XP-PenArtist15.6 IPS Graphics Display with Glove and Digital Stylus (8192 Pressure Levels)

Amazing tablet for anyone that takes drawing seriously, it's a big upgrade from those tablets where you don't draw directly on the screen such as Wacom Intuos, and very satisfying and addicting experience to draw on. Just in case it isn't clear, this product is basically a second monitor with a touch screen. It only takes the special pen as input instead of your fingers, so leaning with your hand on the screen for stability is perfectly fine.Because of the thickness of the glass of the screen, which creates a kind of parallax effect where you kind of draw 'above' the actual screen. This takes a bit of getting used to, but if you make sure you don't look at the screen from an angle, it's fine. Also another thing I noticed is that the cursor is not exactly where the pen touches the screen when you hold the pen at a different angle, which some drawing techniques require. However, since you can still see the cursor, it just takes a tiny bit of extra coordination and isn't a problem most of the time.The display looks great, it's the same size and resolution as a quality laptop screen. After some calibration, the colors still don't look exactly the same as my normal screen, but it's close enough for me to work. When you draw, there is a bit of lag where the brush stroke has to catch up with your pen, which I think even the Wacom Cintiq has. It shouldn't affect your drawing, you don't have to slow down your strokes.Overall advice: If you're only just getting into digital drawing, I suggest a cheaper drawing tablet without screen to start off with. It may feel less intuitive to learn the muscle memory, but with a basic drawing tablet you can already make professional quality work if you have the skill. The Pen Artist tablet is best for people who want to take digital drawing to the next level and have more comfort and better quality.

After having tried a similar product from a Chinese competitor, I was a bit weary of this new generation of Oriental display tablets. It left me feeling the technology hadn't been fully understood or evolved to take on the undisputed market leader (Wacom).When I stumbled across an incredibly good Black Friday offer from XP-pen (Japanese), I decided to throw the dice once more and ordered the Artist 15.6.Things started going very well from that point on: it arrived a day early to start with. The packaging presented well and once un-boxed the tablet felt well designed, well made and well finished. Some reviewers thought it a bit plastic-y, I can't imagine why, unless expectations were set at the gold-inlaid brushed titanium level.Set-up and connecting was a doodle. Driver install ditto. I had a minor issue with the resolution, but thanks to great online support that was quickly resolved (it was a Windows setting, nothing to do with the product).I've used it for a few days now with Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop - no issues. Drawing is easy and natural, surface resistance is right for me and the tablet reacts well to pen pressure. The parallax (the apparent difference of the pointer position from the the tip of the pen due to the thickness of the glass) is well within tolerance for me - I got used to it in about half an hour. Oh, and it comes with a battery-free stylus. It could do with more function keys though - should have gotten the pro perhaps.Overall, great product, great price. Couldn't say whether this is a Wacom killer but it's certainly in the same ballpark.

I've recently bought the XP-PEN Artist 15.6 at its full price as part of a graphics design University project. Having had the Wacom Bamboo tablet for quite some time, I thought it was time to take a step up to a full-featured graphics tablet. After seeing the price of the Wacom graphics tablet range, I was certain I was going to have to find an alternative. After weeks of consideration and research, I can say with certainty that the Artist 15.6 is a fantastic alternative to Wacom tablets. Below are some pro's and cons for the tablet:PROS• Thin at ≈12mm but very strong - great portability, I often take the graphics tablet to and from various locations, but you'll need a big case!• Easy to set up and use - powered through USB so doesn't require a wall connection (at least not when using my Macbook Pro with it)• Great pen pressure (8192 levels!) - my graphics look really slick and even better than my usual handwriting on pen and paper.• Comes with some nice ancillary attachments - well made anti-fouling glove and solid pen holder with extra nibs (although I don't think I'll ever get through all of them!)• Great & bright looking screen - the IPS display was clearly a good choice to implement in the Artist 15.6 - it looks as good as my Macbook Pro retina display so there's no problems between switching looking at both of the screens after a few hours of use.• Passive pen! Doesn't require batteries so no headaches having to remember to keep the pen charged, I just chuck it in with my tablet in the bag after use and away I go.• 6 adjustable buttons on the side - all customisable through the software available either on the CD given or the XP-Pen website, more buttons than I'm going to need for my work but a breath of fresh air coming from my Wacom Bamboo with only 2 buttons.• Super easy to set up the drivers and integration into my software packages (Fusion 360, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Autodesk Sketchbook)• Packaging was excellent - three layers of protection including the carry case, internal box and foam packaging - arrived in perfect condition.CONS• No included stand, but after having used it flat on the desk for a while it doesn't seem to be too much of a problem. I'll look at getting an articulating arm for this as would be more suitable for my workstation and keeping the tablet out of the way.• Pen doesn't feel as solid as some battery-powered alternatives but this a very small trade off considering the gain in functionality of not having to charge it!THE VERDICTAn absolutely fantastic Wacom alternative, especially if this is your first graphics tablet. Would strongly recommend to any one looking to buy a graphics tablet.