little more computer adept to help them given that this tablet isn’t plug & play (actually, many drawing tablets aren’t, because the custom software allows for better customization- like assigning which button on the tablet & pen does what).



Operating the XP-Pen G640S Graphics Tablet as a Mouse Replacement

So there are some people out there who choose to use a drawing tablet like the XP-Pen G640S as an alternative to a mouse. The primary reason would be for better ergonomics. The way that many people hold the standard mouse is not safe for long term usage. Even I find that if I keep using a regular computer mouse for an extended period of time, I start to feel cramps and strains in my wrist- all warning signs of RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury).

Whereas with graphic drawing tablets like the G640S, they require you to hold the “mouse” in the pen hand position. This greatly reduces the amount of strain that the wrist experiences, because the rotational angle of the hand is in a more natural position.

You’ll need to use the XP-Pen tablet drivers in order to configure the buttons on the pen and the express buttons on the tablet. A good configuration is to make the pen’s first button a right mouse button, and the pen’s second button as the middle mouse wheel button- which allows you to use the pen’s second button for auto-scrolling. Note that you’ll need to tap the pen twice on the tablet in order to perform a double-click.

The tablet also gives you 6 express buttons that you can are easily configurable to perform any hotkey combination like Ctrl, Alt, Shift, plus any letter, number, PF key, etc.

A good configuration option for those 6 express buttons are to save with Ctrl+S, to close an application with Alt+F4, and Home (no hotkey needed, predefined) or other functions.



Experience In Use

Most artists who use a pen tablet for awhile will tell you it’s impossible to go back to a mouse after using pen-based control. I am something of an oddity among the photographers and graphic designers I know in that I "like" pen tablets but I’ve never really "needed" pen tablets. That is, I never needed a pen tablet until I started using the G640S

I’m not sure what it is about using the G640S with my studio desktop that makes it like a match made in heaven, but I honestly have a hard time even entertaining the idea of not using this tablet on a daily basis. The setup on my Windows 10-based desktop was a breeze. Photoshop CS6 instantly responds to the pen, mouse, and ExpressKey inputs as if they’ve always been there. The 259 x 160mm footprint is perfect for my desk and the battery-free wireless pen mean that I don’t have to worry about cords and I don’t have to worry about charging/replacing batteries.this tablet have the 6x3.75 drawing surface, which I find to be an adequate size for me to accomplish all of my design-work and illustrations. It also is a convenient size to fit into my bag .

I spend about 10 hours a day working in Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and other design related programs including 3D Studio Max. I’ve been using a XP-Pen G640S tablet for about four months now, and I love it. It would be impossible for me to create the designs and illustrations that I do without my XP-Pen G640S . As an artist and designer, I used traditional mediums for years, and then spent another couple of years trying to figure out how to use a mouse in a way that would permit me to create quality images and designs on the computer quickly and in a way that resembled traditional methods.



Design for OSU

The biggest selling point of tablets for osu! is this absolute tracking. Every other parameter such as pressure levels, tilt sensitivity, barrel rotation, etc. will have no effect on your osu! gameplay. These features are for digital art, where the tablet can sense things such as the pressure you’re applying to make a darker pencil mark, for example. The only specification which may affect your osu! gameplay is LPI (lines per inch).

This is essentially the "resolution" of the tablet surface, or how little you have to move for the tablet to detect it. If a tablet has 100 LPI, then you have to move at least 1/100th of an inch for it to register movement. However, even the lowest LPI should be far higher than any monitor that you’re likely to play on, so higher numbers have a mostly unnoticeable effect on gameplay.

In short, tablets are an optional device to let you play the game in a different way. They were originally intended for digital art, but happen to work very well when playing osu!. Most specifications will make no difference in osu!.
For osu!, you’ll probably be looking at getting one of the "small" sized tablets because it’s a common strategy to reduce play area so that you don’t have to move your arm when you play. However, it’s personal preference as to whether or not you want a larger tablet area, and it’s especially worth considering the "large" size if you are also into digital art; drawing is much more comfortable on a larger tablet.



I’m no master of the game Osu! since I only sit at around rank 100 000, only between the 5 digit and 6 digit ranks. However, I do think that I understand what is most important when it comes to shopping for an Osu! tablet after having tried Osu! on a bunch of these tablets

For context, I play Osu! with either mouse + keyboard or tablet + keyboard, depending on my mood. I map my active area to around 2.7×1.5 inches and use the hover “style” rather than dragging.
From what I’ve experienced, I feel that accuracy, cursor delay, active area configurability, and hover distance are the most important aspects of an Osu! tablet.
XP-Pen Star G640S OSU Tablet :
Accuracy: Really good.
Pen Type: Plastic stick pen. Battery-free pen (no-battery/no-recharge).
Hover Distance: ~10-11mm

Without tablet drivers installed
Cursor Delay: Good. No delay.
Active Area Configurability: Unavailable without drivers.

With tablet drivers installed
Cursor Delay: Good. No noticeable cursor delay unlike XP-Pen and XP-Pen.
Active Area Configurability: Available in drivers.

So far, this is the only Osu! tablet that I’ve run into which doesn’t have noticeable built-in cursor delay in the drivers. This is my recommendation for anyone who wants to get an Osu! tablet which they can draw on as well. It’s the exact same size as the XP-Pen Star G640S, except it’s good for both drawing and Osu! gameplay because it doesn’t have any noticeable built-in cursor delay whether you install the drivers or not.

The biggest con is the relatively small hover distance, so it might not be the best choice for you if you tend to hover too high a lot. I had no problems with the hover distance though, but that’s just me.

The reason why I recommend the XP-Pen Star G430S at the top of this post is because it uses the exact same drivers as the G640, therefore there should be no noticeable built-in cursor delay on the G430S either. However, the G430S is only recommended if you just intend to play Osu! on it because it’s slightly too small for comfortable drawing.



So should I buy the XP-Pen G640S Pen Tablet?

Yea, I could definitely recommend the XP-Pen G640S Signature Pad as a high quality entry level tablet. You may find it perfect as a mouse replacement, but the tiny active area leaves a lot to be desired. The strokes made by the XP-Pen G640S are very smooth, and the pressure levels allow for smooth gradient transitions from light to dark. But if you are well in the budget for it, I would also recommend the XP-Pen DECO 02 tablet over the G640S just for it’s bigger active drawing area.

The new Star G640S 2018 are a good entry-level graphics tablets for those willing to get into digital art. The small model with no Bluetooth is particularly good if you want to have an affordable XP-Pen tablet, its price is a bit close in price to the alternatives (although it’s smaller in size).

While the Star G640S are entry-level tablets, I dare say professionals could use them, as long as they don’t need some of the features exclusive to the higher-end Wacom Intuos pro, like the large size, tilt sensitivity.

Hello friends, followers and watchers! This is not artwork, I know, but my latest purchase made me will to change the usual content I drop here, and indeed do a proper review of the thing. I was thinking about writing reviews on art supplies for some time, but heck, never went down into writing one. I mean, not until now, anyway! So, to cut it to the bone and the core of the matter – XP-Pen Artist 12HD Graphics Tablet Monitor. Is it worth it? Is it better or worse than Wacom Cintiq Pen display ? And if so, to what degree?

