Tablets are gradually becoming more popular with graphics people thanks to their compact size, but they are still fully equipped with configurations not inferior to a laptop.
For many graphic designers, it seems that the tablet for electronic drawing is an indispensable part of the desk.
So how can you choose the art digital graphic tablet for drawing that suits your needs and the price they bring?
Below I will share some experience and knowledge in buying the art digital graphic tablet for drawing.
I am sure the knowledge that I provide will be of great help to you in finding a suitable device for yourself.
What is a Digital Graphic Drawing Board?
The touchpad (electronic drawing board) is an input peripheral device of the computer, allowing to perform writing, drawing, image editing operations easily with just one screen and stylus.
Today, the device is widely used by graphic designers, photographers, digital artists, and architects in their work and or used as a digital tool for executives to sign scanned documents without printing.
In design, an electronic drawing board is a simulation of drawing on paper and replacing a computer mouse.
Because every action taken on the electronic drawing board will be shown on the computer via a cable or wireless connection, this aids designers in “simplifying” the design process.
Essential components of a Digital Graphic Drawing Board
With a joint electronic drawing board, there will be:
- Drawing board
- Touch pen
- Connection cable
In addition to depending on the product, there will be additional accessories to support, such as a pen box, pen nib, charger, nib removal tool, pen holder, etc.
Is a Digital Graphic Drawing Board necessary?
It can be seen that with a job that requires creativity and drawing as much as the design industry, using the mouse is very inconvenient; it will lose your creativity.
But to transfer drawings from paper to graphic software for the print or on the internet is extremely difficult, not to mention that many intricate features call for the talent and creativity of human hands.
But now, with an electronic drawing board, designers can unleash their creativity on it. It is convenient to convert drawings to digital platforms thanks to the drawing board being compatible with most of today’s design software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Paint Tool Sai, and Dream Weaver Large. This easy-to-edit workspace helps designers and painters freely implement their ideas quickly.
Not only for designers or painters, but now electronic drawing boards also appear in many other professions, such as for teachers to teach online, as digital signatures for directors, or entertainment. Many people need to use a computer peripheral like this because of its features and user-friendliness.
Applications of Digital Graphic Drawing Board
Primarily, the touchpad supports – compatible with many types of specialized software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Paint Tool Sai, and Dream Weaver.
Users can manipulate the stylus (stylus) directly on the surface. Drawing table, thereby correcting all lines and images according to the user’s intentions with a processing speed 20 times faster than a standard mouse.
Not only that, but the XP-Pen electronic board is also an optimal support device for online teaching and web conferencing with the ability to write words, take notes, and present ideas accurately and most intuitively.
What is the Digital Graphic Drawing board used for?
Under the non-stop development of the 4.0 era, many professions apply many means of supporting work in the best way.
Therefore, in recent years, electronic drawing boards have begun to trend for those who work in Design, Graphic Design and develop in many other fields such as online teaching., take notes, create digital signatures, or in entertainment. So what is the electronic drawing board used for in each such profession:
Conventional electronic drawing boards have two types:
Graphic drawing board:
- Users use a stylus to draw and write on the drawing board and look at and monitor the operation on the computer screen.
Screen drawing board:
- A high-end electronic drawing board that combines a graphic drawing board with a computer screen. Users use the stylus to draw directly on the drawing board screen.
Today, with the advancement of technology and the explosion of the mobile era, the electronic drawing board is connected to the computer; it can be used with mobile phones and tablets.
XP-Pen is the pioneer in this trend with many models such as G640S, Deco 01, 02, 03, and Deco Pro S/M series to help users unleash their creativity anytime, anywhere.
If you are working in the creative field: comic artist, digital artist, game maker, animator, graphic designer, image and video editor, or teachers and administrators, Professional managers need to equip themselves with this powerful assistant.
Things to know when choosing to buy a Digital Graphic Drawing board
A tablet will allow you to draw and manipulate directly on the machine’s screen through the stylus. Graphics tablets are usually just peripheral devices used to receive drawing operations; when used, they must be connected to devices equipped with operating systems such as computers and smartphones.
Meanwhile, tablets designed specifically for the design have a built-in operating system, so there is no need to connect, providing greater flexibility and convenience.
