by 
Having used a drawing tablet for art I’ve found it important to decide which of the three types are important to how you work. The best drawing tablets come in three main types. The first is a tablet with its own screen, also known as a pen display. The second is a graphic tablet or pen tablet: a blank slate that you use with an external monitor. Thirdly, there are multi-purpose tablets such as the iPad, which aren’t specifically designed for drawing, but still do a superb job of it.
To help you choose the best option for you, I’ve extensively tried and tested a wide range of drawing tablets, assessing their design, performance, software and price to find the best option for different use cases.
From XP-Pen and Wacom to Xencelabs and Huion, myself and our experienced reviewers have tested the best pen displays and the best graphic tablets from all of the major brands, including the best budget drawing tablets for when money is tight or the best tablet with a stylus for the complete package (many in my guide below come with stylus, but some don’t). Also make sure you check our comparison feature Wacom vs XPPen to see how the established brand matches up against one of the newer players.
Quick list
I’ll start with short reviews below, with ‘read more below’ links that will take you to more in-depth detail about why we rate these drawing tablets. Use the side navigation to skip to the most relevant tablet for you out of the full list.
1. Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium
Our reviewer concluded that this tablet is “well priced, offering tremendous value for money,” which is why we love it. If portability isn’t a deal breaker, and you don’t need (or can’t afford) a pen display, this is our favourite overall.
Read more below
2. iPad Pro (12.9-inches, 2022)
If you want to draw and also enjoy other features, the newest, biggest iPad Pro is a joy. With Apple’s M2 chip, it has oodles of power and with the Apple Pencil 2 is more than capable for creating detailed pieces of art and. The display is beautiful.
Read more below
3. Xencelabs Pen Display 24 (2023)
Our reviewer fell in love with this pen display, which is our top pick for keen digital artists and professionals. Work on the big display looks fantastic, and drawing feels great. It’s got excellent connections too.
Read more below
Load the next 12 products ↴
The full HD screen may not be the flashiest in terms of pixels, but it more than does the job. And since this isn’t the newest Wacom tablet on the block, it can be surprisingly affordable whilst offering great functionality.
Read more below
5. XPPen Artist Pro 16 (Gen 2)
The new XPPen Artist Pro 16 (Gen 2) offers lots for less, including a 16k pressure sensitive stylus, a vibrant display, excellent quick key remote, and built-in stand. It’s well-made and a quality pen display, which for the price makes this an excellent choice for students.
Read more below
6. XPPen Magic Drawing Pad
The new XPPen Magic Pad is a the best alternative to iPad I’ve tried. Rather than a tablet you can use for drawing, this is a drawing tablet designed for use outside. It features a unique 3:2 ratio screen, a stylus with 16k levels of pressure and a flexible, etched display ideal for digital art.
Read more below
iPad Pros have brighter screens and faster refresh rates, but they’re more expensive. If you’re on a budget, the Air provides good speed, thin and light design and still a gorgeous screen. In fact, the line between the Air and Pro has never been blurrier.
Read more below
8. Microsoft Surface Pro 9
If you want a Windows tablet computer for digital art the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is a great option; it comes in three builds and I’d recommend the Intel Core i5 and i7 options for digital art. The display is fantastic, and I personally really like the wide and slim carpenter’s pencil style stylus.
Read more below
The XPPen Deco drawing tablet is a good option for beginners as it’s both affordable but comes with the XPPen accuracy and quality of the more expensive tablets. Coming in a choice of colours, this is also a fun tablet to play around with, and can be connected to mobiles as well as laptops.
Read more below
10. Wacom Intuos Pro Large
Wacom is a brand name that delivers quality and the reliable Intuos Pro range ticks all the boxes, including a responsive stylus, great build quality and solid support for all leading digital art apps. Overall I prefer the Xenclabs Medium, but if you want a larger drawing tablet this is a great choice.
Read more below
The new Ugee M908 is a fantastic drawing tablet for anyone wanting to go mobile and hook up to an Android smartphone. This tablet has a unique 20:9 ratio drawing space, and a 10 x 6.25-inch size. It has a stylus with 60-degree tilt too, which is great for mobile use.
