With access to the internet and remote work opportunities, graphic designers are able to take their work to another level with the help of software such as Photoshop. But with the help of the best drawing tablet, you can really take the graphic design to another level.
Drawing directly on the computer can be extremely hard, and we completely understand that. However, there’s a solution that will make graphic designers never draw on a piece of paper again! It’s a drawing tablet.
Since you’re here, you’re really lucky because, in this post, you’ll find top drawing tablets on the market, but also learn what makes a best drawing tablet for beginners in 2023 and what you should look out for.
Recommendation for September 2023
- Wacom Intuos Pro Small – Best For Beginners
- Huion Inspiroy H950P – Standalone Drawing Tablet
- Parblo A610 – Drawing Tablet Under $50
- Huion Kamvas 20 – Drawing Tablet With Screen
- Wacom Cintiq 13HD – Drawing Tablet For Pro
- XP-Pen G430S – Cheapest Drawing Tablet For Beginners
- Huion New 1060+ – Best In Compatibility
- Wacom Intuos S – Large Drawing Area
- VEIKK A15 – For Left & Right User
- Wacom Cintiq 16 – Premium Choice
Best Drawing Tablets For Beginners In 2023
Wacom Intuos Pro Small – Best For Beginners
If you’re new to creating digital artwork, starting out with a drawing tablet that is suitable for beginners is a great idea. You are still going to get a decent drawing tablet, yet a tablet that is easy to learn and use.
Wacom Intuos Pro is a small and affordable drawing tablet which is a perfect choice for any skilled artist who’s looking to get into digital artwork. It’s a drawing tablet that will allow anyone to quickly and professionally edit photos.
Using a digital artwork pen that comes included with Wacom Intuos Pro is going to let users take control over the digital artwork with the natural feeling.
On the left side of a drawing tablet, there’s a multi-functional touch ring located which features 4 customizable functions. They’ll make a multi-tasking, switching between tools, and working on digital artwork simple, quick, and efficient.
Next, to the central ring, there are 6 different buttons which are fully customizable to help you have everything you need right next to you. Multi-tasking has never been easier than this.
The pen that comes included with Wacom Intuos Pro offers 8,192 levels of pressure which applies for both pen tip and eraser. This will make the drawing on a tablet as natural as it is on the paper.
Design-wise, Wacom Intuos Pro is a very compact and a lightweight tablet which is very thin as well. It’s a real pleasure to draw on it, but also carrying it around.
Recommended Configuration For Wacom Intuos Pro
Pressure Sensitivity: 8,192 levels | No. of USB Ports: 1 USB Port | Keys Onboard: 7 Multifunctional Keys | Size: 10.6×6.7” | Multi-Touch Technology: Yes | Wireless Capability: Wireless accessory kit included| Battery Life: a few hours on wireless connection | Weight: 1.40 lbs
Huion Inspiroy H950P – Standalone Drawing Tablet
When you’re looking for the best of the best, but you’re unfortunately limited by a budget, there’s nothing to worry. Since the Huion Inspiroy H950P is available for such an affordable price.
It’s a drawing tablet that offers a lot of value for the price it costs, and if you happen to grab it at a discount – you’ll really get an amazing deal.
It’s a very neat and compact drawing tablet that is packed with many useful features. Huion Inspiroy H950P comes with a tilt control system that makes drawing and pressure point detection much smoother and easier.
You can now draw using different angles, just like you can do with a paper and pen. It simply restores the true feeling of drawing.
But here is something even better.
This drawing tablet has no battery at all, and it doesn’t require any charging at all! It’s a battery-free tablet that simply gets the power through the USB cable. Connect it to your laptop and forget about battery life and charging.
The drawing surface is really smooth and is very responsive. On the left side, you can find not 1 or 2 but 8 multifunctional buttons that are fully customizable. They’ll keep all your necessary tools and shortcuts at the distance of a fingertip.
We should also say how impressed we were with the thin and weight. Huion Inspiroy H950P is only 8mm thick and weighs an incredible 1 pound.
Recommended Configuration For Huion Inspiroy H950P
Pressure Sensitivity: 8,192 levels | No. of USB Ports: No USB Port | Keys Onboard: 8 Multifunctional Keys | Size: 8.7×5.4” | Multi-Touch Technology: Yes | Wireless Capability: Bluetooth wireless connection | Battery Life: Battery-free | Weight: 2.40 lbs
Parblo A610 – Drawing Tablet Under $50
Temporarily unavailable
Parblo A610 is one of the best drawing tablets you can find under $50 on the market right now, along with a few other options.
