XP-PEN Artist 12 (2nd Gen) Drawing Tablet with Screen, Graphics Pen Display with 11.6 Inches Full-laminated Screen, X3 Elite Stylus, Supports Windows, Mac OS, Android, Chrome OS and Linux (Pink)

Product Information

When you move your pen out of the work area, the cursor will stay where you leave, which is like operating a mouse. It sheds the chunky barrel weight of previous Artist styli, opting instead for a slimmer, more natural-feeling pen.

Artist 12 (2nd Gen) pen display | XPPen Get started with XPPen Artist 12 (2nd Gen) pen display | XPPen

The 3-in-1 cable that supports HDMI signal transmission allows you to connect the drawing display to a PC. Sixteen inches is often considered the "sweet spot" for a lot of digital artists when it comes to pen displays, and you could opt for a similarly featured Artist 15. There’s a plug over the one port that would be used with a single USB-C cable instead of the included 3-in-1 cable.While testing this display, I did have issues with the driver UI not saving my preferred pressure curve between PC start-ups, requiring me to reload and adjust my curve before use every time. If that’s not enough, the screen is also touch sensitive, and can detect 8,192 different pressure levels.

Artist 12 (2nd Gen) Pen Display digital art tablet | XP-Pen Artist 12 (2nd Gen) Pen Display digital art tablet | XP-Pen

I think it means when in use the nib now only goes up and down a little bit and you don’t have to press as hard…or something… 😊) Otherwise, the stylus shares the same specs as other XP-PEN pens like 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity and supports 60° of tilt. I tend to find most shortcut key commands on these devices already have the best/most used options already set, but it’s great you can amend if you so wish (I tend not to use them as I’m so used to using a keyboard! Six of them have braille-like bumps on them to give a slight feel at your fingertips for which button is under them.There was also a considerable amount of pen jitter — inconsistent wobbles in the line — when making slow, long strokes with the pen. The pen display excels at providing on-the-go creativity that can connect to a myriad of devices from laptops to tablets and cellphones, as well as working well with a variety of digital art apps. Contrast ratio is the visual distance between the lightest and the darkest colors that may be reproduced on the display. XP-Pen manages to make some impressive leaps with their newer technology in both the pen stylus and the display itself, but there are some features missing for these little powerhouse pen displays to remain budget friendly. The newly redesigned stylus for the Artist 12 may easily be one of the most comfortable pens I've used to date.

XPPen Artist 12 2nd Gen review Compact, affordable - XPPen Artist 12 2nd Gen review

XP-Pen's software has long been the bane of the brand, but with each new cycle of tablets the driver UI has seen dramatic improvements. The Artist 12 (2nd Gen) marks a big step for XP-Pen to catch up to what some of their competitors have been doing in the budget pen display market. The higher the ratio, the better you can see details in dark images, where there’s a lot of black on the screen. The Artist 12 is available in classic black, or a blend of muted and pastel blue, pink, or green colors. For example: After selecting proportion, if you draw a circle on the device, a circle will appear on the screen, but some part of the work area may not be used.

The user interface of the PenTablet application has stepped up it’s fairly straightforward to navigate.