Read more below
12. XP-Pen Artist 16 (2nd Gen)
After spending a couple of months drawing with this tablet, our reviewer concluded that it has supremely solid fundamentals: a high-quality display, excellent X3 stylus. Connectivity is a little erratic, but if you’re after a pen display on a budget, it’s an excellent choice.
Read more below
If you’re after a drawing tablet with a bit of style then the new Wacom One S and M series are fun, as you can opt to hook up a number of third-party stylus, such as the Kaweco AL SPORT Connect. The tablet itself is typically Wacom in style, build and performance – meaning it’s very reliable.
Read more below
14. Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2
The new MatePad Pro 13.2 is an elegant, large and well-made tablet that has been designed with one eye on digital artists. It means we get a 2.8K resolution display, the brilliant M-Pencil which is a serious rival to Apple Pencil 2, and Mojang Paint for example is a decent Procreate alternative.
Read more below
15. Veikk Studio VK2200 Pro
The Veikk Studio VK2200 Pro offers a large display with a quality build for less than most of the similarly specced drawing tablets on my list. This large pen display features plenty of short cut keys, vibrant colours and a sturdy surface, but it does lack the higher resolutions of other pen displays. The stylus is a little light, too.
Read more below
The best drawing tablets in full
Why you can trust Creative Bloq
Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
The best drawing tablet overall
The Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium is a drawing tablet that strikes an optimal balance between power, design, portability and price, and in our opinion that makes it the best drawing tablet you can buy right now. Relative newcomers to the market, Xencelabs boast among their roster a number of Wacom alumni, who have brought their tablet design nous to this newer brand.
One of the most important aspects of a drawing tablet is the texture of its drawing surface, and the Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium gets it bang on the money. As I noted in my five-star review of the tablet, the level of “bite” against the stylus feels exactly right, and it makes the tablet immensely satisfying to draw on.
The pressure and tilt sensitivity are also practically pitch-perfect, and having two styluses bundled in is also great, as you can set them up for different uses (for example one for line art and one for digital painting, or one for 3D and the other for 2D) to enable quick swapping and a smooth workflow.
Read my Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium review for a deeper dive into why I love this drawing tablet bundle; but for the price, the tech on offer, and the build quality this really is the best I’ve used.
The best pen computer overall
The iPad Pro offers the best of two worlds; if having the best drawing tablet simply isn’t enough for you, and you need to have the best tablet all round, there’s really only one choice: the all-new 12.9-inch M2 iPad Pro. It’s so far ahead of the rest of the tablet market that it’s not even funny.
Not only is the iPad Pro powered by Apple‘s blazing fast M2 chip for utterly stunning performance, it has a mini-LED XDR display with amazing brightness as well as local dimming to deliver astonishing contrast. Put the two together (and throw in the wonderfully smooth and intuitive Apple Pencil 2) and you have a near-unbeatable all-in-one system for creating digital art as well as showing it off to best effect.
The iPad Pro 12.9-inch (M2, 2022) is so powerful, and so priced accordingly, that if you are only looking for a drawing tablet and won’t need its many other features, it probably isn’t worth it, and a dedicated tool like those above will offer greater value for money. This is why I’ve named this my favourite pen computer, in line with the more expensive Wacom Studio Pro. Not everyone needs a pen computer, and Apple has cornered the market for these kinds of drawing tablets, but I’d also recommend buying the Rock, Paper, Pencil screen protector for a feel closer to a Wacom.
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that this is the one of the best overall tablets on the market right now, and one of the greatest for digital art, no question. If you do fancy a slightly cheaper alternative from Apple, I’ve included the iPad Air and the XPPen Magic Drawing Pad lower down the list. (It’s worth noting the amazing Procreate works on all iPads). Read our hands-on iPad Pro (M2, 2022) review for more on what this device is capable of.
