7P Drawing tablets
  • Welcome
  • About TheSevenPens
    • My tablet setups
    • Drawing Tablet discord server
    • My drawing tablet collection
  • Frequently asked questions
  • Basics
    • Beginner's guide to drawing tablets
    • Types of drawing tablets
    • Learning digital art
    • Learning to use a drawing tablet
    • Get started with a drawing tablet
    • Use cases
      • Gaming with a drawing tablet
      • Making educational videos with a drawing tablet
      • Taking notes with drawing tablets
      • Using a drawing tablet as a mouse replacement
    • Contacting support
    • Drawing tablets vs mice
    • The drawing experience
    • App compatibility with drawing tablets
    • Uninstalling tablet drivers
  • Buying a drawing tablet
    • Buying used drawing tablets
    • Inspecting a drawing tablet
    • Pen tablets vs pen displays
    • The case against pen computers
    • Buying a drawing tablet for osu!
    • Buying tips
    • How many pressure levels do you really need?
    • Choosing the right size for a drawing tablet
    • Switching from a pen tablet to a pen display
    • Buying a drawing tablet as a gift
  • Recommendations
    • Recommended drawing tablets for beginners
    • Dedicated note taking devices
    • Pen tablet recommendations
      • Small pen tablet recommendations
      • Medium pen tablet recommendations
      • Large pen tablet recommendations
    • Pen display recommendations
      • Small pen display recommendations
      • Medium pen display recommendations
      • Large pen display recommendations
    • Standalone drawing tablet recommendations
      • Pen computer recommendations
      • Pen-enabled mobile computers
      • Pen-enabled laptop recommendations
    • Comparisons
      • 7P: Drawing tablet tier list (December 2024)
      • 7P: Large pen tablets compared
      • 7P: 13" pen displays compared (2023)
      • 7P: 22" pen displays compared (2024)
  • Brands
    • Huion and XP-Pen
    • Wacom
    • Xencelabs
    • Drawing tablet brands vs digitizers
    • Choosing a drawing tablet brand
  • Core features
    • Active area
    • Active area size
    • Active area aspect ratio
    • Active area mapping
    • Erasing
    • Bezel
    • Pen tilt
    • Disable pen tilt
    • Tilt impact on pressure readings
    • Pen pressure
    • Pen pressure range comparison
    • Pen pressure dead zone
    • Pen pressure instability at low pressure
    • Pen pressure response
    • Pen pressure curve
      • Misc pressure curve notes
      • Pressure curves that constrain output
      • Null pressure curve
      • Implementing pressure curves
      • Pressure curves that ignore input
      • Pressure curve shape support in applications
      • Adjusting pressure curve in tablet driver
    • Disable pen pressure
    • Pen hover
    • Hover jitter
    • Pen tracking
    • Pen tilt compensation
    • Pen barrel rotation
    • Pen nib travel
    • Pen nib material
    • Lag
    • Pointer lag
    • Brush lag
    • Diagonal wobble
    • Surface texture
    • Auxiliary inputs
    • Popular bindings for auxiliary inputs
    • Absolute versus relative positioning
    • Mouse mode
    • Powering a pen
    • Powering a drawing tablet
  • Guides
    • Caring for your drawing tablet
      • Dealing with water damage
      • Cleaning a drawing tablet
      • Removing a nib
      • Removing a broken nib
      • Storing your pen
      • Surface wear on pen tablets
      • Scratches on pen tablets
      • Texture erosion on pen tablets
      • Surface wear on pen displays
      • False scratches
      • Removing and replacing the surface film on a pen display
      • Nib wear
      • Replacing a pen
    • Customizing your experience
