When it comes to drawing tablets, digital artists are spoilt for choice when it comes to the large number of brands on the market today. One that consistently pops up, and a personal favourite brand of mine, is XPPEN. Established back in 2005, the company was founded with the idea to help new artists get into the industry. I’ve been drawing for most of my life and have used all major brands, but XPPEN is one that never fails to impress me. With that in mind, I’m excited to take a look at the XPPEN Artist Pro 16 (Gen 2) in this detailed review.
If you're looking for a wider range of drawing tablets to choose from, you can find a detailed list of our favourite drawing tablets here. You'll even find an offering from XPPEN in the top three.
XPPEN Artist Pro 14 (Gen 2): Key Specifications
Design and Build
The XPPEN Artist Pro 14 (Gen 2) is a great mid-sized screen tablet. It feels sturdy and professional, has a chunky build, and is cased in sleek space-grey colouring. It’s certainly not subtle when it comes to general size, but for a tablet of this price it’s great to feel like you’ve got your money’s worth.
I love the X3 Pro Stylus, too. I always find XPPEN styluses feel great to use and remain comfy during long art sessions, and by using the custom XPPEN software it’s easy to assign the buttons to your own custom quick keys. The stylus comes in a sleek case with various spare nibs with different finishes, which is an appreciated touch. It feels great to draw with, and the stylus is incredibly reactive to all movements.
Now for the most important part - the screen. As mentioned at the beginning of this review, I’m a huge fan of the XPPEN tablets, and the screen is a big part of that. The glass is both anti-glare and anti-fingerprint and has a matte finish that feels great to draw on. The screen also features a special lamination technique to ensure that pen strokes are precise with no lag or misplacement. The bottom of the tablet has a beautiful ergonomic curve (named the X-Rest, apparently) that is designed to combat fatigue and aches in the wrist during long drawing sessions. The lack of a hard edge on the bottom of the tablet is much appreciated, and at no point did I feel like I had to reposition my wrist due to discomfort. I do wish the actual screen was slightly larger (as there's a considerable gap between the edge of the tablet and the screen itself) but there's still plenty of drawing space.
One issue I had with the build of the tablet was the leg stands. I wish there was a better range of pose-ability to better angle the tablet, as I found myself longing for the tablet to be stood more vertically. I also experienced some slipping on my desk when putting pressure on the tablet, but I'm sure a desk mat would stop this issue.
X-Remote Control
In short - I love this little device. This handy little box of buttons allows you to assign custom quick key commands to the 11 buttons and rotating wheel. As someone who lives and breathes quick keys while painting in Photoshop, it's really handy to have my favourites all stored in one place - especially when I don't have a keyboard handy or want to keep my laptop out of the way. Simply pop the Bluetooth dongle into your main device, assign the quick key commands to your chosen buttons in the XPPEN driver and you're all set.
Performance
Performance-wise, I have never had an issue with XPPEN products; and this tablet is no different. They always feel great to use, and the XPPEN driver makes it easy to adjust the tablet to better fit your workflow. At their core, drawing tablets are essentially external monitors, so a crisp display and vibrant colours are a must. The XPPEN Artist Pro 14 (Gen 2) ticks both of those boxes, with 1920x1200 resolution and a beautiful display which prioritises delivering accurate colours while minimising blue light. I also love that the tablet has buttons to quickly adjust the brightness of the screen without having to dive into deeper settings
I’m also a huge fan of the X3 Pro Stylus as previously mentioned. It feels great to draw with, and every pen stroke was as accurate as drawing on paper. It boasts over 16k levels of drawing pressure, and at no point during my testing period did I experience issues with the tablet picking up pen pressure.
If you’re an artist who loves both screen and digital tablets, this device also has a fantastic feature where you can turn the screen off and use it to draw like a traditional digital tablet. Simply long press the power button for 3 seconds, and it will flash in blue and orange alternately. When the screen is off, you're getting a traditional drawing tablet.
Price
The XPPEN Artist Pro 14 (Gen 2) retails for around £399.99/$419.99 but is frequently on sale for as little as £359.99/$356.99. This may seem like a pretty steep price at first glance, but is considerably cheaper than Wacom’s similarly sized 16-inch “pro” tablet which retails for at least a whopping £1,399/$1,400. It’s also important to remember that this price includes the X-Remote Control as well as extra pen nibs, which are usually accessories you would need to buy separately.
Should I buy the XPPEN Artist Pro 14 (Gen 2)?
So here's the big question - should you buy the XPPEN Artist Pro 14 (Gen 2) tablet? I must admit, it's a resounding yes for me. The price is fantastic for the quality of the product you're getting - it feels professional in both build and software and easily rivals the bigger name digital art brands. Whether you're digitally painting, photo editing or 3D modelling - this tablet will easily be up for the task. With the tablet frequently going on sale, it's also easy to grab it at a discounted price.
If you're looking for something more beginner-friendly (and you're not too fussed about a screen), you can take a look at my review for the more affordable XPPEN Deco MW pen tablet.