The best pen display overall
Xencelabs take our top spot in this guide to the best drawing tablets, but we love their products so much we needed to include another one. The Xencelabs Pen Display 24 is the latest release from the tablet brand, and our reviewer enjoyed its levels of responsiveness, design and build quality.
But what makes this tablet so great? If you can’t tell from the name – it’s huge. Measuring 24 inches in width, this screen tablet is an absolute beast of a device. The screen features a unique anti-glare glass that is both smudge and scratch resistant. Whilst reviewing this tablet, we found that the screen felt wonderful to draw on. The display makes no sound during long time use, and at no point did the screen heat up and become uncomfortable to lean on.
This tablet also features a unique new feature known as Switch Display – this fantastic tool allows you to easily transition between whichever display you’re working on without having to drag your mouse over to it, all from the pen display screen. This will allow artists to quickly do things like open and move files. It was certainly a game changer during our hands-on Xencelabs Pen Display 24 review.
This product also comes packed with accessories and cables to make sure you have everything you need to get painting. The tablet comes with an in-built stand, various clips for your styluses and the amazing Quick Key Remote. Other notable accessories include a drawing glove, cleaning cloth and rubber feet to make sure this tablet sits securely on your desk.
The most reliable pen display
Despite increased competition the Wacom name is still very much one to be reckoned with, and as far as we’re concerned the Wacom Cintiq 22 is definitely one of the best drawing tablets you can get, especially if you’re looking for a high-quality pen display that will last you for years.
In our review, we noted the Cintiq 22 has a list of features that compete at the highest level, including a 22-inch display that provides plenty of creative space to play with. It has Full HD resolution too, which is a must for pro artists. You can get sharper screens on other Wacom tablets, but they tend to cost more, and this model is all about bringing Wacom quality with an affordable price tag. And let’s not forget that plenty of pen displays that come in cheaper but lack this resolution.
What really makes the Cintiq 22 such a pleasure to use is the Wacom Pro Pen 2, with a whole 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity as well as tilt sensitivity. Wacom has been in this game a long time, and it’s hard to imagine an artist with any complaints about the Pro Pen 2. It just works really, really well. While XPPen in particular now offers 16k levels, the design, weight and build of the Wacom stylus still feels good.
An advantage of Wacom tablets is that it’s pretty much the industry standard and best of all these pen displays last years – and what you really need these days is a tablet that is reliable. (I’ve been using the same Wacom for eight years.) This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider other pen displays and weigh up the specs and cost, but if you need reliability the Cintiq 22 will last for years. It’s just something to bear in mind. Find out more by reading our Wacom Cintiq 22 review.
Best pen display for students
The XPPen Artist Pro 16 (Gen 2) is an affordable pen display that manages to squeeze in some excellent tech for less, including a lead-edge stylus with 16K levels of pressure and a design that takes the quick keys off the tablet and into a remote, meaning there’s more room to draw.
In my XPPen Artist Pro 16 (Gen 2) review I noted how easy this pen display is to setup and use, and really enjoyed creating digital art on this budget pen display. The stand is excellent and the quick key remote, anti-glare display and stylus all impress. For the price, XPPEN is offering a lot of kit that other brands, such as Wacom, charge extra for, which is why I’d recommend this to students, as it’s affordable, well-made and reliable. It can also be used as a drawing tablet or a second screen.
The only real downside is the 2K resolution, but with a wide colour gamut coverage ratio of 99% sRGB and bespoke lighting tech the XPPen Artist Pro 16 (Gen 2) is vibrant and good to use.
The best iPad alternative
The new XPPen Magic Drawing Pad is pitched as the first dedicated portable drawing tablet. It kind of is too, while you can use an iPad for digital painting, and the iPad Pro is a perfect, powerful choice, it’s not designed specifically for it like the Magic Pad.
This is essentially XPPen’s excellent drawing tablet tech put into a mobile tablet. So you get an excellent 2160 x 1440 resolution, anti-glare, etched display which is slightly flexible so it reacts more to your sketching and strokes than the rigid screen of an iPad. A real star is also the excellent XPPen X3 Pro Pencil that offers 16k levels of pen pressure, the same as XPPen’s desktop pen displays and more than iPad (in fact it’s four-times as responsive as the Surface Pro stylus).