      • Match aspect ratios with Force Proportions
      • Shrinking the active area
      • Using large pen tablets
      • Using extra-large pen tablets
      • Matching pen tablet size to monitor size
      • Active Area Mapping for pen tablets and widescreen monitors
      • Mirroring or extending your desktop to a pen display
      • Using a pen display as a pen tablet
      • Using metal nibs
      • Clamping wide-gamut displays to sRGB
      • Calibrate pen position on a pen display
      • Using a pen display as a monitor
      • Controlling the pen tip behavior
    • Connections and cabling
      • Connecting a pen display with a 3-in-1 cable
      • Connecting a pen tablet to a computer
      • Wireless connection
      • Motherboard HDMI vs GPU HDMI ports
      • Connecting a pen display to a computer
      • Connecting a pen display to a mobile device
      • Connecting a pen display with a single USB-C cable
      • Using 3rd-party cables with your drawing tablet
        • Cables I use to connect pen tablets
      • Connecting a pen to a drawing tablet
      • Recessed USB-C ports
      • Connecting a pen display to a USB-C port on a GPU
    • Drawing
      • Drawing smooth strokes
      • How a brush engine uses pen data
      • Configure smoothing in applications
      • Enable tilt for brushes
    • Pen displays
      • Etched glass vs film
      • Etched glass
      • Anti-glare film
      • Anti-glare sparkle
      • Lamination
      • Display resolution
      • Choosing the right display resolution for a pen display
      • Brightness
      • Parallax
      • Display connector types
      • Using HDMI splitters with pen displays
      • Using HDMI adapters with pen displays
        • VGA to HDMI adapters
        • DVI to HDMI adapters
        • USB-C to HDMI adapters
        • DisplayPort to HDMI adapters
      • Color tint on edges of display
      • Pen display refresh rate
      • USB-C DisplayPort alt mode
      • Dead pixels
      • Using an iPad with your computer as a pen display
    • Pens
      • Pen buttons
      • Pen compatibility with drawing tablets
      • Pen weight
      • Pen weight comparison
      • Pen teardowns
    • Drivers
      • OpenTabletDriver
        • Install OpenTabletDriver on Windows
        • Install OpenTabletDriver on MacOS
        • OpenTabletDriver application data directory
        • Uninstalling OpenTabletDriver on Windows
        • OpenTabletDriver usage notes
        • Smoothing with OpenTabletDriver
        • Pressure curves in OpenTabletDriver
        • Slimy Scylla
      • Using a drawing tablet without installing drivers
      • Tablet Driver Cleanup tool
      • Using older tablet drivers
      • Importing and Exporting tablet driver configurations
    • Advanced
      • Firmware
      • Tablet reports
      • PenTracker by Patrick Lauke
    • Ergonomics
      • Body posture when using drawing tablets
      • Handedness of drawing tablets
      • Using a drawing tablet in portrait mode
      • Rotating a drawing tablet
      • Using a drawing tablet on your lap
      • Noise
      • Using a drawing tablet in bed
      • Heat
    • Touch support
      • Tablets that support touch
    • General
      • Total cost of ownership (TCO)
      • Model names vs model numbers
      • Finding the model number of a drawing tablet
      • Using older drawing tablets
      • Electromagnetic Interference
      • Connecting a drawing tablet to an iPad or iPhone
      • Connecting a drawing tablet to an Android device
      • Testing Drawing Tablet Compatibility with Android devices
      • Connecting a drawing tablet to a Chromebook
      • Chromebook testing results
      • Connecting multiple drawing tablets at the same time
    • Linux
    • Windows