It’s a 11.5″ inches big tablet with an active surface of 10″ x 6″ which is plenty of space for drawing without having any limitations.
On the left side, there are 8 buttons which are programmable and customizable for individuals.
But here’s what’s even better.
On a pen that comes included, there are 3 buttons which act as mouse commands and additionally improve the ease of use. The pen that is included features 2040 levels of pressure which allow supersensitivity and precision no matter if you want to draw thick or thin lines.
Parblo A610 itself is very smooth, responsive, and in our opinion, it’s very similar to the paper which is a great thing considering the price.
On the outside, this drawing tablet is very stylish in a minimalistic way, thin & lightweight, but also durable for better portability.
We have tried using Parblo A610 drawing tablet to draw paintings, handwrite, mark, do signatures, and everything was a positive experience.
Recommended Configuration For Huion Inspiroy H950P
Pressure Sensitivity: 2,040 levels | No. of USB Ports: 1 USB Port | Keys Onboard: 8 Multifunctional Keys | Size: 10×6” | Multi-Touch Technology: Yes | Wireless Capability: No wireless | Battery Life: A few hours | Weight: 2.95 lbs
Huion Kamvas 20 – Budget Drawing Tablet With Screen
When your main software is Photoshop, Huion Kamvas 20 is the drawing tablet you should have. It’s one of the most optimized tablets for Photoshop, along with a number of other artwork software.
It features an IPS screen which is 19.5″ big, and since it’s a widescreen, it offers a perfect 16:9 ratio with a 1920×1080 pixels HD resolution.
Colors are really surprising and that’s actually something that amazed us. It has 3000:1 contrast with 72% NTSC color gamut. The tablet itself can present 16.7 million colors.
It has a feature that offers a better display effect. Such feature gives better responsiveness for the given resolution along with faster pen recognition for the smoothest performance.
You won’t get only one pen, but two pens which have a high pressure of 8192 levels. It’s very sensitive, but also very comfortable thanks to its ergonomic design.
Along with these pens, users will get the newest pen stand from Huion. The newest pen stand comes with a built-in nib extractor and 8 spare nibs inside as well.
Overall, it’s a really great tablet at a reasonable price. One other thing we really liked was the adjustable stand that is sturdy and reliable, yet offers a choice between 20 and 80 degrees.
Recommended Configuration For Huion Kamvas 20
Pressure Sensitivity: 8,192 levels | No. of USB Ports: 1 USB Port | Keys Onboard: No Multifunctional Keys | Size: 19.5” | Multi-Touch Technology: Yes | Wireless Capability: No wireless | Battery Life: A few hours (up to week for Pen) | Weight: 12.05 lbs
Wacom Cintiq 13HD – Drawing Tablet For Pro
Wacom Cintiq 13HD is a drawing tablet that allows users to enjoy the digital drawing experience by working directly on the screen.
It can tilt between various degrees, and the aspect ratio it offers is 16:9 which is suitable for the most graphic designers.
The pen that comes with Wacom Cintiq 13HD offers 2048 levels of pressure that give a real pen feeling through its performance. Graphic designers can do various things with the pen such as using traditional brushes, pencils, markers, and more.
The display is 13.3 which might be too small for some people, but it is an HD IPS display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. It’s never going to disappoint an avid graphic designer, and it didn’t disappoint us for sure.
But here’s what we found very useful.
If you get additional HDMI to mini display port cable, you will be able to connect Wacom Cintiq 13HD drawing tablet directly with a MacBook Pro laptop.
The stand offers 3 stand adjustments which offer comfortable, precise, and effortless hours of drawing. The set-up is very simple and it took us only about 5 to 10 minutes to get it to work.
Also, on the left side of the drawing tablet, there are 4 customizable buttons along with a rocker ring that makes multitasking and shortcuts accessible with a touch of a finger.
Recommended Configuration For Wacom Cintiq 13HD
Pressure Sensitivity: 2,048 levels | No. of USB Ports: 1 USB Port | Keys Onboard: 5 Multifunctional Keys | Size: 13.3” | Multi-Touch Technology: Yes | Wireless Capability: Bluetooth | Battery Life: A few hours | Weight: 2.64 lbs
XP-Pen G430S – Cheapest Drawing Tablet For Beginners
When learning sketching and painting digitally, you need a rather good quality graphics display and a good drawing tablet to accompany it.
The XP-Pen is so cheap yet a very powerful drawing tablet, it is Mac OS and Windows compatible, just plug it into your computer and you’re ready to go.
The drawing tablet and Pen doesn’t need charging as long as it is connected via USB, making it very convenient especially when working outside or.
The tablet comes with 4×3” working area and you can use the 8,192 pressure sensitivity pen for an exceptional fluidity of your artworks.