For my XPPen Magic Drawing Pad review I took the tablet out into the hills around where I work for a day of sketching, and it was a joy to use. It feel underpowered compared to my iPad Pro, but I would use this instead of an iPad or iPad air (and this is much cheaper than all three Apple options.
You’ll also be surprised how far Android has come, it’s a very slick OS and supports some excellent digital art apps, such as ArtRage Vitae and ibisPaint X, both of which come pre-installed. If you’re keen on digital plein-air painting this is a fantastic option.
The best value iPad for drawing
The latest generation of iPad Air, the Apple iPad Air (5th Gen, 2022) is a simply stunning tablet. It sports one of Apple’s M1 silicon chips, the new processors that are currently transforming the firm’s laptops, computers and tablets, making them into virtual powerhouses. The 5th Gen iPad boasts an M1 chip, a 2360 x 1640 IPS LCD panel that delivers 264 pixels per inch, an a maximum brightness of 500 nits. It’s an absolute powerhouse.
The thing that makes the Apple iPad Air (5th Gen, 2022) one of the best tables for digital art you can buy is its Apple Pencil 2 compatibility, delivering one of the smoothest and most natural-feeling digital drawing experiences on the market. This and it being iPad means it can run Procreate, my favourite art app – read my guide to best digital art software for more.
This was one of the many things we found to praise in our Apple iPad Air (5th Gen, 2022) review, where we also discussed how this tablet blurs the line between the Air line and the flagship iPad Pro series. The Pros may be better, with brighter screens and faster refresh rates, but they’re also more expensive, so if you’re on a budget, the Air is your friend.
The best Microsoft drawing tablet
While Microsoft‘s Surface tablets still can’t quite compete with Apple’s iPad range, neither generally nor for artistry, more recently the Surface Pro 8 and 9 are beginning to challenge Apple’s dominance; but you’ll need to pick the right build for your needs.
It’s a high-quality 2-in-1 tablet that comes in two specs, the Intel Core i5 and i7, and there’s also a 5G model that uses the Arm Microsoft SQ3 – this offers greater battery life, but isn’t as good for speed and power. The Intel 12th-gen build is perfect for on-the-go work and play, and it’s definitely what we’d recommend for your artistic needs.
In my Surface Pro 9 review, I found this to be a great 2-in-1 that has excellent build quality, a fantastic display, feels great to use and has some nice design features, like the hidden stylus holder. It’s big advantage as a drawing tablet or pen computer for digital art is it can run full software, not apps, including Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, which is a great advantage.
The best beginner drawing tablet
The XPPen Deco MW is an affordable and eye catching drawing tablet that’s a great starter option for new artists and beginners to digital art, and in our review we recognised this as a good entry-level tablet that is affordable but features good specs where needed.
Pro artists would need more, especially when it comes to reliability and ease of setup and calibration, but for anyone new to digital art seeking a solid drawing tablet the XPPen Deco MW is recommended. It just feels good to use, and having a 8,192 levels of pressure stylus, with tilt, for this price, is surprising.
Retailing at around $60 / £50, this tablet is a nice medium size that fits perfectly into a more compact work space. It comes in a pretty range of colours that includes blue, green and pink. It can connect to your main device via USB or Bluetooth too, so you don’t need to worry about wires. You can read more about why we like this tablet in our detailed XP-Pen Deco MW review.
The best tablet for graphic design
For creating artwork on a drawing tablet you ideally need lots of room to work with as well as a pen that feels just like the ones you’d use on paper. In which case you should opt for the Wacom Intuos Pro Large, which delivers pretty much the most natural drawing experience you can get digitally. In our review we found the Wacom Intuos Pro to be responsive and worked well with all leading digital art apps.
