Which size XP-Pen Artist drawing tablet should I buy?

gushi

I have a fifteen inch XP-Pen Artist 15.6 ( I buy it from https://www.amazon.co.uk/Artist15-6-1920x1080-Graphics-Drawing-Battery-free/dp/B0785682VP ). I want to use it for drawing (love to draw people, nature, animals and sometimes abstract), graphic design and editing photos. I do want to have accuracy. I've read that small would be good because it all depends on the screen size in comparison to the actual tablet, but I've also read that you can get more accuracy with a slightly larger tablet. such as XP-Pen Artist22E ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/Artist22E-Graphic-Interactive-Shortcut-Adjustable/dp/B01M28DHOA )I don't mind moving my hand a bit for accuracy. I've called best buy and all they say I cannot test the tablet, but I can buy it and return it if its not to my liking.

I'd really like to test it out however to choose. I've used small tablets before and recall having to do some zooming in for nice detail on the 15 inch. I no longer have one and would like to find the best fit. I guess I could be leaning toward either whatever is truly the best fit for me. I want to create beautiful works of art and to eventually do it professionally.

Let me know what you think is the best solution in this case. Thank you so much! ​

Joe Dunfee

I am not really an artist, but I have a Note 4 smart phone, that I occasionally draw on. I also have a Wacom digitizing tablet, that does not have a built-in display, and which I find to be MUCH better.

To me, the act of drawing on a slick piece of glass is so difficult, that I would not want the type of drawing tablet that you have. I can even put a piece of paper onto my Wacom tablet, and use one of the ink stylus points, if I want. But, you have apparently developed the skill of writing on glass.

I suspect the question is if you make drawings that need the resolution and detail of the larger version, while also needing to see the whole picture. I've worked for a company that would use these types of drawing tablets to create very large theatrical backdrops. So, for them, you probably could not make a drawing tablet too large. For you, the test might be is if your current tablet is sufficient for your work. If so, then you have little reason to upgrade. The fact that you seem to be questioning the value of upgrading, suggests to me that you won't benefit much from it.

In CAD drawing, as monitors were getting larger over the decades, the ideal target size I was eventually hoping for, was a monitor equal to a D-Sized drawing (22"x34"). That is a 40" monitor. But, now that they are available, I think they would be too large. Now, i would prefer a 32" 4K monitor, with a 19" monitor to the side, and rotated vertically, to see other documents. But, I am waiting for 4K to be more fully supported till I buy one.

-Joe

Joe Dunfee

I just thought of another issue. On my Wacom, I did purchase a mid-sized version. But, I found that I don't normally use the entire area. I tend to use it is "mouse mode" where picking up the stylus a little, and moving to another area, allow you to shift the location of the brush cursor. This means I don't need to move my arm to move over a fairly large area. But, obviously, that won't work if you are looking at the picture on the drawing tablet. Still, the larger the drawing tablet, the more physically active you need to be to use it.

-Joe

Steven_g

I'm from the older generation that started out on a drawing board. So paper size AO was what you actually drew on and not some setting in a layout. I started out from a very young age on my Grandads drawing board and remember him telling me that at one place he had worked if there was ever a question raised about how things would actually fit together in the real world then they had a wall in the office that was used to draw things out at full size. I'm all for the largest screen size visually and have all my toolbars, pallettes etc on a second monitor to give me the biggest drawing area possible. But if I have to move my mouse more than about 5cm (2") in any direction then I'd be knocking things off the desk, so I don't know how I'd find it having to move around the screen. Besides it's a whole different world between technical and graphical drawing.

Michael Mayer

I also had no problem drawing on A1 or A0 paper sizes.
Or that the drawing hand always occludes part of my content.
The benefit was body exercise, muscle memory and direct
connection to the content.
Mouse/Keyboard is still the fastest and easiest way to control
a CAD App and hand-screen disconnection not such an issue.

My 27" Cintiq has a nice size to easily reach the whole screen.
The problem with some Apps like CAD is that you have no proper
scroll wheel replacement for zooming by Pen usage.
The second problem is that there is no real space left for a Keyboard !
Third problem is that usual Pens are not optimized for precision
CAD clicking but painting.
I think that my 2560x1440 resolution is very grainy and the lower
limit for a Pen Display.

Not sure if the current 24" Model would allow proper keyboard placement
or being just too small. The 30" may feel too big or not.

Joe Dunfee

In regards to the scroll wheel. I don't normally use a tablet, but I would be surprised if there are not a lot of solutions out there. This is pure speculation, but perhaps there is software that will set part of your tablet to be the "Zoom area" or "Scroll area". I do know that there are hardware solutions. Here is one possibility; Though, the software to "super charge" it is only Mac.
https://griffintechnology.com/us/powermate

Here is an expensive option, which gives you a choice of knobs and sliders.
https://palettegear.com/

I have even seen some home-brew versions. Though I wonder how good the software is. But, perhaps if it is simply emulating a mouse wheel, then they may have already provided the interface to make it work that way automatically. Looking for that, I came across this version, that simply takes the guts from a USB mouse, and uses its scroll wheel.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Desktop-Scroll-Wheel-and-Volume-Control/

-Joe

Joe Dunfee

I just realized that another option for the pan/zoom stuff is to get a trackball that has a scroll wheel. They are out there for under $30. Personally, I would not recommend the type that you use to move the ball with your thumb. You really want your entire hand to be able to scroll long distances.

-Joe

Michael Mayer

Thank you so much Joe !
I often searched for "scroll only" devices and didn't find any.
The Griffin Powermate looks great.

I thought even about glueing an old mouse on the border of
my tablet screen
Or use my spare 3D Navigator in zoom only mode beside my
Enterprise.

That is why I said "no proper scroll wheel replacement"
My Wacom Remote has a (unprecise) Sensor Ring (!?)
Wacom Pen has a Navigate Option for Middle Mouse that I use for
scrolling in Bricscads list but is uncontrollable for View Zooming.
3D Navigators are too slow or unprecise.
and like many other options,
CMD+SHIFT+LMB Live Zoom does not Zoom about Cursor - argh

And why aren't there any USB Input and Navigation devices for my feet ???