      • Using a drawing tablet on Windows
      • Windows on ARM
      • Windows PNP support for drawing tablets
      • Windows PNP driver compatibility testing
      • Disable ripple effect rings in Windows
      • Disable the press-and-hold ring in Windows
      • Windows 7 Tablet PC features
        • Disable Tablet PC features on Windows 7
        • Disable Tablet PC features on Windows 7 using the FixMyPen tool
      • Windows Ink
        • The history of Windows Ink
        • Configure Windows Ink for apps
        • Configuring Photoshop to NOT use Windows Ink
        • Configure Windows Ink in the tablet driver
      • Stop using a display on Windows
    • Mini-PCs for digital art
      • 7P: Minisforum Neptune HX99G
    • Laptops for digital art
  • Applications
    • Apps for beginners
    • Apps for Android
    • Apps for iPad
    • List of apps
    • App tips
      • Show document canvas on another display
    • Recommended apps
  • Developers
    • Pen APIs
    • WinTab versus Windows Ink
    • 7P Tablet Tester
    • WinTab API
    • Force proportions simulator
  • Troubleshooting
    • Common problems with drawing tablets
    • Common drawing troubleshooting steps
    • Testing pressure in the tablet driver
    • Check if pen display shows HDMI video signal from other devices
    • Check tablet driver diagnostics
    • Reset a drawing tablet
    • TSG: Low pressure drawing problems
    • TSG: Difficult to reach maximum pressure
    • Testing with Windows PNP drawing tablet drivers
    • TSG: pointer stuck in corner of screen
    • TSG: Drawing problems
    • TSG: Pen display shows NO SIGNAL message
    • TSG: Pen moving pointer on the wrong display
    • TSG: Pixel noise on display
    • TSG: No pressure while drawing
    • TSG: Random gaps in strokes
    • TSG: Dots at end of strokes
    • TSG: Dots at start of strokes
    • TSG: Pen draws while hovering
    • TSG: Hooks at start of strokes
    • TSG: shoelaces at end of strokes
    • TSG: Straight lines at start of stokes
    • TSG: Pen not drawing in vertical or horizontal bands
    • TSG: WiFi and Internet problems with drawing tablets
    • TSG: Tablet driver does not detect tablet
    • TSG: computer does not detect display
    • TSG: driver no longer supports a drawing tablet
    • TSG: no sound after plugging in drawing tablet
    • TSG: Pen display doesn't show anything
    • TSG: Not enough HDMI ports
    • TSG: Insects in a pen display
    • TSG: Pen acting like a mouse
    • TSG: Pen display turns on and off constantly
    • TSG: computer detects drawing tablet as a keyboard
  • Product links
    • Apple
      • Apple iPad
      • Apple Pencil
      • Connecting an iPad to a computer as a drawing tablet
      • Apple iPad
      • Apple iPad versus drawing tablets
      • Apple iPad versus Samsung Galaxy Tab S
      • How I use iPads
      • M3 MacBook Pro
    • Artisul
    • ASUS
      • ASUS Pro Art Pen Display
    • CalDigit
      • CalDigit USB-C to HDMI 2.1 adapter
      • CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt Dock
    • Dell
      • Dell Canvas 27
    • Gaomon
      • Gaomon Pen Tablet
      • Gaomon Pro Pen Tablet
      • Gaomon Pen Display
      • Gaomon Pro Pen Display
    • Huion
      • Huion Kamvas Pro
        • Huion Kamvas Pro 19 (GT1902)
        • Huion Kamvas Pro 16 Plus 4K (GT1562)
        • Huion Kamvas Pro 24 4K (GT2401)
      • Huion Kamvas Studio
      • Huion Kamvas Slate
      • Huion Kamvas
        • Huion Kamvas 13 GEN3 (GS1333)
        • Huion Kamvas 16 2021 (GS1562)
        • Huion Kamvas 13 (GS1331)
        • Huion Kamvas 22 Plus (GS2202)
        • Huion Kamvas 16 GEN3 (GS1563)
      • Huion Inspiroy R-series
        • 7P: Huion Inspiroy RTP-700
      • Inspiroy Dial