Feeling of Chinese Luxury : My biggest fear I had when I decided to give this XP-Pen Pen display a try was the quality of the components. It’s not that all Chinese products are automatically crappy, but when you offer a product that is significantly cheaper than its main competitor (that is also a dominant force in the market in question) and promise same’ish features, you kind of start to expect them to cut some corners. And the quality of the materials is one of the easiest places to spare some expenses…

That fear was pretty much banished when I opened the package. fashion white box looked professional from the start, but after opening it, I was utterly delighted. Everything packed perfectly, all the components are there and they were as high quality as you could hope for. tablet itself is small and not heavy, but it feels just /right/ - plastics don’t feel cheap at all, are smooth and polished. The entire tablet doesn’t creak or give way to pressure, giving a feel of stolid solidity. Every other component is a delight too. Pen is light as a feather and comes in a quite luxurious case with all extra bits (Like spare nibs and a metal ring holder for nibs replacement). One thick, 3-in-1 cable is quite a pleasant thing and will surely save some cable clutter while connecting this pen display.



XP-Pen Artist 12HD IPS graphics tablet monitor has 11.6 inch full HD screen intuitive display, 1920 x 1080 high resolution, fashion designed ultra-thin body, HDMI and USB, adjustable holder, customizable up to 6 express keys, a touch bar, 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, weigh 1.2kg.With 6 customizable express keys and 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity, you can perform each stroke with accuracy while preserving intensity and increasing work efficiency.

For $229, the XP-Pen Artist 12HD tablet is a pretty good tablet for artists who are looking for a cheaper and portable tablet monitor.you can check this product on XP-Pen official site https://www.xp-pen.com/goods/show/id/380.html .

What makes XP-Pen devices special is that its cheaper than Wacom without sacrificing on portability and features.The size of the XP-Pen Artist 12HD is actually pretty great! It’s not too large and weighs around 1.5Kgs, making it possible for you to carry around the tablet wherever you go.

In fact, this is a list of everything that you get inside the box:

XP-Pen Artist 12HD Tablet Monitor , 3-in-1 Cable(HDMI, Power, and USB Cables Included),Pen Holder (New Digital Pen P06, 8 Pen Nibs, Removal Tool Included),Power Adapter,Quick Start Guide(Mac and Windows),Microfiber Cleaning Cloth,Artist Glove .

The key dimensions of the tablet are as follows:

Technical Specifications
Screen size:- 11.6-inch.
Screen resolution:- 1920 X 1080
Screen contrast ratio:- 700:1
Panel type:- IPS
Aspect ratio:-16:9
Screen viewing angles:- 178°
Pressure Sensitivity:- 8192 levels
Has a passive pen doesn’t require charging.
Has 6 customizable hot keys and 1 touch bar you could configure to your heart contents
Upgrade from the Artist10S.
Comes with a 3 in 1 cable.
Can be used with both right-handed & left-handed people.
Screen Color Gamut:- 72% NTSC color
Colors:- 16.7 M
Resolution: 5080 LPI
Report Rate: 266 RPS
Product Dimension:- 364.11×218.87×11.5 mm
Active Area:- 256×144 mm
Windows compatibility:- Compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8 & Windows 10.
Mac compatibility:- Compatible with Mac OS / Mac OS X 10.8 and above.


The Tablet

The tablet is great for painting because it supports 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity. So, it’ll be easier to draw on the screen with utmost precision. Further, the touch bar is upgraded from 8 levels to 24 levels and there are 14 user-defined shortcuts / express keys to make your experience smooth and easy.The screen resolution of 1920 X 1080 is high enough for drawing.

What makes the XP-Pen Artist 12HD tablet so great is that its the complete package. So, you don’t have to hunt for a compatible pen or a stylus to complete your portable graphics tablet setup. Everything is covered by the company, which includes a two-level adjustable stand and a digital pen with 8 additional nibs.

I have had the opportunity to try several products of XP-Pen and this presents one of his best designs both aesthetic and functional, The body is almost completely plastic, mixing several finishes and shades with a striking result on the verge of being too much, but still a rather sober result. if you´re planning on painting outside home much or travelling a lot with the tablet.



The Glass Screen

The quality of the screen is definitely an improvement over other XP-Pen products, anti-glare, full HD, better viewing angles etc. But the problem comes when comparing it with the competition. Even more, after the last update of Wacom on the whole line of its professional products, raising the level of the screens to 4k and 99% RGB (which comes with a big price of course).

Colors may not be Artist 12HD’s strongest point, especially with the 72% color gamut, which is around, this is considered normal color gamut, and unless you work in an environment where colors are super important, you won’t have to worry much about this.
However it is possible to create stunning concept art even on a smaller screen. The exquisite frosting surface treatment technology brings me an unprecedented writing experience. just like the original feeling of paper writing.

When you make a mark on the screen it loads fast. The response time is incredible for this model and it’s much better than other XP-Pen devices.You can draw from any angle and still keep a strong view of the screen. There’s no major glare but there is a thin coating that makes the surface super smooth. Opinions vary on screen textures but I think this smooth screen works great. XP-Pen ships this unit with an optional screen protector .

The drawing experience is surprisingly accurate even with the smaller screen. You’ll find no jitters in the work and the outer corners are still just as sensitive as the center LCD area. Every mark you make will instantly translate onto the screen with no lag time.



The 3-by-1 cable

This runs on DC power so it does need to be positioned near an outlet. But if it’s on your computer desk then it can likely plug into the same outlet or power strip. The tablet is connected via an Hdmi, included in the 3x1 cable along with a usb and power supply. This last one has in itself a very curious fact, and is that the connector to the current is interchangeable according to the country where you live.

The sides and back are quite clean, we only have on the left side the 3-by-1 cable entry, the power button .The 3 x 1 cable keeps the work area fairly clean and it looks durable.

Since Artist 12 Graphics Drawing Tablet Monitor is compatible with HDMI there won’t be much of issues connecting it to any modern computer, including any computer with a display port that can be converted to HDMI, like USB-C, Displayport & mini Displayport. The only time this may be an issue is in case you only have VGA port in your computer. I honestly don’t know if workaround solutions would work if you’re in such situation.

Bear in mind that XP-Pen Artist 12HD doesn’t come with a stand. I don’t think that’s a deal breaker for many artists, you can buy XP-Pen’s stand, buy a 3rd party stand, or make your own.



The Stylus

The P06 stylus also comes with a new design. Much more showy than its predecessor, although it does not contribute anything new,A detail that if I found a little annoying in the process of adaptation, is that the buttons are so deep inside the body that sometimes it is difficult to find them, Especially at night. Having said that, it works perfectly .

Since the pen is battery-free you’ll never need to charge it. But if you’ve never used a battery free pen before then it can take some adjusting. One other nice feature is the pen button which replicates a right click on your mouse. But the button is sturdy so you won’t find yourself pushing it by accident. The P06 battery-free stylus featuring digital eraser.



The driver

Speaking of the drivers, incredible improvement of the latest products I tried. Not at all 100% of course, there are still many things to polish, but they rarely fail and the configuration is quite simple.You can download the driver from XP-Pen official site or contact their customer service.

XP-Pen drivers installed within a minute, without any issue and the tablet connected after the installation not only worked perfectly from the start, but also had a surprisingly good Hotkeys already assigned in Photoshop – my main painting software. All in all, it wasn’t any hassle to connect the tablet to my PC – both from the hardware perspective thanks to the 3-in-1 cable and from the software perspective, as the drivers worked flawlessly.



Customizable Press Keys and the touch bar

Since this is a smaller unit you’ll only get six express keys. But this sacrifice might be worthwhile if you need a portable tablet.