This tablet is very responsive so you can draw smoother and quickly, thanks to its response rate of 266 RPS that allows you to create beautiful designs.
Recommended Configuration For XP-Pen G430S
Pressure Sensitivity: 8,192 levels | No. of USB Ports: 1 USB Port | Keys Onboard: No Multifunctional Keys | Size: 6.46×4.21” | Multi-Touch Technology: No | Wireless Capability: No wireless | Battery Life: No charging needed | Weight: 0.25 lbs
Huion New 1060+ – Best In Compatibility
This tablet provides high-pressure sensitivity to the pen for you to daw flawless arts with details, it offers 8192 pressure sensitivity so it is pretty much capable.
This tablet is ahead of its competitors in terms of express keys, it has 12 express keys on the left side of the screen and 16 soft keys on the drawing surface and all of them are reprogrammable so you can adjust them according to your needs and preferences.
In terms of compatibility, it is compatible with all Windows OS from Windows 7 to later and it also works with all Mac OS from 10.11 to later which makes it one of the best drawing tablets.
Furthermore, you can work on this tablet using a number of art programs like Illustrator, Photoshop, Manga Studio, Painter, Gimp, Corel, etc.
Recommended Configuration For Huion New 1060+
Pressure Sensitivity: 8,192 levels | No. of USB Ports: 1 USB Port | Keys Onboard: 12 Multifunctional Keys | Size: 14.1×9.4” | Multi-Touch Technology: No | Wireless Capability: No wireless | Battery Life: No charging needed | Weight: 3.12 lbs
Wacom Intuos S – Large Drawing Area
Though this tablet is a non-display tablet which means it is not a tablet for drawing with a screen, it has a large drawing area of 6×3.7 inches. Perfect for the artist who likes to draw in a larger canvass.
The good thing about this non-display drawing tablets is that it doesn’t require charging so as soon as you have it you can eventually use it, the touchpad can recognize 4096 different pressure levels so you can change the line weight if you like.
The perks of buying a Wacom drawing tablet is that it has free bonus drawing software, you\ll get Corel Painter, Corel After Shot and Clip Studio. So aside from a cheap drawing tablet, you have a free application you can use.
The 4 hotkeys that are customizable are convenient to use when you needed a key for shortcuts, so if you are in need of a cheap drawing tablet that is able then this one is best for you.
Recommended Configuration For Wacom Intuos S
Pressure Sensitivity: 4,096 levels | No. of USB Ports: 1 USB Port | Keys Onboard: 4 Multifunctional Keys | Size: 7.87×6.3” | Multi-Touch Technology: No | Wireless Capability: No wireless | Battery Life: No charging needed | Weight: 0.5 lbs
VEIKK A15 – For Left & Right User
With 1,892 pressure levels, the VEIKK A15 is perfect for fine arts and it has a report rate of about 230 RPS that means that the position of the pen will be constantly updated every second.
The resolution on this drawing tablet is5080 digital lines that are running across it that respond to pen pressure which makes the VEIKK A15 a very responsive surface.
The 12 express keys are customizable and already programmed with basic shortcuts from Photoshop.
This drawing tablet comes with replacement nibs and an artist’s glove to help reduce oil and dust build-up on the touchpad.
What’s greater about this drawing tablet is that it can be flipped over to use by left-handed people, this is a serious drawing tablet for all kinds of a beginner.
Recommended Configuration For VEIKK A15
Pressure Sensitivity: 8,192 levels | No. of USB Ports: 1 USB Port | Keys Onboard: 12 Multifunctional Keys | Size: 15×8.6” | Multi-Touch Technology: No | Wireless Capability: No wireless | Battery Life: No charging needed | Weight: 2.2 lbs
Though this drawing tablet is not as cheap as its rivals, the functionality and features has a lot more to offer, perfect for beginners and pro’s in a tight budget.
The Pro Pen 2 stylus on this device is one of its tricks up its sleeve that tops out 8,192 levels of sensitivity beating other similarly price drawing tablets.
The device has a gorgeous display and acts as second monitor where you can draw interactively, the tablet itself doesn’t have any express keys but it comes with remote express keys that are highly customizable.
This drawing tablet is definitely the best tablet for entry-level designers or professionals on this field.