While its drawing area isn’t the biggest you can get, it still gives you plenty of space, and the pen’s 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity make it feel as close as you can get to using an actual pen. All this is supported by Wacom’s broad ecosystem of alternative pens and Texture Sheets to give your drawing surface a distinctive feel. The wealth of quick keys on the tablet itself ensures you can tailor this tablet to your way of working, which is particularly useful for graphic designers who may need to setup shortcuts for regular functions, more so than perhaps digital artists who can often rely on the same favoured brushes.
The Intuos Pro is also available in other sizes, so if the asking price is a little steep and you’re willing to work with a smaller screen, you may want to consider the Intuos Pro Medium or Intuos Pro Small. Both of these tablets offer similar functionality to the largest version, just with smaller working areas. Find out more in our in-depth Wacom Intuos Pro review.
Best tablet for smartphones
If you’re looking for a cheap drawing tablet that can be connected to a smartphone and for mobile use, then the Ugee M908 is nice option. It’s super-affordable, and there’s even a cheaper, smaller model, the Ugee Q6 (a 6-inch tablet in multiple colours) if you want to even more portable. But I prefer the balanced size and quick keys of the M908 (it has a 10 x 6.25-inch workspace).
This tablet comes with a good package of extras, including a USB A to C Cable and USB-A to USB-C adapter, as well as an Android setup guide (its nice to have a physical paper setup guide) so you can get this up and running with your smartphone easily. What surprised me is the stylus, which is a 16k levels of pressure pen, similar to those of XPPen (Ugee owns XPPen). This means the drawing experience is excellent, and the tablet’s matte finish surface is excellent.
Our Ugee M908 review is in progress, but it’s looking positive. In fact the only real downside is the Ugee M908 feels a little light and plastic-y in the hand and lacks the weight and build quality of a more expensive drawing tablet. But this a $49 / £40 drawing tablet, so I’d take that.
The best value pen display
XPPen is one of the best-regarded names in affordable drawing tablets, and the XPPen Artist 16 (2nd gen) 2022 refresh of a popular 15.6-inch tablet scored high points in our review. This is not to be confused with the more expensive XPPen Artist Pro 16 (2nd Gen) higher on my list, which has a better product design and twice the pressure levels.
After spending a couple of months drawing with the tablet, I concluded that it has supremely solid fundamentals. Everything about the core drawing experience, from the high-quality display to the excellent X3 stylus, is very good indeed, and if you’re sourcing a tablet on a budget, it’s an excellent choice.
There are a few gripes, mostly to do with what’s not in the box. While the XP-Pen Artist 16 (2nd gen) is broadly compatible with different operating systems, if you want to use it with ChromeOS or Android, you’ll need to source your own USB-C to USB-C cable, which is a little annoying. Also, while this isn’t uncommon for tablets at this price point, it’s worth knowing that the XP-Pen Artist 16 (2nd gen) doesn’t come with its own stand. Discover more by reading our XP-Pen Artist 16 (2nd gen) review.
Best drawing tablet for third-party pens
This is new drawing tablet is part Wacom’s new ‘One’ range, and an evolution of the One by Wacom tablet, and the branding is a little odd, as that older 2020 / 2021 tablet has be renamed One by Wacom, while the new ranger is Wacom One – phew.
What you really need to know is the Wacom One M (for medium) is a high-quality drawing tablet that acts as the brand’s ‘budget’ range. Budget for Wacom doesn’t mean super-cheap and this is still more expensive that other similar tablets on my list, such as the Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium Bundle at No.1.
But the Wacom One M is superbly made drawing tablet that works with Chromebooks, which many don’t as well as Android, Macs and PC. When you buy a Wacom you also get access to one of the best app and drivers around, which can make all the difference. So even though this is a small tablet with just 4,096 levels of pressure, it’s remains a quality experience.
What I really love about the Wacom One M is you want upgrade and connect to some excellent third-party stylus pens, which is something most of the drawing tablets on my list don’t do. It means you can connect to some stylish pens, like the LAMY AL-Star, Dr. Grip Digital for Wacom and the Kaweco AL SPORT Connect, which looks and feels like a traditional ink pen.