Having 6 hot keys , as well as a touch bar for zooming in & out the canvas (you can customize it to do other things if you like). this allow me to increase my work efficiency. Tablet reacts to tapping well and the customizable hotkeys are really nice – tactile, responsive and easily reprogrammed to serve your purposes.

One of the aspects that most motivated me when I saw the photos of this tablet for the first time, was the touch bar. While I’m working, I use quite a lot the touch ring on my INTUOS to change the size of the brushes without stopping and I just love it because makes me go really fast. I tried it and I was very disappointed.



Good Quality, Excellent Price
I wasn’t expecting the same quality of input and features as Wacom Cintiq offers. Simply because I still believe that Wacom Cintiq is significantly more expensive due to the final quality… And mostly because I have constant opportunity to check Cintiq at my workplace. It’s smooth, it’s responsive, it’s polished. But Artist is not really far behind! Pressure control is pretty much the same as Wacom tablets, it feels very smooth and gives proper feedback.

To be honest, I don’t feel any drastic downsides to XP-Pen tablet when comparing it to Cintiq. Screen is bright and clear, pen works flawlessly, feedback is great and constant… Where are the flaws in this tablet, considering how much cheaper it is?



Worthy purchase?
I think it is. I don’t bash Wacom guys… I use their products for years and still work on Intuos Pro at work. And there are pretty much no issues with it. It’s top quality stuff. But I also believe that their brand power is getting a little out of hand, and they charge a shit-ton of cash just because they can as a company that is placed and praised as an absolute sovereign of this market. And it surely was – About 10 years ago I had a Wacom Graphire tablet and a Pentagram XXL. I literally threw the Pentagram into the trash, where it belonged – Wacom had no competition in the past and so it builds an image of The Only Company for you, when you need a graphic tablet.
But the times changed, and more and more companies rise to test the mettle of the old king. If you want a screen graphic tablet with really satisfactory performance but don’t want to splurge… XP-Pen Artist12 is a product I can fully recommend. For more than half the price-tag you get a device that is so similar, you hardly will feel a difference in most scenarios.



Conclusion

For the price and what it delivers, it is a very good option to start with this type of interactive Monitor Display Tablet XP-Pen Artist 12HD .
If you hold the tablet or work in your lap this won’t be an issue. And the stand it fantastic so there’s no reason not to use it! This is one of the best tablets you can get for this size .

If you want a portable display tablet then the Artist 12HD is your best choice. It’s lightweight, sturdy, and built to the best specifications you can get from XP-Pen’s display tablet lineup.

As you can see, this is practically everything that you need to start digital painting on the go. The pen is great and straight lines and curves are very easy to draw on the screen. The pressure sensitivity works well and the overall experience is good. You can definitely work on the go with this tablet. The stand is sturdy and holds the tablet at two different angles, adapting to your needs.

Are you looking for a Cintiq digital drawing Pen Tablet review? You may have just gotten lucky, because Cintiq is no longer the only option on the market. The XP-Pen 13.3 is a budget alternative to the Cintiq 13HD , it’s a tablet that lets you draw directly on the surface and can also be used as a third monitor.sometimes is perfectly fine to pick a cheaper tablet if you can’t afford a Cintiq, because they work well and are enough.

I did get a new pen tablet , the XP-Pen Artist 13.3! I wanted to do a little review of it and give my honest opinion.

The product finally came in the expected date, less than a week, through courier. I was so excited!

This tablet comes in very protective packaging. It is encased in very sturdy foam and boards to keep anything from being bent, broken, and scratched. Color me impressed!



What’s in the Box?

Comes with the tablet monitor, pen, 3 in 1 USB cable, HDMI to mac adapter cable, pen holder, 8 extra stylus tips , and an artist glove that covers the bottom half of your hand. No drawing softwares bundled with it.Everything included in the price (lower than 300€, still a deal). And it was truly beautiful.you can get more information from https://www.xp-pen.com/goods/show/id/202.html .



First Impressions

It comes in a regular cardboard carrying box with a handle. which have a minimalist, all-white, Apple vibe with sharp graphics. Basically the box for this product looks like a cardboard carton you’d get your flatscreen TV in.

The XP-Pen 13.3 drawing monitor looks a lot like the Wacom Cintiq 13HD. It has a 13.3″ screen, The design is quite nice and professional, with a black color typical of electronics.



The Techical Details

Weight : 3.3KG (some more with stand and stuff)

Model : Artist13.3 V2
Active Area : 293 x 165mm
Resolution : 1920 x 1080(16:9)
Panel Size : 13.3inch
Pressure Level : 8192Levels
Pen Resolution : 5080LPI
Report Rate : 266PPS
OS Support : Windows 7 or later,
macOS : 10.11 or later
Viewing Angle : 178°
Gamut : 75% (Adobe RGB)
Display Color : 16.7M(8bit)

you can install the newest driver from their website ,The installation was kinda easy and fast. I sticked clumsyly the screen protector over the screen. I tried to make it right but this is same shit as sticking screen protectors on cell phones; it ends messy sometimes, with lots of bubbles. I finally let it be, because It doesn’t gives me any issues for work (I maybe try to purchase another screen protector later just for the aesthetic). Please, try to use a ruler or something to stick slowly your screen protector, ok? ok.

The screen protector can be important. I worked years with a glass monitor and I liked it. The colors were clear and sharp. Once you stick the screen protector to your Pen Display , the feel is that everything looks a bit less clear (until you get used to it) BUT the protector allows us to work with less light reflections on it. Also, that screen protector is what gives same feel as working over a Cintiq tablet: some kind of paperlike feel. I’m not used to it but I enjoy it as well. I suggest to use the artist glove on them always, no matter if you use the screen protector or not.



The IPS Screen

Anyone that’s used a tablet like this will tell you that the first thing you want to do is check out the pressure sensitivity and screen. To cut a long story short I came to the conclusion that I preferred the matt finish. At times it feels like your drawing on a high quality card and it’s very satisfying. The color quality of the Artist 13.3 screen was every bit as vibrant as I was expecting it to be.

The manufacturer claims 16.7 million colors. The human eye can see about 10 million colors, so I’m not even sure how to tell the difference between the extra 6.7 million, but I can say that the color quality was brilliant from the right angles. From some other angles… the colors start to get more saturated than usual, which can really throw off the accuracy of your work.

Pressure sensitivity is a big deal. I mentioned the comparable Wacom earlier, and you can notice the difference in pressure sensitivity. This is very smooth in the transitions between a lot and a little amount of pressure. To show just how intuitive it is I recorded the very first time I drew lines on it. Needless to say I was impressed.



The P03S Stylus : The Magic Tool?

Definitely, for us, the secret weapon of this model is its smallest accessory. If we already described the forge for all your creations, now it would be the turn of the hammer that will give them shape: The P03S Pen.

This will be the tool that will make you feel that it do everything for you. It may be terrible or strange that the monitor does not have buttons to rotate or modify the space of the canvas. This can be solved by configuring these preferences on the buttons of the pen for have all the control.

Its ergonomic design is different to what is customary to see in other brands, not only looks good but feels very comfortable.

But what we find like the most impressive of this tool is the 8192 of pressure sensitivity. This allows you to degrade and make smoother paths almost as if we were drawing on paper.

You can leave the pencil resting on the base vertically or horizontally. This Artist 13.3’s stand has a built-in nib extractor and 8 spare nibs inside that you can use to replace it.


