Pen tablets are probably one of my favorite pieces of equipment only surpassed by headphones, and all throughout my career, I have been exploring options and products that offer new innovations and approaches to make one’s life easier.

It is hard to describe how much my life as an artist has been improved through pen tablets, be it from an ergonomic point of view or simply by improving the ease of access to so many applications and these days I could absolutely not work without one anymore.

I almost can’t believe that I spent most of the early days in my career, when I worked as a graphic designer, without a tablet, making my life oh so much harder. Or let’s just say, I did nor realize how much easier and even more so higher quality work I could produce.

Just imagine doing any of the following things without a pen tablet.

  • Almost any task in Photoshop – Drawing, Composing, Photo Manipulation
  • Sculpting in ZBrush
  • Analyzing reference and drawing over it
  • 2D Animation

I’ve even fallen in love with using a tablet with Maya. I’ve found that manipulation feels just a tad smoother and more precise. When milliseconds count, stuff like that is incredibly valuable.

Wacom’s Monopoly

A lot of people are criticizing Wacom for how they exploit their monopoly on the market. Their products are incredibly expensive and prices have not budged in years.
But guess what, their products are also still ahead of the competition. No competitor is managing to truly compete with them on the high-end level.

There is always one quirk or a shortcoming that disqualifies a competitor from truly making a dent in Wacom’s armor.

So especially when it comes to 2D artists, painters, illustrators or Sculptors, there is no way around the Wacom Intuos Pro (Check it out on Amazon). If you’re a top designer or work at a top tier company, you might even be supplied with a Cintiq, but these are highly overpriced and really only realistic for people who have a top-end budget.

Most tasks these days can absolutely be done with the Intuos Pro, or its smaller sibling, the Wacom Intuos (Also available on Amazon). I personally don’t need more than a regular Intuos for my tasks as an Animator and I think for a lot of people this might be fine. But if you intend to draw and need top pressure/tilt sensitivity, that’s when you should switch to the Intuos Pro.

Off brands are catching up

There will be people who say that off-brand competitors are catching up to Wacom, and it is true that some of them have made huge strides and I don’t deny that in the future, there will be a more diverse market which I am going to be very happy about because that will drive prices down.

But of all the competitors, no one is really able to keep up with Wacom yet. Pressure/Tilt sensitivity, smoothness of handling, drivers, compatibility and manufacturing quality are just a few factors that are still lacking with most competitors.

There will always be someone who likes having a contrarian opinion or wants to stick it to the man or wants to turn this into an identity politics thing. But as professionals, we have to work with the equipment that’s best suited to make us better assets.

I don’t see anything else out there that can do just that as well as Wacom.

What are you using it for?

Depending on what you need your tablet for, your choices might vary vastly. If you’re doing anything that doesn’t require pressure or tilt sensitivity then you will do perfectly fine with a regular Intuos.

If you are drawing, however, concept art, photo manipulation, anything that requires pressure sensitivity and really precise work, then you will definitely want to go for an Intuos Pro.

Do I need a Cintiq?

As mentioned above. A Cintiq is more often than not unnecessary. I’d say unless you are able to make money from your freelance work or are an independent artist or designer, it is likely to be overkill.

If you are working a day job at a top studio, you are even likely to get a Cintiq at work. I know at Pixar, every animator has one and I assume its similar at many other studios. Perhaps it might change in terms of department importance, as in, Concept Designers will likely get that kind of hardware before animators, but in general, studios do supply them.

In general, it is my opinion that 90% of artists will be perfectly fine with an Intuos or an Intuos Pro.