Thanks to the compact and portable nature of the graphics tablet, you can comfortably take it wherever you go and make the most of your free time to work and improve your productivity.
- Your Budget first
- Fit for the intended use
- User object
- CPU
- RAM
- Screen
- Support feature
- Choose a reputable brand & a reliable place to buy
1. Your Budget first
Before you want to buy a touchpad, the first question is how much money do you have? Determining your financial ability will answer: should you buy a high-end product line with many features or choose to buy an affordable product that meets your current needs? Because there are many designs for art digital graphic tablets, you need to choose them carefully.
Because the price will often be proportional to the many features they come with and the convenience for users.
If you are not too financially prosperous, the second factor you need to consider when buying an electronic drawing board is the purpose of use.
Do you use the drawing board for essential learning, advanced learning, or work? Each line of electronic drawing board products launched by manufacturers on the market is aimed at a specific customer with different functions.
If used for learning, you can initially choose to buy lines that help users perform basic and straightforward drawing operations.
If you later learn more profoundly or serve design work, you must choose to buy product lines that have all the necessary features to help perform effective design operations. And of course, if you have financial conditions, you can choose the quality and feature-rich drawing boards no matter your purpose.
2. Fit for the intended use
If you are not too financially prosperous, the second factor you need to consider when buying an electronic drawing board is the purpose of use.
Do you use the drawing board for essential learning, advanced learning, or work? Each line of the electronic drawing board is aimed at a specific customer with different functions.
If used for learning, you can initially choose to buy lines that support users to perform basic and simple drawing operations such as G640, Star 03, Deco 01
If you later learn more profoundly or serve design work, you must choose to buy product lines that have all the necessary features to help perform effective design operations.
And of course, if you have financial conditions, you can freely choose the sequence of screen drawings and many features.
3. User object
One of the other factors that can determine the choice of a drawing board is the object to be used.
Products like the Wacom Intuos S CTL-4100/K0-CX or XP Pen Star 03 are most suited for your needs if you are a student or a beginner and just starting with the design.
For the needs of a professional, long-time designer, you need more advanced add-on tools like Wacom Intuos Pro Paper or XP Pen Artist 13.3.
4. CPU
Equipped with an Apple A15 Bionic chip or Snapdragon 845 or higher will bring high performance to the tablet, making each stroke consistently smooth and sharp.
The jerkiness and lag will also be minimized when you use a product with these chips.
5. RAM
3 GB (for iPad) or 4 GB (for Android) is the minimum amount of RAM so that the tablet can operate many tasks for a long time without experiencing RAM overflow.
This phenomenon can make your experience incomplete, and the device’s life will also decrease rapidly.
6. Screen
The screen is quite an essential criterion for graphics needs, as it is the place to display all images to determine the color standard, contrast level, and clarity of each stroke.
You should choose a screen of 10 inches or more for the perfect work and use a Retina panel (for iPad) or PLS / IPS (for Android).
7. Support feature
Supporting features such as a stand and stylus will make your drawing process more convenient.
At the same time, creating a natural feeling like drawing on paper is supported by a wooden frame, helping you relax and feel comfortable during use.
8. Choose a reputable brand & a reliable place to buy
Do not be greedy for products that are too cheap. Products from strange brands, not genuine distribution, or sold in portable form all have many potential risks in terms of quality.
You will also not be consulted or enjoy the full after-sales service; even the warranty will be tricky if the drawing board makes an error.
Other criteria for choosing Digital Graphic Drawing board
Manufacturers will know that the primary audience for their product line is graphic designers, so they spend their best to support drawing.
But not everyone can afford to buy too expensive drawing boards to serve themselves. So let’s look at some of the necessary criteria for choosing an electronic drawing board for a designer.
Having a working area that is not too small makes it easy to manipulate or draw pictures, avoiding the situation that you lack a workspace, so you will quickly lose your creativity.
There should be shortcuts on the machine so you can install frequently used tools on the shortcuts, so you will not need to use too much of the keyboard to help speed up the working process.
Choosing a drawing board with good pen sensitivity is one of the critical criteria because your working process is natural or not; good pen feeling or not depends a lot on pen sensitivity.
According to experts, a pen’s sensitivity is at least 4000 forces, and for a good experience, you can use cells with over 8000 points.
Compatibility with current graphic-making software avoids buying a machine that cannot be used because the software does not support drawing boards.