Controls and Functionality

The Cintiq 13HD comes with 4 hotkeys, and 1 scrollwheel. The Artist 13.3 only have 6 hotkeys,Drawing on the screen was a pretty standard experience, and that’s a good thing! I didn’t really notice any glaring errors or extreme differences in quality.

Before I got carried away with painting I wanted to see how easy it would be to set up the hot keys. You simply open the XP-Pen Artist 13.3’s software and chose the ‘Press keys’ option. Once you’ve done this, click on the button you want to set and a new menu will appear. In the new menu you can simply chose the keyboard key you’d like. It really is that easy.

The next thing I wanted to do was to throw myself in at the deep end and rustle up a sketch. I like to draw pirates so it seemed like an obvious choice for the subject matter – a quick 10 minute pirate sketch. It’s nothing special, but within those 10 minutes I had gone from not knowing the device at all to feeling comfortable drawing on it and using the hot keys. It is incredibly easy to get used to and become comfortable with.

Without further ado I decided to really put the device through its paces and worked on an image from concept to completion. It was every bit as good as the previous XP-Pen I reviewed, but the matt finish of the screen quickly became even more appealing and the hot keys really helped me to fly through processes that would otherwise mean taking my eyes off the screen. Dare I say it; I found it even better than the equivalent Wacom I mentioned previously.



Working on it : Performance

I started drawing over it and I noticed how much well worked on both Clip Studio and Photoshop. It was amazing, so smooth, so steady. The jump from the +2000 pressure levels of my Artist 10S to 8192 pressure levels in my XP-Pen Artist 13.3 pen monitor was showing. I started to think on inking again in Photoshop because the wobbly lines are almost over in XP-Pen, but I enjoy so much inking in Clip Studio so well, I’m gonna stick with Clip Studio for linearts and Photoshop for color.

The screen is large enough, I had to put my toolbars in the middle of the screen to ease the motion in my arm (I have arm and shoulder pain sometimes so I try my best to not force them).



Compatibility

The XP-Pen Artist13.3 Pen Display is compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10; Mac OS 10.8 and Mac OS 10.10. or higher. It works with many softwares like CorelDraw, Corel Painter, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Fireworks, Macromedia Flash, Manga Studio, Stratos3D Max, AutoDesk Maya and ZBrush. However, you should beware because the Huion company did not test out all these softwares properly. Your tablet may work with some versions of the software and not others.

As of now, there is no complete list with the versions that it is compatible or incompatible with. However, XP-Pen has really good customer service and you can always drop them a line with questions and suggestions. (Yes, I tested this out, they responded to my message in a couple days. Customer service was very polite and professional).





Pros

passive pen design doesn’t require charging

8192 pressure settings recognized

3-in-1 cable reduces cord clutter

lightweight and small – easy to transport

very good resolution

works for left-handed people

shortcut functionality

great build quality

easy to use

affordable

Cons

no tilt functionality

no built-in eraser (though you can set one of the shortcuts for this)

some screen glare

no stand

no multi-touch function



In Conclusion

For $300, this is a pretty solid display tablet. I love it, and I think it’s fantastic. Like anything else, it does have its cons, but the majority of the cons are generally able to be remedied. This tablet is more budget friendly than the Cintiq, but still just as good. I highly recommend giving it a shot if you’re searching for a new tablet and you have the funds for it.
There’s not a perfect tablet monitor, but the XP-Pen Artist 13.3 Monitor Tablet it’s a very good (and affordable comparing to Cintiq) investment, and it’s amazing. I recommend it SO MUCH to work professionally in daily basis, also for your art practice. If you can’t afford a Cintiq this is a good option. Something important is that XP-Pen releases driver updates regularly, and they look like they are taking seriously the tablet monitor bussiness.

XP-Pen Artist 16 Pro is a nice affordable pen display & Cintiq alternative, It supports a 8192 level of pressure sensitivity, and features a nice 15.6 inches HD screen. It supports many display types out of the box. It is a pretty much a product I recommend to anyone looking for an affordable pen display to get started with digital art, or for anyone who wants to an affordable upgrade from a regular graphics tablet.



XP-Pen started out in Japan in 2005, and since then has opened offices in Taiwan; Shenzhen, China; and the U.S. They state their concern with the environment led to them to make their pens battery-free. They were kind enough to send me this tablet to review, so I have had time to test out various art programs on it.

I have owned this graphics tablet for around a week and I now feel that I have enough information and have spent enough time with this tablet to accurately review the product. I will continue to update this review as time goes on...

The product shipped extremely fast and was very well packaged. Upon opening the box, I noticed that it came with quite a few items- two pens, two pen chargers, a pen stand (including multiple nibs), a glove, a screen protector, a screen wipe, an Apple display cable, a normal power cable for the monitor itself, a HDMI cable, and a USB extension cable.

Important specifications

Active Area: 344.16 x 193.59 mm , 15.6 inch diagonal
Resolution: FHD 1920 x 1080 (16:9 ratio)
Display Type: IPS
Pen Type: Recharging
Pen Pressure: 8192
Resolution: 5080 LPI
Expresskeys: 8 hot keys, no eraser
Multi-touch: No
Price: $489.99 Buy from https://www.xp-pen.com/goods/show/id/251.html .


The Screen

XP-Pen Artist 16 Pro‘s screen is an IPS panel screen, a type known for having good colors & wide viewing angles. That mean that the colors won’t change much when you view the picture from different angles. Unless you looked at it from a very narrow angle.

The screen size is about 15.6 inches, and has a HD resolution of 1920 X 1080. The screen is made of glass. This means two things, first, if too much light was cast on the screen, then the screen will act as a mirror, making it harder to use, this is easy to fix by placing the monitor on a place where not much amount of light falls on the screen.

You should make sure to check your own room for bright lights if you are considering this tablet, or take into consideration buying an anti-glare screen protector.

Second, it means that the drawing surface will be sleek, this can be good or a bad thing depending on your preferences. If this is the first time you use a graphics tablet or pen display, you may not mind that much.

XP-Pen Artist 16 Pro‘s screen features no touch capabilities, so you can only interacts with it using one of the two pens it comes with.



Display Ports

At the back of the screen, you will see all sorts of display ports. Like USB,& HDMI. That means that XP-Pen Artist 16 Pro will work on your computer no matter which display port your computer has. And to make life easier for Mac users, XP-Pen included a Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter for Mac users.

The XP-Pen Artist 16 Pro needs a USB cable for pen input, a video cable such as HDMI to display the screen (or an adapter if your computer has a different port from those three), and a power cable to power the display.

My power cable is the US plug type, but the power cable should be different according to your region.

Since XP-Pen Artist 16 Pro doubles as a computer display, you can use it as a second computer display when you are not drawing with it.



Drawing Capabilities
XP-Pen Artist 16 Pro Pen Dsiaplay tablet supports 8192 level of pressure sensitivity, which is typical of drawing devices nowadays. The big drawing area can make it easier to draw & have control on your lines.

Since there is a glass that separates the pen from the digitizer, a slight misalignment between the pen & the cursor on the screen is inevitable. To solve this problem, you will need to calibrate your XP-Pen Artist 16 Pro to suit the angle you work on. And for that the driver software of XP-Pen Artist 16 Pro supports two kind of calibration, 4-point & 9-point calibration. The difference between the two is the number of points you point on the screen. Bear in mind that eve after the calibration, there can still be some misalignment at the edges of the screen, but that is due to hardware limitation.

