How to Choose the Best Wacom Pen Tablet for a Digital Artist

Published by Color Experts International June 19, 2022

What is a Pen Tablet?

We have already mentioned above that this write-up will basically shed light on Wacom pen tablet. Before that, let’s understand what a pen tablet is. Well, a pen tablet is a graphic tablet, usually comes with a rectangular shape letting you draw your graphics, images, or illustrations.

A pen tablet doesn’t contain any screen, rather boasts a solid surface where you can draw your graphics. You have to use a stylus (pen) to draw your graphics on a pen tablet. While drawing graphics, you need to look at the monitor screen simultaneously.

The key factor to drawing perfectly on a pen tablet is maintaining hand-eye coordination. And this will come automatically with regular practice. Over time, you will also be comfy with the device. No matter if you are a starter or a seasoned one, pen tablet is the best available drawing tablet you can try.

What is Wacom Tablet?

Wacom is also a pen tablet but manufactured by the Wacom company. Like the other pen tablets, it’s also used as an input device with your computer. The core difference between the Wacom pen tablet and the other tablets is in the pen precision, pressure transition, and the interface.

Unlike other pen tablets, it provides more ease of use, flexibility, and greater preferences. Wacom is super useful for photographers, photo enhancers, digital artists, and graphic designers.

Image masking is one of the common image editing tasks where professionals avail of Wacom tablet. In order to mask the soft edge of any object, image retouchers take advantage of this intuitive Wacom pen tablet.

How to Choose the Best Wacom Tablet for a Digital Artist?

Now, we have arrived at the core part of this write-up. That is how to know which Wacom tablet is the best for you or for your project? And to answer this question, we have to know the available Wacom tablets in the market first.

Let’s check out the types of Wacom tablets commonly used in digital art-

Wacom Intuos
Wacom Intuos Pro
Cintiq
Mobile Studio Pro

Wacom Intuos

When it comes to grabbing the best Wacom tablet at a budget-friendly price, look no further than Wacom Intuos. Even though it’s cheap, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t serve quality. In fact, it comes with an array of features that usually the pricey tablets contain.

Key Features

Wacom Intuos contains a lot of high-end features to serve the purposes of the best Wacom tablets.

Sensitivity of Pressure:

Having pressure sensitivity in a pen tablet is very salient. This feature dictates a major portion of your drawing. Pressure sensitivity simply means that the thickness of your brush stroke will differ depending on how hard or soft you push down the stylus on the pen tablet while drawing.

Numerically, 4,096 pressure levels are available on this model of Wacom tablet. This is literally mesmerizing!

Stylus with Two Buttons:

For the ease of drawing, Stylus of Intuos contains 2 lovely customizable buttons on the bottom part. One is for left click while the other one is for right-click.

Express Keys:

These are customizable keys built on the tablet in order that you can set your keyboard shortcuts for the ease and simplicity of drawing.

Touchpad or Trackpad:

Another advantage you will get in this model of Wacom is a touchpad or trackpad. You can easily apply a finger’s touch on the pad, move the cursor, and take necessary actions.

Who should Pick Wacom Intuos (Beginner or Entry-level)?

Anyone who is new to photography, graphic design, illustration, or digital art can make use of this amazing Intuos pen tablet.

Pros:

Budget-friendly and affordable
Boasts all the essential features
Produces top-notch output

Cons:

Resolution isn’t as good as other high-end models of Wacom

Price: $60.18 (Wacom CTL4100)

Wacom Intuos Pro

As the name reflects, Wacom Intuos Pro is meant for advanced-level professionals. If Wacom Intuos is good for the newbies, Wacom Intuos Pro is freaking good for advanced digital artists. There are some shortcomings in the entry-level version of Intuos.

These shortcomings are filled up in the pro version of Intuos. For example, the resolution in the entry-level Intuos is a bit low which pro digital artists may not enjoy. In the pro version, the resolution is 5,080 LPI which is double the resolution of the normal version.

This high resolution makes brushstrokes faster and easier to achieve. On top of that, the pro version has double the pressure sensitivity as the normal version with 8,192 pressure levels. As a whole, the pro version is majestic in terms of appearance, color, and weight.

Key Features

It contains all the features that the normal version boasts like pressure sensitivity, stylus with two buttons, express keys, and touchpad.

But what’s extra?

First of all, you will get all these breathtaking features in the pro version with an improved quality like I mentioned about resolution and pressure sensitivity. Another notable feature you will get in this version is tilt support. This feature is more of the icing on the cake!

