7 mistakes everyone makes when buying a new drawing tablet – and how to avoid them

I’ve tested a lot of drawing tablets over the years. Big ones, small ones, cheap ones, the kind that arrive with a spec sheet long enough to make you feel like you need a degree in engineering before you can buy one, and many have made it to our best drawing tablets list.

Every time a new tablet launches, the same questions come up. How many pressure levels does it have? Is Wacom still the best? Should I buy the biggest screen I can afford? Do I need to spend £1,500 to get something good? The answer to most of these questions is: probably not. The weird thing about drawing tablets is that the stuff manufacturers love shouting about – sRGB, Adobe RGB, DCI-P3, pressure levels, lamination – isn’t always the stuff that makes you enjoy using one.

The best tablet is rarely the one with the biggest numbers on the box; it’s the one that fits how you work, the space you have, the software you use and, most importantly, the one you’ll actually pick up and draw with every day. After years of testing them, these are the seven mistakes I see people making again and again when they look to buy a new drawing tablet, or a first tablet (and I've been as guilty myself).

01. Avoid buying the biggest tablet you can afford

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If you have the money, or scrape together just enough, it can be tempting to buy the biggest drawing tablet available. You’re spending a decent amount of money, so why wouldn’t you want the biggest screen, the largest active area, the most drawing space possible?

The problem is that bigger doesn’t always mean better. A huge 24-inch pen display looks incredible on a studio desk, but it also needs the desk space to match. A large tablet can sometimes feel like you’re moving your entire arm around when a smaller one would let you work faster and more naturally. A lot of artists actually end up happiest with a medium-sized tablet. It gives you enough room for expressive strokes without taking over your entire workspace.

Personally, I have a Huion Kamvas 22 (Gen 3), and while I also have larger 27-inch displays in the house, this smaller size is perfect for my desk and room size. What I’ve learned is simple: pick the size that suits your desk and the size of your room.

02. Obsessing over pressure sensitivity

A new tablet launches with 16,384 levels of pressure sensitivity, and suddenly everyone thinks the previous generation is unusable – it isn’t. Modern drawing tablets are incredibly sensitive, and once you’re past a certain point, those numbers matter far less than things like pen feel, calibration, the drawing surface and how your software handles brushes.

As a rule, 8K pressure levels are a minimum I’d opt for and certainly feel better than the 4K of old, but 16K feels like overkill, offering the kind of pressure sensitivity few will really need. ‘Budget’ brands like Huion and XPPen push 16K as an eye-catching feature, but Wacom and Xencelabs have stuck to 8K for now because their driver software is generally better.

LPI (Lines Per Inch) is perhaps a better spec to look for, this measures tracking resolution, such as how finely the tablet can track the position of your pen across its surface. Most tablets from the top brands – Wacom, Huion, XPPen, Xencelabs – feature at least 5,080 LPI.

03. Forgetting to check your software

This sounds obvious, but it happens all the time. The tablet specs could well be impressive, but if it doesn’t work with the best digital art software, if the shortcuts don’t work properly and the pressure settings need constant tweaking, then you’re left with an expensive slab that can't be used. Before buying a drawing tablet, think about what you’ll actually use it for, whether that’s Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Illustrator, Blender, or Procreate.

A tablet is part of a bigger creative setup, and the best one is the one that works smoothly with the tools you already spend your time in. The main brands – Wacom, XPPen, Huion, Xencelabs and even budget option Ugee – detail the software the tablet is compatible with; make sure you check this before buying. You’ll also find brands like Wacom and XPPen will offer free software and trials, so you can be sure they’ll work.

04. Spending too much on your first tablet

If you’re just getting started in digital art, it can be too easy to spend too much on a new drawing tablet. You’re excited to get started, and it’s easy to think you need a tablet designed for professionals. That can work out, and a good tablet, such as a Wacom Intuos Pro, will last you for years, but it’s often too easy to get sucked into spending too much money on a new hobby.

A beginner doesn’t need the most expensive display, the largest screen or every shortcut button available. You need something that feels good enough to encourage you to keep practising, but not so expensive as to break the bank. Your first tablet should encourage you to draw, not make you nervous about whether you’re getting enough value from it. A great beginner tablet is the Ugee 16, a pen display that costs just $266 / £199, comes with a solid stylus, good display and even advanced features like floating shortcut keys.

05. Assuming Wacom is always the best choice

Wacom has earned its reputation, and its tablets are definitely in the Apple-like category for quality, design and performance. Importantly, its tablets last for years and have regular driver updates to maintain performance. But things have changed, and the gap between Wacom and the rest of the market has narrowed massively.

Brands like XPPen, Huion and Xencelabs now make excellent tablets, often offering features and build quality that would have been impossible at their prices a few years ago. Wacom tends to still come out on top in terms of driver performance, but for cold, hard specs, tablets from XPPen and Huion impress, and these agile Chinese brands tend to be more agile and take risks; for example, XPPen released the first Android tablet, the Magic Drawing Pad, and it took Wacom three years to catch up and release the excellent MovinkPad Pro 14.

There’s nothing wrong with buying Wacom. It’s still a safe choice. Just don’t assume the logo automatically makes it the right tablet for you.

06. Ignoring comfort and focusing only on specs

This might be the biggest one. When you’re shopping, it’s easy to get distracted by numbers – the screen resolution, colour accuracy, refresh rate, pressure levels, pen technology – all useful things, but they don’t tell the whole story.

After a few hours of drawing, what matters is how the tablet feels. Does the pen feel natural? Are the shortcut buttons in the right place? Is the stand comfortable? Does your wrist ache after an afternoon of painting? A tablet is something you physically interact with for hours, and like all good, well-designed products we actually use, ergonomics can matter more than raw power and spec sheet manifestos.

Here, Wacom tends to lead the pack; its Cintiq Intuos Pro has Quick Keys set into and under the display frame, just where you naturally rest your hands, while the redesigned Intuos Pro has dials and keys repositioned to the top of the tablet for ease of use.

07. Spending more time researching tablets than making art

I’m guilty of this one too, though it kind of comes with the job. But joking aside, creative people love gear, enjoy the challenge of finding the perfect tool, the best setup, the thing that will somehow make everything easier – we love a shortcut.

But the truth is, there are more genuinely good drawing tablets available now than ever before. You can make brilliant art on a $100 graphics tablet, or a $600 display or a professional setup costing thousands. The important thing is finding something that gets out of the way, because the best drawing tablet isn’t necessarily the one with the best specs; it’s the one that makes you want to sit down, open your software and start creating.

Start by deciding whether you want a graphics tablet or a pen display. Then, do you want on-frame Quick Keys or a remote? Set your size and budget, and honestly, there’s no need to go bigger than 24 inches and spend no more than $800-$1000 on a first tablet. Once you have those answers, you’re kind of there, and you’re likely looking at an XPPen or Huion tablet, and both are good brands.

Recommended drawing tablets:

Taking everything into account, these are the best drawing tablet's I'd suggest that won't break the bank, will last you years and keep you painting.