When it comes to drawing your strokes, XP-Pen Artist 16 Pro requires a more pressure to actually make the strokes appear on the screen. So if you are the kind who make a lot of light strokes, then you may not be happy with that. And unfortunately, the driver software doesn’t give you anyway to adjust the sensitivity of the digitizer. So you pretty much need to get used to drawing with how it comes out.

The eight customizable express keys make using the display apart from the keyboard much easier. The express keys make basic actions, like zooming in and out or changing brush size, much faster, but I still needed the keyboard close by for things like cloning.

Overall, drawing performance is good. The pressure sensitivity works very well. The display is responsive and lines appear instantly as they are drawn. There’s no lag.



The Po2s Pen

The P02S pen weighs 17 grams and is comfortable to hold. It doesn’t have indentations or a grip, but it has a good balance in the hand. It slides quickly over the glass, since the screen is slick, though not super-slippery.

Using the screen protector slows it down somewhat. Some people like to draw on a glossy surface; others prefer a textured screen such as that on the Cintiq, or a more matte screen protector.

The pen has good tracking, with a bit of parallax due to the thickness of the screen, as does a Cintiq tablet. I did not notice any jitter.

The pen features an auto-sleep function to save battery life. It takes 1 to 2 hours to charge, which will last a couple of weeks, up to 130 hours depending on use. Because two pens are included, you can keep one charged and switch to it when needed. The pen weighs 17 grams.

There’s a blue light indicator to signal when the battery is low. The pen is rechargeable, but the battery that comes in it is not replaceable.

While charging, the pen light will be red until fully charged.

The two buttons on the pen are programmable in the driver. You can toggle it with just one click and one hand, since the button is within reach of your drawing hand’s fingers, so you could program one button to switch to the eraser, which could save you time.

Unlike the Wacom Pro pen, this pen does not have an eraser on the back end. The buttons can only be customized for mouse functions, such as right-click, as well as eraser.





Build and Design

The screen is made of an anti-scratch glass which seems to live up to its name as I see no scratches whatsoever from the few days I spend drawing on it.

Thankfully the buttons are not placed on the front of the monitor, and are instead on the right side . This means that they do not get in the way when drawing.

The buttons are on the right side . They are not too hard to reach because the stand lifts the tablet above the table; still, it would be nice if they were in a more convenient place.

The monitor build quality as a whole isn’t as premium as Wacom’s, but it’s solid and stable. Though there are volume controls, there are no speakers; they are for speaker support.

The device is made of rugged textured plastic with rubber on the base and bracket.



Adjustable Stand

The stand can be adjusted up and down to any angle but does not rotate (the Cintiq 22’s metal stand both rotates and goes up and down) It’s a good idea to replace the stand with a mounting arm .

The monitor sits on the stand above the table, making the buttons, which are on the right and along the bottom, easy to access. The ports for the cables are on the back, and a little hard to get to because of the stand. The cables can also get mixed up in the stand.

The stand is removeable and VESA-compatible; you can replace it with a mounting arm.





Compatibility

The Artist 16 Pro Drawing Monitor supports Windows 7 or later and Mac Os X 10.8 or later, and is compatible with popular creative software, such as Adobe Photoshop, Corel Painter, Clip Studio Paint, SAI, ZBrush, MediBang Paint and Toon Boom Harmony.

PROS

+ PRICE: Compared to Wacom products, this Artist16 Pro display tablet at the time of this review is only $489.99, compared to $1,599.95 of a Wacom the same size. I honestly do not see why anyone would spend the money on a Wacom with the XP-PEN being such high quality

+ IMAGE QUALITY: The image quality is absolutely stunning- I was blown away by just how accurate the colors are and how brilliant the screen is. I have heard people complaining about non-Wacom brand tablets cause eye strain and should have breaks taken after an hour- I can say I have drawn for seven straight hours on this tablet, and I have not had a single problem.

+ PEN (x2): It is absolutely great that this product comes with two pens- one can be charging while you are using the other, or if you are like me and misplace the pen all of the time, this is a great alternative. The pen is built extremely similar to the Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch pen, which was my previous favorite tablet- it was very easy to get used to this pen. Also, I will mention this later, but there are two buttons on the lower part of the pen that you can set to be an eraser, right-click, etc. I find this is incredibly helpful because I do not have to keep going over and clicking the eraser.

+ SIZE: 15.6" screen makes this product extremely nice, like a large canvas just waiting to be drawn on.

+ ACCESSORIES: This product comes with quite a few extra accessories- a glove, a screen protector, a screen wipe, extra nibs- all things that the company does not have to include, but they do. I think that really speaks highly of XP-PEN when they could be charging for these items

+ CORDS: Every cord that you can imagine comes with this tablet, which is great. I run a Windows 8.1 on an HP Pavilion so I did not have to worry about compatibility, but all of the options that they provide in cords make this product extremely versatile. I have noticed some people saying that the cords did not match- I did not have this problem. All of the cords that I received were black and seemed high quality.

+ COMPATIBILITY: I have confirmed that this works with Paint Tool Sai, Photoshop CS5/6, Illustrator, Open Canvas, Comic Studio, ZBrush, Fire Alpaca, and Manga Studio Pro.

+ ASSEMBLY: Honestly, set-up took about five minutes. You literally just have to plug in the correct cables and you are all set. The drivers install very quickly and everything went very smoothly.

+ SHIPPING: The shipping on this product was four days without Prime, directly from Hong Kong- which is absolutely amazing when you think about it

+ CUSTOMER SUPPORT: Not only is the staff friendly, they really care about their customers. As I stated before, they do not need to include all of the extras that they do, such as extra pens or screen protectors. Also, from reading many previous reviews, they really do listen to their customer base. A large complaint while I was reading reviews was that the cords do not match- one was blue while the others were black. When I received my cords, this issue was fixed. Another problem users had was with the screen protector- it was incredibly hard to attach it without multiple air bubbles. Now, they have updated the screen protector to one that simply attaches at lays over your screen. Just the fact that they listen to their customers and actually spend the time going through the reviews speaks wonders about this company.

+ NO HEAT: I have used this for up to seven hours straight, and noticed no excessive heat. It was a little bit warm, but not “freshly microwaved food” warm, more like “slightly warmer that its surroundings but not even close to how warm my laptop is” warm.

+ VERY HIGH DEFINITION: When this says HD, it really means HD- this monitor is stunningly beautiful, not only for artwork, but doubles as a second monitor for gaming, internet browsing, movies, and any other use you could think of.

+ CALIBRATION: This product required absolutely no calibration, color or touch, out of the box. Although that is not a big deal, it is a little extra something that made the entire experience nice. Just for this review, I did re-calibrate my screen- this was a very quick and easy process.

+ RESPONSIVE: This product has increased my productivity so extremely much; it is almost amazing to me. Previously favoring my Wacom Intuos, there was always this disconnection between drawing on the tablet and it appearing on the screen- this always caused me to have to re-draw lines over, and over, and over, until they were just right. With this tablet, that takes all of the guesswork right out of it- where you draw, there will be a line. It’s almost stunning how much more I get accomplished in a session.

+ SMALL PARALLAX: You do notice some parallax while drawing, but after drawing on a tablet for so long, it really does not bother me personally- I rarely noticed it at all.