The birth of the electronic Digital Graphic Drawing board
In 1888 inventor Elisha Gray introduced to the world the first electronic handwriting device called the Telautograph. But it can be said that the father of electronic drawing boards is Stylator, born in 1957; this design can be connected and used with computers.
Many electronic drawing boards have been born to serve many jobs with many improvements and digital technology development. So what is the electronic drawing board used for in work?
Electronic drawing board for the graphic design industry
You may have heard people working in the graphics industry talking to each other a lot about electronic drawing boards.
Still, you have no idea what to use an electronic drawing board in their sector. But it’s not wrong that the electronic drawing board was born for Designers because anyone who does design in this era wants to have an electronic drawing board.
Everyone knows that people who want to enter design or painting schools must take an additional drawing exam to get into those schools.
Therefore, designers must use a lot of pencils and drawing paper to create their works. But under the current development, drawing on paper sometimes makes no minor inconvenience, when the results need to be digitized to put on the internet environment and using an electronic drawing board is the best way for the artists graphic designer.
Electronic drawing board used in Online Teaching.
During the current pandemic, schools have plans for students to study online so as not to delay the learning process.
From there, teachers need to find out which devices support online teaching and an electromagnetic drawing board is a necessary device.
Electronic drawing boards can help teachers replace traditional blackboards and chalk teaching online.
Teachers can write, draw pictures, present formulas, draw illustrative charts, and take notes on Word or Slide to help students absorb lessons more easily.
The electronic drawing board is used as an electronic signature.
It sounds a bit inaccurate to you why you need an electronic drawing board for the director. Indeed you are not too familiar with the fact that companies today trade and trade between countries, or many branches in many countries of a company.
Therefore, the appearance of electronic signatures helps directors not need to fly to sign a contract or project that requires urgent approval.
The electronic drawing board is the best tool to create an online signature or to help take notes on corporate online meetings.
Why use a Digital Graphic Drawing board?
For designers, using a computer with a mouse connection limits their creative space and ability to turn ideas into reality.
Meanwhile, the conversion from sketches from paper to professional graphics software encounters many obstacles, especially with complex lines, requiring the adjustment of human hands.
With a touchpad, designers and artists alike have an unlimited horizon of expression, enjoying the same freedom of experience as working with brushes and paper.
At the same time, the drawing device is directly compatible with specialized graphics tools such as Photoshop or Illustrator.
This helps you in the design people not have to worry much in the process of converting your ideas to the digital platform.
Should you buy an old, used drawing board?
Students or Designers who want to buy a new electronic drawing board will want to resell the old and used drawing board.
If you believe in a “second-hand” drawing board, you can buy a good product with many features to meet current needs at a low price.
However, with products that have been used for a long time, there will no longer be a warranty from the manufacturer.
Therefore, if any damage occurs during use, it will cost you more to repair, and indeed, the product life will not be as long as buying a new drawing board.
And undoubtedly, new, unused products always have more extended components and longevity. Therefore, you must consider carefully before purchasing a “second-hand” touch panel.
Methods of preservation Digital Graphic Drawing board
This device has many exceptional features with a multi-point, multi-touch screen and a very sensitive pen that demonstrates your logical and inventive working style.
Touch drawing board integrates many utilities and diverse functions so that users can comfortably work and sketch-like using a piece of paper and a pen.
The possibilities and benefits that the drawing board brings are many, thanks to the settings, applications, and designs of this famous brand.
Using an electronic drawing board is complicated because users must learn to use innovative and advanced devices. But okay.
The drawing board’s practical and imaginative features will make everything work without a hitch, and it will be exciting to try new things.
In addition, the preservation of the drawing board must be carefully prepared. Here, I will introduce some of the simplest and most convenient ways to maintain electronic drawing boards.
- Screen care: The drawing board screen must be protected against scratches and bumps and avoid being touched by tools other than the multi-point pen. To improve the lives of the drawing board, users should use a dedicated drawing bag for best preservation.
- Preservation of the pen: Because this is a specialized pen used to draw on the screen, users should pay attention not to use the pen to remove on other surfaces arbitrarily. Using the cell must be gentle to avoid dropping and bumping.
- Battery storage: While charging, the battery is not recommended to use.