Best iPad Pro alternative for artists
The new Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 is a large but fairly lightweight tablet that has been designed with digital artists in mind. This means the large OLED display is incredible – vibrant, smooth and crisp – but importantly the tablet uses the new M-Pencil 3rd Gen styles, which has over 10k of pressure levels, pipping Apple Pencil 2 but coming in behind those of XPPen.
The tablet is a joy to use. I’ve had a chance to use it with a mix of apps including Clip Studio Paint and Medibang Paint and it’s a great experience, the new stylus in particular has a really nice feedback and tactile feel. The tablet has a decent octa-core Kirin 9000S (7nm) processor, which our write found a little underpowered in his Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 review, but the base model comes with 12GB of RAM, meaning it’s set to run any digital art app you can think of… with one caveat.
Being a Chinese brand you can’t run Google Store or Google apps on the Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2, but Huawei does have its own impressive HarmonyOS substitutes for every Google app and the Petal app searcher enables you to find Android APK files of your favourite apps. That said, there are now more apps on HarmonyOS than a year ago, including Adobe, so the tide is turning.
The bottom line is, the Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 is technically excellent, its display is one if the best and largest on my list and the new M-Pencil 3rd Gen is one of the best I’ve used, so if you can handle removing yourself from Google and Apple the this is a neat third way to create digital art.
Best cheap large pen display
If you’re a student or hobbyist looking for an affordable but large pen display then the Veikk Studio VK2200 Pro is worth a look, if you’re happy to lower your standards in some areas to benefit from a 22-inch pen display for around $350 / $400.
First the good stuff, the VK2200 Pro has a large display with an excellent colour accuracy (120% sRGB and 95% AdobeRGB coverage) which is technically one of the best on my list. The stylus is excellent too, with 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity and 60° tilt, making on par with most leading brands (XPPen and Huawei are the exceptions). Overall in our Veikk Studio VK2200 Pro review we found this to be satisfying to use across a mix of apps, including Photoshop and Clip Studio Paint.
The downside is Veikk has made some cute decisions here and there to keep the price of this pen display down, for example the screen is Full HD not 4K resolution, and the app lacks the deeper features of Wacom and Xencelabs, and our reviewer found a need to toggle Windows Ink to get pressure sensitivity working. But, these are fairly light criticisms when you consider the size and price, and really only pros are going to need a 4K display.
How to choose the best drawing tablet
Deciding on which is the best digital art tablet for you can come down to a number of factors, including size, resolution and price. But picking a drawing tablet is as much about how you intend to use it and whether this is your first tablet or not.
Let’s start with size; if you have the space then a drawing tablet of 16-inches and up isn’t a good size as it enables you to ‘sweep’ your arm across the surface for a natural drawing motion. Sizes below this are still good, and smaller tablets connected to a smartphone mean you can doodle on the go.
Price is always a consideration, and these days there are even more drawing tablets to choose from in the ‘budget’ category, and the best Huion tablets are excellent options. If you need a small tablet, then Parblo and Ugee are nice brands too. When considering price also look at what is not included, as some brands omit the drawing stand and even spare stylus from their budget bundles.
Are you new to digital art or a seasoned pro? This can affect which tablet you opt for; an example is the excellent Xencelabs Medium Bundle (a personal favourite) which comes with everything you need, including two pen stylus, cases and leads – but if you already own a tablet, or an Xencelabs bundle, this can be overkill. If you’re going to use a pen display or drawing tablet every day for work then reliability is a must, and here Wacom is a trusted brand with over 40 years in the industry.
Also, decide if you need a tablet, pen display or pen computer tablet. See below for a breakdown of which is which, but ultimately, do you have a good computer to connect a tablet to, if so a computer display can be too much power. If you need to upgrade your laptop and need a new pen display, then a pen computer could be a good option. The iPad Pro (2022) is my overall pick, but if you’re really replacing your desktop setup then the Wacom MobileStudio Pro at 15.6 inches and the Huion Kamvas Studio 24 are excellent, large pen computers with high-end Intel processess and dedicated GPUs.