Recommended Configuration For Wacom Cintiq 16
Pressure Sensitivity: 8,192 levels | No. of USB Ports: 1 USB Port (HDMI included) | Keys Onboard: Remote Express keys | Size: 16.60×11.20” | Multi-Touch Technology: No | Wireless Capability: Bluetooth | Battery Life: No charging needed | Weight: 4.19 lbs
Picking The Best Beginner Drawing Tablets In 2023
Response Per Seconds (RPS)
One of the most important factors to look when buying a drawing tablet is the Response per seconds, the response rate of the tablet is very important when drawing in it. High response per second increases work efficiency and it also improves the ability to work on a number of projects in a more sophisticated manner.
User-Friendliness
A best drawing tablet for beginners should have user-friendly controls, one must understand everything that a drawing tablet offers in an instant or even with little exploration in order to maximize its usage.
You don’t want to spend too much time learning the controls or shortcuts when you should b working on something, so user-friendliness is next on the most important factors when choosing the best tablet for beginners.
Sensitivity Of Tilts
You may be a beginner but you are still an artist so you need something that can create natural strokes and in order to do more innovative real-looking designs you need a drawing tablet that you can draw like on paper.
Tilting the pen while drawing creates more natural strokes and ables you to do more designs in order to create gorgeous designs that what every artist aims to do, so having a drawing tablet that can offer a good sensitivity on tilts surely helps.
Active Areas
The active area is also a critical factor to be considered in terms of buying a drawing tablet, you don’t really want to scroll up and down everytime while working on something right? So choosing the best active area that suits your art needs is just the right thing to do.
The bigger the drawing area the more you can do uninterrupted so you can do more and draw more, in this listing, there are different sizes in terms of active area and it’s up for you to decide which size best suits your needs.
Resolution and Sensitivity Pressure
This a very basic rule, anything that is associated with graphics needs to have a better resolution, better resolution means getting a better display output with extra details. When choosing the right drawing tablet for you, consider top quality resolutions so that you can produce more detailed artwork and enables you to do more gorgeous arts.
In order to do quality arts, you need the cooperation of your pen and in order to do great lines and strokes, the sensitivity pressure should be higher. The higher the sensitivity pressure the more storage and line it knows so you can literally draw like in a paper, this will enable you to create innovative ideas.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Pen Pressure Levels Matter?
Basically, pen pressure levels tell you how sensitive the pen is and what can you expect to do with the pen with such pressure levels.
For example, pen with higher pressure levels will be able to do a bit finer thin and thick lines, while a pen with fewer pressure levels might be limited in some ways.
The standard pen pressure levels are about 2080, however, sometimes the levels can go as high as 8000.
The long answer short, pen pressure levels matter, but you shouldn’t worry yourself too much about it. If you choose any of the drawing tablets from the list above, you won’t have any problem with the pen pressure levels.
They all come with at least a standard levels that will satisfy even professional graphic designers who are switching from pen and paper to digital pen and drawing tablet.
Do I Need A Drawing Tablet With A Stand Or Not?
Therefore, whether you want a drawing tablet with a stand is mostly up to your personal preferences. If you have never tried drawing on a drawing tablet with a stand, feel free to give it a try.
It’s a pretty great feature even if you don’t use it often, but you have it ready for that moment when you might need it.
What’s popular on the market and among graphic designers is the boom arm that can hold the drawing tablet. That way, graphic designers can have the drawing tablet in many different positions and aren’t restricted on the table.
In case you don’t find drawing tablet with a stand your cup of tea, feel free to give boom arms a try. They’re an ultimate version of standard stands that come with most of the drawing tablets.
Mostly, the number of buttons will depend on the size of a drawing tablet. But sometimes less is more, so you have to keep that in mind.
It can get pretty hard to remember all the shortcuts you’ve placed if you have about 8 buttons. If you have around 4, which is 2 on each side, you’ll have an easier time remembering and actually using the buttons.
So this is again a situation that depends on personal preferences. But it’s not something you should worry yourself about.
No matter how many buttons you have, you’ll get used to them over time and get the most of them. But if you think that you won’t be efficient with 4 shortcut buttons, make sure to go for more than 4.
It’s better to have more shortcut buttons available and even empty than lacking some of them.
If you’ve been working as a digital graphic designer for a while now, you won’t have a hard time figuring out how many shortcut buttons you would prefer.
Conclusion
Most of the time, choosing a decent drawing tablet can be an overwhelming experience, especially with the number of tablets and features they come with.
But if you choose any of the categorized drawing tablets above in this post, you won’t go wrong, yet instead, you’ll get a great deal for the price you pay.
Hey! This is a nice and pretty helpful article. would you recommend the XPPen Artist 12 ( https://www.xp-pen.com/product/64.html )? I’m fairly new to graphics tablets but I want a screen tablet that isn’t too pricy but still decent. I prefer the pen to have an eraser, and I intend to use it to create an original logo initially but would like to also like casually draw with it.