design tools to create graphics

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 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.

XP-Pen Artist 12 official store : https://www.storexppen.com/buy/artist_12.html

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 official site: .

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.