Finally, consider the accessories you may need. Some tablets come with everything, overs ask you to buy extras, and some, such as the iPad Pro now come with enough extras to really make a difference, such as the excellent Darkboard stand and the Rock Paper Pencil accessory.
FAQs
What are the different types of best drawing tablets?
Broadly speaking, there are three main types of drawing tablet. Each takes a different approach to the central challenge of helping you draw on your Windows PC or Mac as if you were drawing on paper.
The first kind are pen displays, which are tablets that feature an integrated screen but must be connected to a laptop or PC to function. These are the favored form factor of most professionals and mid-weight creatives, offering a detailed and ergonomic drawing experience.
The second kind are pen tablets, which also need to be connected to a device but don’t feature in-built screens, meaning you’ll need to use your monitor or laptop screen to see what you’re drawing. These are often the most cost-effective options, but at the expense of comfort and ease of use.
Lastly, general tech brands like Apple, Microsoft and Samsung are increasingly dipping their toes into the digital art space, meaning many general use tablets can also be used for drawing. These don’t need to be plugged into a computer, but lack some of the drawing-first features associated with pen tablets and displays, whether that’s screen size/quality, stylus functionality and features or software accessibility.
In terms of drawing tablets, there’s everything from professional, high-resolution graphics tablets, to portable tablets that cost less than £40 and fit in a small backpack. There’s also a growing market of drawing tablets for little ones, and you can check out our dedicated drawing tablets for kids guide if this is something you’re looking for. Want to go unplugged for a bit? Have a look at our best light boxes for more hands-on creativity. And if you’re looking specifically for a tablet for editing, see our best tablets for photo and video editing.
Graphics tablets vs Pen displays: what’s the difference?
If you’ve been around computers for a long time, this is what you probably think of instinctively at the mention of a drawing tablet: a plain surface that you draw on with a stylus, with your work displayed on a separate computer monitor, also known as a pen tablet or graphics tablet. These remain the most affordable drawing tablet category. Their main disadvantage is the sense of ‘disconnect’ between the drawing surface and the screen, although most people get used to this quickly.
Pen displays consists of a flat-screen monitor with a pressure-sensitive surface that you draw on with a stylus. They don’t have the sense of disconnect that you might get with graphics tablets, and they’re more portable; however they cost more. Furthermore, you get a lot of cables between the display and computer (see the best computers for graphic design), and many of the display surfaces don’t offer the ‘bite’ that graphics tablets do.
Are tablets any good for drawing?
Android, Windows and iOS devices like the Surface Pro and iPad Pro take on the other drawing tablets in two ways. You don’t need another computer: just download an art app and start drawing with your fingertip or a stylus. Also, when you want to use the Creative Cloud suite on your main computer, these can function as graphics tablets with apps like Astropad.
As for how good they are for drawing, well, it depends on what you need. The iPad has incredible software like Procreate and the very capable Apple Pencil 2 offers some pretty impressive features and specs, but it’s very expensive. The Surface Pro range is better suited for sketching and doodling, but at a push could handle some more detailed art if you’re willing to work for it.
How we tested the best drawing tablets
We test and review our drawing tablets as they’d be used by you if you bought one. This means we spend weeks using a drawing tablet with a variety of digital art software to create art.
Some of the main things we look out for when testing are factors like the pressure sensitivity and accuracy, the color gamut and accuracy, the screen quality and brightness and the ergonomics of the tablet, all of which factor into a whole host of use cases. We also want to see a nice and easy set-up, especially for pen displays and tablets which often require specific drivers to be installed on the PC or laptop you’re plugging it into. If the tablet includes (or is best compatible with) a specific stylus, we also test these to see how ergonomic they are and assess any features these add to the drawing experience.
We also experiment with each tablet’s unique setting and features, fiddling with the drivers where relevant to see how far you can push the settings as well as trying them on a variety of connections – this can mean testing a drawing tablet with Mac, Windows and Android devices. You can read a general guide to how we test and review on Creative Bloq.