- When in use, it should be cherished, ensuring that the functions work well. Besides, it is recommended to stick the screen to increase the life, durability of the screen surface, and the interoperability of the pen nib.
- Keep out of reach of children, do not get into the water.
- When charging, pay attention to the power supply.
- When using a drawing board, users should pay attention to how to maintain it to improve workability and prolong its life of the drawing board.
Where to put the electronic drawing board?
The position of the drawing board is critical; it determines the posture and speed of use, especially for beginners. You can place the artboard facing the screen and directly in front of the keyboard.
This arrangement will make it easier for beginners to use the drawing board, making it easy to manipulate and use and create the most comfortable posture. Once you’ve mastered it, you can change the position of the artboard as you like.
How to connect the drawing board to the computer
In general, whether you use a Wacom drawing board, XP Pen, or any other type of drawing board, to use it, you also need to follow these steps:
Step 1:
Download the drive of the drawing board on the computer
Visit the main drawing board website to download the latest drivers. To download, you choose a drive compatible with the computer’s operating system using Mac or Windows. Install and launch the driver like any other standard application.
Step 2:
Connect the computer to the drawing board
Two methods connect the drawing board to the computer: wireless and wired. Wireless connection is usually for tablet devices or MacBooks that support wireless connection via Bluetooth.
A wired connection is to use a cable to connect the drawing board directly to your PC. Usually, a line (built-in with the drawing board) connects the drawing board to the computer via a USB port.
Step 3:
Customize and complete the connection
After the connection is complete, the computer will automatically run the appropriate drawing program.
Click on the program and start customizing additional settings for the pen and drawing board, and you have completed installing the electronic drawing board for the computer.
How to hold a touch pen
Want to control your stylus as comfortably as you would a ballpoint pen? So put the pen between your index finger and thumb; the remaining fingers can be placed on the drawing board and moved.
Note:
Do not use the pen’s tip to move the pointer.
Navigate and select
To select an item, click the pen’s tip on the thing you need pen tip as a left click. If you wanted to move an object, such as a folder, you would touch and hold the pen on the folder and move it to the position you want it to be.
If you want to open the folder, double-click it. Finally, to select multiple items on your computer or in a folder, tap and hold to drag across the things you want to select.
Once you get used to controlling the pen, you will find it much more convenient to use the pen than with the mouse.
How to use pen force?
What makes the stylus unique is the sensitivity of the pen’s pressure. You can vary a tool’s behavior based on your cell’s force.
Currently, on the market of Wacom models, there are usually three basic types of touch-sensitive pens: Bambo Pen with 512 pressure, a universal pen with 1024 pressure, and the most advanced pen line is Pro pen with 2048 pressure (with tip. eraser, tilt and rotate sensors).
Pen pressure control is performed differently in each application. In most cases, it’s through a check box, button, or drop-down menu. Typical functions are using force to control brush and stroke density.
Some art digital graphic tablets I can recommend for you.
Choosing a tablet to start your creative journey is always a challenge. Here are a few samples of the products I can recommend.
Image | Name | Price Link |
 | HUION Kamvas Pro 13 GT-133 Drawing Tablet with Full Laminated Screen 13.3 inch Graphics Monitor Pen Display with Battery-Free Stylus 8192 Pen Pressure Tilt Touch Bar, Stand Included – Extra Pen Nibs | On Amazon, you can see the price right here. |
 | XENX P3-1060 MacOS Windows and Android Supported Graphic Drawing Tablet 10×6 inch with 10 Shortcut Keys | On Amazon, you can see the price right here. |
 | Wacom PTH660 Intuos Pro Digital Graphic Drawing Tablet for Mac or PC, Medium, New Model, Black | On Amazon, you can see the price right here. |
Final thought
The graphic design electronic drawing boards (Tablets) market is becoming increasingly saturated, so picking the suitable device takes effort and perseverance.
They must meet your needs today, a specialized drawing ideal for finance and primarily ensure enough manipulation in studying and working.
Additionally, it would be beneficial to learn more about the drawing board’s interface, size, and compatibilities with your other electronic equipment, like laptops and printers.
Above I have provided you with some information about buying an art digital graphic tablet for drawing and related knowledge. I think it will benefit you in using and maintaining the device.
Related Article:
How to Decide on which tablet is right for You (Explained)
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