Using the best drawing tablet will help you design beautiful digital artwork with ease. Drawing tablets come in a wide variety of products, from those that have their own screens to graphics tablets that must be connected to an external monitor. Whether you’re new to the world of digital art, a school-going student, or a seasoned professional: make sure our list of the best digital art tablets below will have something for you.
Drawing on a tablet now feels more natural than ever, thanks to advanced artist technology. There are three main types of graphics tablets: pen screens, graphics tablets, and tablets (we have a handy breakdown of each type at the bottom of this page if you’re not sure what the difference is).
Choosing the best drawing tablet for your needs is where this guide comes in: we’ve rounded up the best drawing tablets on the market today for a variety of needs such as different budgets, connections and sizes, so from the absolute beginner to the experienced Rich in professionals, there is a drawing tablet for everyone. Most of the options below are ones we have also tested ourselves,
This guide includes major digital art brands like Huion, XP-Pen, and Wacom, but we’ve also included a selection of computer tablets from big companies like Apple and Microsoft, as they’ve developed some great digital art software over the years. If you’re looking for a tablet for the classroom, we have a dedicated guide to the best tablets for students and the best drawing tablets for animation. If you’re looking for art software to run on your shiny new tablet, why not check out the best digital art software?
The Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium is a drawing tablet that offers the best balance of power, design, portability, and price, which we think makes it the best drawing tablet you can buy right now. A relative newcomer to the market, Xencelabs has a number of Wacom alumni on its roster who have brought tablet design philosophies to this new brand.
One of the most important aspects of a drawing tablet is the texture of its drawing surface, and Xencelabs pen tablet media can attract value for money. As we said in our glowing 5-star review of the tablet, the level of “bite” with the stylus feels exactly right, which makes for a very satisfying tablet. The pressure and tilt sensitivity is almost perfect too and it’s great to bundle two stylus as you can set them up for different purposes (e.g. one for line drawing and one for shading) for quick swapping and fluidity workflow.
The iPad Pro offers the best of both worlds; if having the best graphics tablet isn’t enough for you and you need to have the best tablet, there’s really only one option: the 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 ultra-fast M2 chip for stunning performance, it also has a mini-LED XDR display that’s incredibly bright with local dimming for stunning contrast. Put the two together (and add the remarkably smooth and intuitive Apple Pencil 2), and you have an almost unrivaled all-in-one system for creating digital art and displaying it to the best effect.
So why, by so many, is it not our top choice? Well, it really depends on your needs. The iPad Pro 12.9-inch (M2, 2022) is powerful and priced accordingly, and if you’re just looking for a drawing tablet and don’t need its many other features, it’s probably not worth it, a dedicated tool like the one above will offer a larger cost-effective. Still, let’s not lose sight of the fact that this is one of the best overall tablets on the market right now, and without a doubt one of the greatest drawing pictures. If you do like a cheaper alternative to Apple, then we’ve put the iPad Air further down the list.
Wacom used to be pretty much only on the drawing board, but in recent years a whole bunch of challenger brands have popped up to grab a piece of the lunch, especially in the cheaper market. However, despite the increased competition, the Wacom name remains one to be reckoned with, and as far as we’re concerned, the Wacom Cintiq 22 is definitely one of the best graphics tablets you can get, especially for serious business students.
While reviewing, we found that the 22-inch display offers plenty of room for creativity. It has a full HD resolution — not as many pixels as some newer, fancier tablets, but more than enough for most people. You can get sharper screens on other Wacom tablets, but they tend to cost more, whereas this model aims to bring Wacom quality at an affordable price. Let’s not forget that many tablets, including Xencelabs’, don’t have screens at all.
What really makes the Cintiq 22 such a pleasure is the Wacom Pro Pen 2, which has a full 8,192 levels of pressure and tilt sensitivity. Wacom has been in the game for so long, it’s hard to imagine an artist having any complaints about the Pro Pen 2. It works really well.
Wacom used to be pretty much only on the drawing board, but in recent years a whole bunch of challenger brands have popped up to grab a piece of the lunch, especially in the cheaper market. However, despite the increased competition, the Wacom name remains one to be reckoned with, and as far as we’re concerned, the Wacom Cintiq 22 is definitely one of the best graphics tablets you can get, especially for serious business students.
While reviewing, we found that the 22-inch display offers plenty of room for creativity. It has a full HD resolution — not as many pixels as some newer, fancier tablets, but more than enough for most people. You can get sharper screens on other Wacom tablets, but they tend to cost more, whereas this model aims to bring Wacom quality at an affordable price. Let’s not forget that many tablets, including Xencelabs’, don’t have screens at all.
What really makes the Cintiq 22 such a pleasure is the Wacom Pro Pen 2, which has a full 8,192 levels of pressure and tilt sensitivity. Wacom has been in the game for so long, it’s hard to imagine an artist having any complaints about the Pro Pen 2. It works really well.
The latest generation of iPad Air, the Apple iPad Air (5th generation, 2022) is an amazing tablet. It features one of Apple’s M1 silicon chips, the new processor currently transforming the company’s laptops, computers and tablets, making them virtual powerhouses. The 5th generation iPad has an M1 chip, a 2360×1640 IPS LCD panel that offers 264 pixels per inch and a maximum brightness of 500 nits. This is an absolute powerhouse.
What makes the Apple iPad Air (5th generation, 2022) one of the best drawing tablets you can buy is its Apple Pencil 2 compatibility, delivering one of the smoothest and most natural digital drawing experiences on the market. It’s one of the many things we found to admire in our Apple iPad Air (5th generation, 2022) review, and we discussed how the tablet blurs the line between the Airline and the flagship iPad Pro line. The Pros might be better, with brighter screens and faster refresh rates, but they’re also more expensive, which is why we chose the Air as our pick for the best Apple drawing tablet.
