I started my career as a newspaper photographer. This was back in the days of film cameras, but I was there for the start of film scanners and then digital photography. I also spent a few years as a graphic artist, laying out news pages and ads.
For most of this time, when computers began to replace darkrooms, I used a stylus and graphics tablet instead of a mouse. Wacom has always been the top brand in the graphics tablet market, and I’m happy those tablets have evolved and are still a fun and necessary tool if you are a computer artist.
Today I’m reviewing the Wacom Intuos Pro Pen Tablet, which comes in small, medium and large. I tested the medium version, priced at $379.95 from Wacom.com.
For those who have never used a pen tablet (sometimes called a graphics tablet), it is an input device where you draw with a stylus (also called a pen) on a flat surface tablet. Whatever you draw on the tablet surface shows up on your computer screen. It is a lot easier to draw or retouch photos with a pen than with a mouse.
The medium Intuos Pro tablet has an active area size of 8.7 inches by 5.8 inches and it is just 8 millimeters thick. It sits on your desk off to the side of your keyboard like a large mousepad.
There is a row of eight ExpressKeys (customizable buttons) along one side, which can be programmed for a variety of shortcuts and features. You can assign them to call up different options depending on what app you are using at the time. The buttons are a quick and handy way to change pen tip sizes or drawing colors. There is also a TouchRing, which is a round touch surface that you can use to scroll around your document or set up shortcuts to change brush size or move between layers.
The included stylus is called the Wacom Pro Pen 2. The comfortable pen has 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity and works without a battery. The pen tips are replaceable and different tips are included to change the feel of the pen experience. The pen comes with felt or plastic tips. There are also optional texture sheets you can buy to change the surface feel (smooth, standard or rough) of the tablet to suit your drawing preference.
The Pro Pen 2 has two programmable buttons on the side. I have them set for single mouse click and double-click. There is also a plastic eraser tip on the top of the pen for drawing apps that support an eraser.
The pen comes with a hefty round desk holder that doubles as a place to store extra tips.
You can connect the Intuos Pro to your computer via Bluetooth or an included USB-C cable.
The tablet has a rechargeable battery, which is really nice if you want to toss it in your bag and use it with a laptop away from your desk.
The active area on the tablet corresponds to the monitor you are using. If you place the pen on the upper-left corner of the tablet, your cursor will jump to that corner.
In my case, I have four monitors on my desk, with two on top and two on the bottom. The Intuos Pro works great across all the monitors.
Besides the pen, you can use your fingers for multi-touch input, just like the tablet was a big trackpad.
If you’d rather not use the tablet like a touchpad, there is a small switch on the side that turns off touch mode and the tablet will only respond to pen input.
If you’ve never used a pen tablet, it might take a bit of getting used to before you are comfortable.
Wacom has a variety of tablets, which range in price from $49 for a very basic pen tablet up to $3,499 for a 27-inch model with a built in 4K screen, which resembles a computer monitor covered with a transparent drawing surface.
You’ll be amazed at the response and sensitivity of the pen. Lines can change thickness as you press harder, and they can even change angle as you tilt the pen (much like a calligraphy pen).
If you are a digital artist, or you work with computer graphics or photos, I can’t see how you’d do your job without a pen tablet.
I stopped using a Wacom tablet when I became an IT guy, so these last few weeks with the Intuos Pro have brought back some memories of past jobs. It also reminded me how much I like working with a pen instead of a mouse.