+ DRIVERS: It is easiest just to download the most current drivers directly from their website, so getting the drivers from the Internet, while being my only option, went incredibly smoothly

+ LIGHT-WEIGHT: I was honestly surprised at how light this monitor was- I was actually expecting something a lot heaver. I really enjoy how this tablet is light but does not feel flimsy in the least.

+ THE STAND: I have noticed that quite a few people have commented that the stand is flimsy/awkward. I, personally, have not had this experience. I trust the stand enough to put full pressure on it and I do not worry that it will break.
CONS

- NO PEN ERASER: While there is no direct pen eraser similar to the Wacom Intuos, it does have a button on the pen that you can set to the eraser- I almost find this easier that having to flip the pen upside down and use it to erase.

- Some parallax: There is some spacing between the pen tip and where the cursor appears.

- GLOSSY SCREEN: This is probably my least favorite part of this tablet- the screen is extremely glossy. In a brightly lit room, the glare on this is pretty bad. I work in a room that is only lit by Christmas string lights, so I do not have a problem with this, but when I do turn on the overhead light, it does cause some issues.



The Verdict
Overall, I am so extremely satisfied with this Artist 16 Pro pen monitor - within a few short days; it has become my most favorite drawing device. I would honestly recommend this to any person looking to buy a tablet but not wanting to spend an ungodly amount of money. This product has the quality of a champion, and I look forward to being a customer of this company for many years to come. I was so afraid at first, because it is $489.99 , and XP-PEN is not as famous as Wacom- everyone knows Wacom. Looking back, I realize how foolish I was to wait so long on this product. If you have to take a chance on something, I would definitely take a chance on this tablet.

After getting to test the Wireless XP-Pen Star 05 tablet, I was curious about how good the more averagely priced XP-Pen tablets were so I bought this XP-Pen New DECO 02 when I saw it on sale on XP-Pen’s website. The main reason why I chose this tablet is because of 6 expresskeys and 1 Touch Ring there were, and because I wanted to see how convenient hot keys are.

The XP-Pen DECO 02 Digital Painting Graphics Tablet, perfect for beginning digital artists looking for a reliable graphics tablet that will last for years. It is perfect by adobe illustrator for drawing and painting or Photoshop for photo editing, which makes it an exceptional value. It has a 10 x 5.63 inch area to draw on, and it’s large enough to use on your desk or to throw in a backpack with your laptop and the lightweight pen to create artwork anywhere. The DECO 02 connects via USB-C .



You can get all of the detailed technical specs over on XP-Pen’s website, but for the purposes of this review here are the specs that we find relevant:

14.2 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches
6 Express Keys
10 x 5.63 Drawing Area
Win10 & MAC OS Compatible
1 Touch Ring
P06 Passive Pen
Additionally, in terms of the responsiveness and usability XP-Pen says the DECO 02 is capable of:

8,192 levels of pressure
5,080 lines of resolution
266 pps recording
Again, if you are interested in the full tech spec rundown you can find that information over on XP-Pen’s website,

A great, beautiful looking tablet with 6 hotkeys and touch ring capability. Brings new life to the DECO 02 by adding gestures and pop-up helper menus simply by hovering your finger above the keys on the tablet. Professional level sensitivity at 8192 levels with pressure. they make for a much smoother workflow so you don’t have to snap out of creative mode to figure out the buttons.

This is a fantastic tablet for its price of 110 USD on https://www.xp-pen.com/goods/show/id/324.html . It is half price or less compared to the Wacom Intuos draw, except that this tablet has a much bigger active area which will give you better line control.



What’s in the Box

The XP-Pen New DECO 02 comes in a slick and simple white box with a picture of the tablet on it.The things that come in the box:

A. DECO 02 Tablet
B. P06 Battery-free Wireless Stylus
C. Pen Holder (8 pen tips + 1 Remover pen-clipper included)
D. Drawing Glove
E. Green Stopper
F. USB Cable
G. Quick guide



The Tablet

The tablet has a nice overall design with a simple flat area for drawing. I was surprised at the overall size of the tablet at first, but it should fit easily into most backpacks or laptop bags.

The surface of this tablet has a smooth design with enough tooth to not feel like you’re slipping while drawing. I think this is the best texture to prevent nib and tablet wear while giving you a decent amount of control over your lines.

The back of the tablet has the usual information sticker and 4 rubber feet. The rubber feet do a proper job of holding your tablet in place while drawing.

The expresskeys on this tablet are fantastic to use. They have enough resistance so that you don’t accidentally press them, but not so much resistance that they’re hard to press. They’re also fairly quiet, only giving enough of a click to let you know that you’ve actually pressed it.

The XP-Pen DECO 02 Graphic Drawing Tablet is definitely one of the most affordable tablets out there. You can sometimes pick one up for under $110. Which is incredible compared to other graphic tablet prices. The size of the canvas is large as well. The drawing area 10 x 5.63 inches and has a nice elegant slim build. It’s pretty big, but at the same time it doesn’t take up your whole computer desk.



6 Hot Keys and 1 touch ring

You don’t need to be the best drawer in the world to make good use of this graphics tablet, the pen feels fantastic in the hand, you have 6 user defined controls that allow you to set it up as you wish, maybe creating some back buttons, some special effects, who knows? It’s totally up to you. If you take the pen you can see there are 2 more buttons on there which you can also customize to do whatever you want.

The express keys were easily pressed and were spaced far enough apart that you won’t ever misclick a button accidentally while working.

the touch ring allows you to zoom in and out incrementally to check your work close up and far for stuff like details, value, composition, etc.

The main selling point of this tablet is apparently the Sliver touch ring. It spins really smoothly and clicks nicely every ~15 degrees of rotation. I have no complaints about its quality, but I was never a fan of wheel-type expresskeys so it only acts as an accessory for me.

The other reviews of the Deco 03 I have seen so far praise the Sliver touch ring for being the main reason they like the tablet, but I really cannot see it as a plus. In my opinion, the quality rubber grip pen is the real advantage here.

The buttons are located on the left side of the tablet, but do not fret my left-handed brethren! I had no problems with the buttons getting in the way even as a left-handed individual.



The Stylus

The Pen feels good when drawing, it’s not too heavy compared to other pens. It has two buttons that can be customized and an eraser at the end .

As far as pens go, I have to say this is one of the nicest tablet pens I have used to date. A unique hexagonal design,It feels well-built and you can tell a lot of time and design effort went into it and how it would fit and feel in your hand for extended periods of time. These ergonomics will come into play when you are spending hours processing images and repeating similar movements over and over and over. If I had to choose a single highlight about the DECO 02 , this P06 Stylus may well be it.

The stylus that came with the XP-Pen DECO 02 came with 8192 levels of pressure allowing for a good variety of line weights.

The pen had a great non-slip & tack-free flexible glue grip which made it really easy to draw with for long periods of time.
I’ve mentioned this stylus’ responsiveness already, but it’s really where this stylus shines.

There’s a lightness to this pen that I wasn’t expecting and while it took a little while to get used to I now feel like this is a great pen for getting nice, smooth lines.

Just keep with the pen until you get used to the lightness and you’ll find that it’s fairly reliable for drawing.

It comes with a pretty nifty pen holder so that you’re not just trying to lay the pen down on the tablet or trying to find a good place to store it. It does come with a hefty base you can put it into so you can have a good place to store the pen when you’re not using the tablet.the DECO 02 comes with a bunch of spare transparent nibs, as located in the inkwell holder.



