Lemma Soft Forums

Hello everyone.

I recently upgraded my PC and now I'm thinking of buying new XP-Pen graphics tablet for it. As I have been using only a pen tablet DECO 02 for art, I'm thinking of getting a pen display. The problem is, I don't know much about them.

So I'm looking for help in deciding what kind of pen display I should buy. It should be something that I can hook up into my PC, so portability is not an issue, though I am willing to consider the options.

Thinking of this, I was going to get the XP-Pen Artist 15.6, but then I discovered that Wacom is planning to release the Artist 15.6 pro sometime next year. Because of the impending release, the Artist15.6 ( https://www.xp-pen.com/goods/show/id/225.html ) is currently on sale.
So should I wait for the release of the pro version, or go with the Artist 15.6 ? Or is there another alternative that I should consider? Or is the pen display just a waste of my money and I should stick with the pen tablet DECO 02 ( https://www.xp-pen.com/goods/show/id/324.html )?

Thanks for your time!

What's wrong with your current pen tablet? Artisul and xp-pen both have notable cintiq alternative with only third the price of cintic, but honestly, since I only use old wacom bamboo and old intuos pro so far, I can't really speak about them although I'd love to hear experience from those who have tried those brands. I won't say pen display is a waste of money. While it does make your drawing experience better, your drawing won't magically get better by using one so for me it's not a necessity.

I've had so many friends get burned on Cintiq alternatives that I can't imagine the stress of trying to get a good deal on a display tablet!

If you can find a display tablet that you can test in person, and it works okay for you, it's worth getting. My friend had a model of Huion tablet, and although he liked it, the pen lag was a bit much for me. When I was at the Art Institute of Toronto for a weekend seminar thing, they had a few non-Cintiq tablets on display for people to try. When it comes to non-Cintiq tablets, if you can't test it, don't buy it.

Honestly though, I still use a plain old Intuos 4 at my day job, and it works fine to create professional-level work. My display tablet at home has been really nice to have, but it's not essential to make great art.

Wacom is still the industry standard, but there are alternatives out there now that are equally good, or almost as good, that are making Wacom's high prices harder to justify. It isn't like it was a decade ago, when everything else was junk. I remember my first non-Wacom brand tablet. It fell apart in my hands. That kept me loyal to Wacom for years, but like I said, things are different now.

I don't know about the XP-Pen, but there are a lot of knowledgeable reviews out there that compare Wacom alternatives, so you should be able to research what you want and reasonably trust what you'll get. I use a Yiynova and I got exactly what the amazon and tech reviews said it'd be. Amazon reviews for non-Wacom pen displays tend to be trustworthy and detailed and often written by professional artists who also have Wacom experience.

A pen display won't improve your art, but I have found that it makes drawing much smoother and more enjoyable. Definitely worth it for me. I couldn't go back to a regular drawing tablet.