In Photoshop, some brushes simulate the properties of natural brushes. This is where tilt support will come into play. If your brush simulates a real pencil, you can tilt your stylus shade in a greater area, similar to your real pencil.

Who should Pick Wacom Intuos Pro (Professionals of Advanced level)?

The pro version of Wacom Intuos is ideal for seasoned digital artists, graphic designers, and photographers who need a high level of accuracy in their masterpieces.

Price: $359.00 (Wacom PTH660)

Wacom Cintiq

Unlike the above 2 Wacom tablets, Cintiq boasts a display monitor. That means you can draw your illustrations right on the tablet. Interestingly, many digital artists have made switch from the Intuos pro to the Cintiq in recent years.

This is because they feel discomfort drawing on a tablet while simultaneously looking at the computer screen. With Cintiq, they don’t encounter this issue due to the monitor designed on the tablet. So, it’s like 2-in-1. Only thing you have to do is connect the device to your computer.

So, if you want to step up your comfort level of drawing and editing, Cintiq is the go-to Wacom pen tablet for you. Needless to say, it’s pricier than the Intuos pro due to the added advantage and eases it provides.

Key Features

Pressure sensitivity
Offers Glare reduction
Provides withstand or adjustable legs
Higher screen resolution
Battery-free pen
Optimum color performance

Who should Pick Wacom Cintiq (Professionals of Advanced level with High Budget)?

Well, Cintiq is meant for those digital artists, photographers, graphic designers, and illustrators who aren’t comfortable drawing on one surface and looking at another place.

Price: $599.95 (Wacom Cintiq 16)

Wacom Mobile Studio Pro

Last but not the least, we have Wacom Mobile Studio Pro which is primarily a fancy graphics tablet. Everyone can’t afford it due to the high price it costs. But if you have a high budget, this is the best Wacom you can go for.

Mobile Studio Pro is basically a portable pen computer that has a tablet, monitor, and computer in 1 device. Yeah, you heard it right, in 1 device! That means you don’t need a laptop or a desktop to draw your artwork on it.

So, the core difference between the Cintiq and Mobile Studio Pro is you are getting an entire computer with the tablet with no need of connecting the tablet to the computer. So, enjoy freedom, explore ideas, and design artworks as you wish with this majestic and stylish Wacom device.

Every model of Mobile Studio Pro comes with the following components-

Solid State Drive (SSD)
Graphics Card
RAM
Intel Core

Key Features

Enhanced computing power
Fast data processing and transfer
Offers incredible details and clarity of illustrations and artworks
Comes with an adjustable Wacom stand
Customizable Express Keys and multi-touch surface

Price: $3499.95 (Wacom Mobile Studio Pro 16)

Which Wacom Tablet is our Pick?

If you have gone through the above descriptions, you have clearly discerned that different Wacom tablets have different specifications and prices. It’s very tough to pick 1 and recommend it to all the digital artists.

In fact, the suitability of these Wacom tablets depends on the requirements, comfort, and budget of a digital artist. Still, if we will pick 1 out of these 4 Wacom tablets taking various aspects into consideration.

Our vote goes for Wacom Intuos Pro. Wondering why? Well, Wacom Intuos Pro comes with stellar features and quality that digital artists usually crave. In the normal version of Intuos, the features are lesser as compared to the pro version and also have some shortcomings in terms of quality.

While Cintiq and Mobile Studio Pro may be super comfortable and rich in handy features but they are flipping expensive. Many digital artists can’t afford them even though they may enjoy using them.

So, if digital artists buy Wacom Intuos Pro by spending some extra bucks, it will get your money’s worth. In addition to that, you will get desired and optimum quality. And of course, the extra money you pump is nothing compared to the prices of Cintiq and Mobile Studio Pro.

So, yeah, we would recommend picking Wacom Intuos Pro to become a gainer from all the perspectives.

What’s your Pick..?

In this write-up, we have presented 4 different types of Wacom tablets before you. For your information, each of these types has different models. Depending on the model, quality, features, and price also vary. For example, Wacom Cintiq has models like Cintiq 16, Cintiq Pro 24, Cintiq Pro 32, Cintiq 22HD, etc.

Even though we have mentioned our pick above, that doesn’t mean you have to agree with us. You can certainly differ from us and pick a different Wacom tablet for your projects. Do let us know your pick out of the 4 Wacom tablets that we put forth in this write-up.

That’s all for this post. Hopefully, you will get your favorite Wacom tablet after going through this write-up. Additionally, we hope that you can create visual masterpieces with the help of your Wacom, please your clients the most, and maximize your profit!