Installation

The tablet driver are extremely easy to install. You don’t even need to have your tablet plugged in to install them! Just go download the latest version from https://www.xp-pen.com/download/index.html and remove all other tablet drivers you have on your computer before installing it.

While installing, you’ll need a clean slate; that is, no other tablet drivers should be on the system at the time of installation. It’s been noted that tablet companies do not like to play well with others and so you’ll have tons of driver conflicts; whether that is true or just an issue caused by my older XP-Pens and Windows 10 Pens are uncertain, but just it’s best to be safe and just nuke the other drivers.



How Compatible Is It?

The XP-Pen DECO 02 drawing tablet is compatible with the latest software including adobe illustrator, manga studio, and many more that are out there.

This tablet is compatible with both Windows & MAC software. The windows software has a very wide range of customization, allowing you to customize the buttons making it perfect for you.

However, for me the only major downfall with this tablet is this; When it comes to the MACs customization possibilities it lacks a completely customizable interface, so it doesn’t allow you to create those buttons the same way that you can on the Windows compatible one. So if you are a MAC user just be aware of that problem before purchasing the product especially if you want to fully customize it.

If you have a Windows computer, like the majority of you do this is going to be perfect entry level tablet for you. It has a full software suite that comes with the tablet, to get the additional software and the drivers and to customize it so it only works on one screen, also to set the buttons exactly how you want them.



Drawing experience

This tablet gave me a fantastic drawing experience . In other words, it was extremely good! The smoothness of the tablet was great because it didn’t feel like I was grinding the pen nib, and it has just enough texture to prevent me from slipping. For anyone who expects a paper texture, this is probably not what they want, but this smooth texture is so much better for making a graphic tablet last that much longer.
The stroke control for this tablet is very good and it tapers very well for both short and long strokes. As for drawing, there’s no lag during this stage. None. XP-Pen’s is swift and sure, and the cursor keeps up. For an artist, this is a must and is not merely a high bar to be set, it’s an assurance of quality. XP-Pen meets this bar and exceeds it.

The expresskeys on this tablet feel absolutely fantastic, and I would surely recommend this tablet to someone who is looking to make use of the expresskeys on their tablet. The softkeys are a good idea, but unfortunately they are not very convenient. If someone can figure out a way to use them without having to look down, then they would be very worthwhile, but as they are right now, they are just decorations on the tablet.

The cord placement is very fitting for a right-handed artist, but it seems like it would get in the way for a left-handed artist. There is also the fact that the soft keys are along the bottom of the tablet if used in left-handed mode and I doubt that makes them any easier to use than in right-handed mode.
I am right-handed so this tablet is fantastic for me, but I have my doubts about its convenience of use in left-handed mode.



What I Liked

Real pen feel

Ambidextrious

Smooth controls and digitizing,

Priced realistically

Pen-to-tablet interaction is smooth, but well damped

Tablet reads strokes accurately and quickly

Powerful, but usable software interface



Conclusion

If a beginner digital artist has enough money to consider an DECO02 , I would suggest that they get this instead. The extra active area space is much more worthwhile than getting the XP-Pen brand name, especially since the quality of this xp-pen tablet is really good.

Overall the XP-Pen DECO 02 Drawing Pen Tablet worked fantastically and makes a great entry level drawing tablet. It’s only a 10 x 5.63″ tablet which is actually a very good size for drawing, leaving you with enough room for being precise and not having to pick up your hand and change positions. It even has 6 completely programmable and great feeling expresskeys.

The XP-Pen Star 05 is the best drawing tablet for beginners. The 05 works on Windows and macOS with most popular art programs, and it offers the most precision and control of any tablet under $100. The Star 05’s pen and tablet buttons are among the most customizable—along with the other XP-Pen tablets we tested—thanks to excellent software.

The XP-Pen Star 05 is a beautiful device. It is a sleek off-black, and very smooth. The beveled edges are a nice touch. It’s overall design is very minimalist, which is something I personally enjoy. It doesn’t have any parts that stand out too much; nothing looks out of place. This device has a subtle structure and overall, it is just so good looking.

In regards to size, the Star05 is 11.7 x 7 x 0.4 inches. With an Active Area of 8 x 5 inches, it is pretty large- which in this case is a good thing! While it isn’t the biggest tablet, it’s not too small; nearly perfect in size actually. My only complaint here is that I wish the active area was slightly larger.

The Stylus is pretty basic; nothing particularly stands out other than the lack of batteries, which is great. Sadly, it also lacks the eraser end; something I do miss. Overall, the pen is pretty decent as it looks good and the writing aspect of it is fantastic.

Function-
Installation– Installation’s pretty easy. Plug in the device, install the drivers and it is ready. The only problem is one in which pretty much all tablets have: You have to delete other tablet drivers, though it’s relatively easy to do. So in short, the installation is simple and quick.

Drivers can be obtained through the provided disk or XP-Pen.com. It should be noted that though the Drivers for the Star05 are currently not working, you can still use the device with the Star04 driver.

Actual drawing– The first thing I noticed when picking up this beautiful device is that it feels a lot like a drawing pad. This is a huge plus for me. Most Graphic tablets feel fragile, or otherwise odd when holding. This one, I just grab and hold like I would a drawing pad; it feels really natural and comfortable.

When it comes to drawing, the device is just as exceptional. The setup is easy; you can adjust pressure by going into the settings menu. The pressure feels pretty dang good, which is not something I say about the other tablets I have used. Many tablets are either far too sensitive or not nearly sensitive enough. The Star05 hit the balance perfectly. Beyond the pressure, the tablets drawing is very smooth. You don’t have lag or latency while drawing, even during long, continuous strokes.

When drawing, I noticed that I did not feel disconnected from the actual drawing. I’m not sure what it is about the tablet, but it feels very nice to 05 on; much more natural than your average tablet.

Thanks to the size, you have plenty of room to put your hands on the tablet. In my experience, it is far more comfortable to use than other tablets. On top of that, it is solidly built; it doesn’t feel like it will break if you hold it and it feels very good in your hands, somewhat reminiscent of a drawing notepad.

You don’t have to worry about batteries because you only need to plug it in and charge it via USB. You can actually do this while drawing, allowing you to go back to the sweet wireless capability. The lack of batteries is fantastic. Besides looking better, it also makes the tablet feel better.

The XP-Pen Star05 also has six touch buttons; the best of which is the undo button. There are also buttons for Brush+, Brush-, Switch, Pen-Walker and Grab. These shortcuts are fantastic and help speed up productivity by quite a bit.

Overall, XP-Pen’s new tablet is just fantastic to use. It feels so smooth and the sense of connection to the actual drawing is wonderful. There is not much to improve upon for this device; the only thing missing is the eraser on the stylus.

Awesome part about this Graphics Tablet is the fact it’s WIRELESS! Of course you do have to charge it (Which takes about 2 hours.) but once it’s charged via USB you unplug it and it operates completely wirelessly. It’s supposed to last about 14 hours but we’ve not tested that fully quite yet, stay tuned, After setting it up you can easily change it for Left Handed uses, which my sis is a lefty herself (You’re okay with me saying you’re a lefty, right sis?) so I know it does well for left handed artists.
With the tablet’s 2048 pressure levels this tablet can do everything the XP-Pen can and more, while being way cheaper then any comparable XP-Pen product. Sis has tested the pen out on all her art programs, which are pretty much the norm in art lately, such as Krita, Paint Tool Sai, even Photoshop. So yeah it’s doing her great and I think she loves it, as well as her new and pretty powerful laptop computer.

Conclusion-
The Star05 is XP-Pen’s most popular and least expensive entry-level tablet, perfect for beginner digital artists looking for a reliable graphics tablet that will last for years. And with the included Art Rage software, the Star 05 is an exceptional value. With a 8-by-5-inch active area (the area you can draw on), the XP-Pen Star 05 is a small graphics tablet that you can use on your desk or throw in a backpack with your laptop and the lightweight pen to create artwork anywhere. The Star 05 connects via USB so you can draw, paint, or edit photos and digital art.

After having spent a good amount of time with this product, I can easily say that this is the best drawing tablet I have used. The drawing feels fantastic, it looks great and works well with the programs I tested it with. My only issue with it is the lack of an eraser, though that is in no way a deal breaker for this outstanding device.

If you are in the market for a wonderful, up-to-date drawing tablet, you can’t go wrong with XP-Pens Star05 . You heard it here first this Tablet is a success so far and is still only $99.99 on https://www.amazon.com.au/XP-Pen-Star05-Wireless-Graphics-Battery-free/dp/B01MAZ5FDL .

The Artist 22E is an update of the XP-Pen Artist 22. The main obvious change is the addition of the Express Keys. The 22 had no Express Keys. (Those are buttons on the outside of the monitor, or sometimes on-screen keys, that can be programmed with software commands). The Artist 22E also uses A+ LED, which has better color quality than the 22.

The XP-Pen Artist 22E has two sets of keys, eight on each side, making life equally convenient for lefties, righties, and the ambidextrous. They mirror each other, so there are a total of 8 programmable keys, not 16. These are all on the outside. They are slightly raised.

The cords now get tucked vertically in the back. On the XP-Pen Artist 22 Graphic Monitor Tablet they were in a row under the stand. They are now easier to reach. This version does not have speakers. (Installing it, though, may alter the speaker settings on your computer–it did on my Mac–so you may need to go and reset them to continue getting sound from your computer).

Since XP-Pen has included an HDMI to Mini Display Port adapter, you don’t need to buy anything additional to use it with a Mac.

To install the driver, you have to uninstall all other tablet drivers I had zero problems installing the driver on my Mac. On Windows, the tablet icon that you click to open the driver settings, didn’t appear, but I opened the driver settings in the folder.

If you’ve had other tablet drivers on your computer, you’re going to have to uninstall them and all remnants of them–this can be tricky. XP-Pen has a troubleshooting page for driver issues.

The driver lets you program the Express Keys, adjust your pressure sensitivity, test it by drawing with four colors, calibrate the touch points (4 or 9 points), and rotate the image on the screen in 90-degree increments.

It came well-packaged, not fancily, but safely. The accessories are all individually wrapped and put in one box. The box has a handy handle.

Portability
At around 17 lbs. including the stand and power supply, this (or any) large tablet monitor is not very portable. The handle on the box helps. The attached stand folds up. It’s not terribly heavy to pick up, though I would not want to walk around with it for long. The power brick is not that big.

For Lefties
The right- and left-hand columns of Express Keys make this a great choice for lefties.

Screen
The XP-Pen’s HD screen is bright . The XP-Pen screen is smoother, but isn’t too slippery. It’s fun to draw on. The screen doesn’t get that dark even with brightness turned all the way down. Turning it up increases color intensity.

The screen has been measured at 250 nits .
The pen squeaks a little on the screen once in a while but not often, and that should go away after a while. There were no dead pixels. There was a little dust on the outside of the monitor.

Screen protector
The screen protector had some bubbles that were difficult to get rid of. I also just preferred the feeling of the pen on the screen, so after trying the screen protector I removed it.

Pen

The pen needs to be charged via USB. A full charge takes about an hour and a half, but 30 minutes is enough to work for quite a while. The company says the pen can go up to 130 hours on one full charge. It has red and blue indicator lights showing when it’s charging or low.
The pen has no indentation to grip, but it’s comfortable to hold, and a good weight at 17g–a combination of light enough to not get tired, but giving some balance. The barrel has two buttons. They are easily reachable.

The default settings are right-click and erase, but you can change that in the driver settings. The pen does not have an eraser end. The buttons cannot be customized to keyboard shortcuts, but only to eraser and things your mouse does (right-click, etc.).

Art Software
Mac: I tested on Mac El Capitan: Photoshop, Illustrator, Manga Studio, Sketchbook, and the free programs Gimp, Inkscape, Paint Too Sai, Sculptris, and Krita. The pressure sensitivity worked great in all of them (I am not that familiar with Sculptris, a free 3d program, so I was not sure what to expect but the pressure did make a difference).

As expected, the pressure sensitivity doesn’t work in Illustrator; so far, Wacom Cintiqs and Intuos Pros have the monopoly on that. The pressure also, as expected, doesn’t work in the Inkscape calligraphy brush, since Inkscape is similar to Illustrator. You can still use the tablet in those programs, without pressure. Pressure sensitivity worked in vector layers in Manga Studio Pro, so you can draw in vector with this.

Windows: On Windows 10 I tested Photoshop, Gimp, and Sketchbook, and got the same results–works great.

Controls
There are basic controls on the bottom right. There are no speakers in the monitor, and when you attach it, you may have to change speaker settings to get sound in your computer as it may change the settings (this did happen and it’s on the XP-pen.com ). The driver settings let you test and adjust pen pressure, calibrate the screen to the pen, and set up the Express Keys.

On the bottom there are controls to adjust brightness, bring up the menu that allows some color adjustments, and the power on/off.

Out of the box, the Express Keys are on default settings that work in all programs. You can reprogram them to your favorite keyboard shortcuts using the driver settings. The pen’s two buttons are programmable as well, to mouse commands such as right and left-click, and eraser.

Drawing on the XP-Pen Artist 22E ( https://www.amazon.com.au/XP-Pen-Artist22E-22-Inch-Display-Graphic/dp/B01M9EURM1 )
Here’s a pen test showing pressing down harder and softer in Photoshop CC. I’m working on some more video.

Me drawing curlicues on the XP-Pen Artist 22E. You can see the pressure sensitivity at work.

Have to say I really enjoyed the XP-Pen Artist 22E for drawing. The lines are fluid, the pen sensitive. I adjusted it to a bit higher in pressure as it’s very sensitive at the lower areas. The driver, which Ugee and XP-Pen developed together, gives a springiness to drawing. XP-Pen (the company) also used to work with UC-Logic (the company), but no longer does.

Tip: On a Windows 10 computer, some programs, including Photoshop and Sketchbook, require “supports digital ink” to be ON in your PC tablet settings in order to get pressure sensitivity.

In Photoshop, remember to have Brush Shape Dynamics turned on.

There is a little parallax because of the glass. No jitter whether drawing forward, back, or faster I didn’t experience any hover issues.

The Verdict
I can’t find much to complain about. It works well and is great to draw on. This is a good professional or starter pen tablet monitor. It doesn’t have every feature of the Cintiq, so the decision should come down to how much you need those additional features. Customizable keys increase efficiency, but you can draw without using them at all if you prefer, or just use some.

This XP-Pen Artist 22E Drawing pen Tablet review is a thumb’s up. The color is bright and vivid, and it gets most of the Adobe RGB. This is a great tablet if you want a large, responsive drawing surface to create digital art.