        • Huion Inspiroy Dial 2 (Q630M)
      • Huion Inspiroy Frego
        • Huion Inspiroy Frego M (L610)
      • Huion Inspiroy
        • Huion Inspiroy Giano (G930L)
        • Huion Inspiroy HS611
        • Huion Inspiroy WH1409V2
      • Huion KeyDial
      • Huion pens
        • Huion PenTech
        • Huion PW500 pen
        • Huion PW517 pen
        • Huion PW550 series pens
        • Huion PW600 series pens
        • Huion PW507 pen
      • Huion Inspiroy 2
        • Huion Inspiroy 2 L (H1061P)
    • Microsoft
      • Microsoft Surface Pro
        • Microsoft Surface Pro 8
    • OnePlus
      • OnePlus Pad
    • Samsung
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S series
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S series
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 lite (2022 edition)
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab A
      • Samsung Galaxy Book 360
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S7
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S8
      • Samsung Galaxy Tab S9
      • Samsung S Pen
        • Samsung S Pen notes
    • Wacom
      • Comparison of Wacom pen tablets
      • Wacom model number format
      • Wacom One vs One by Wacom
      • Wacom tablet list
      • One by Wacom
        • One by Wacom (CTL-x72)
      • Wacom Intuos Pro 2025
        • Wacom Intuos Pro 2025 (PTK-x70)
      • Wacom Intuos Pro 2017
        • Wacom Intuos Pro Medium (2017) (PTH-660)
        • Wacom Intuos Pro 2017 (PTH-x60)
      • Wacom Intuos Pro 2013
      • Wacom Intuos5
      • Wacom Intuos4
        • Wacom Intuos 4 XL (PTK-1240)
      • Wacom Intuos3
      • Wacom Intuos2
      • Wacom Intuos1
      • Wacom Intuos
      • Wacom UD tablets
      • Wacom SD tablets
      • Wacom Cintiq
        • Wacom Cintiq 22 (DTK-2260)
        • Wacom Cintiq 2025 series
      • Wacom Cintiq Pro
        • Wacom Cintiq Pro 16 (DTH-167)
        • Cintiq Pro 24 (DTx-2420)
        • Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 (DTH-271)
        • Wacom Cintiq Pro 22 (DTH-227)
      • Wacom Movink
        • 7P: Wacom Movink 13 (DTH-135)
      • Wacom One 2019 GEN1
        • 7P: Wacom One 2019 GEN1 (DTC-133)
      • Wacom One 2023 GEN2
        • Wacom One 2023 GEN2 pen displays
        • Wacom One 2023 pen tablets
      • Wacom accessories
        • Wacom Converter (ACK45219Z)
        • Wacom texture sheets
        • Wacom pens
          • Wacom Pro Pen 3 (ACP-500)
          • Wacom Pro Pen 2 (KP-504E)
          • Wacom 2K Pen (LP-190K)
          • Wacom One 2019 GEN1 Pen (CP-913)
          • Wacom One 2023 Pen (CP-923)
          • Wacom Intuos2 Grip Pen (XP-501E)
          • Wacom Intuos 2 Airbrush pen (XP-400E)
          • Wacom 4K Pen for Intuos (LP-1100K)
        • Wacom pen compatibility
    • Xencelabs
      • Xencelabs Quick Keys
      • Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium (BPH1212W-A)
      • Xencelabs Pen Display 16 (LPH1612U-A)
      • Xencelabs V2 pens
      • Xencelabs Mobile Easel
      • Xencelabs Pen Display 24 (LPH2412U-A)
    • XP-Pen
      • XP-Pen Magic Note Pad (MNP1095)
      • XP-Pen Magic Drawing Pad
      • XP-Pen Artist
        • XP-Pen Artist 22 Plus (MD220FH)
      • XP-Pen Artist GEN2
        • XP-Pen Artist 12 Gen2 (CD120FH)
        • XP-Pen Artist 13 GEN2 (CD130FH)
        • XP-Pen Artist 16 GEN2 (CD160FH)
      • XP-Pen Artist Pro
      • XP-Pen Artist Pro GEN2
        • XP-Pen Artist Pro 22 GEN2 (MD220QH)
        • XP-Pen Artist Pro 19 GEN2 (MD180UH)
        • XP-Pen Artist Pro 16 GEN2 (MD160QH)
      • XP-Pen Shortcut Remote
      • XP-Pen Deco
        • XP-Pen Deco LW (IT1060B)
      • XP-Pen Deco Pro GEN2
        • XP-Pen Deco Pro XLW GEN2 (MT1592B)
      • XP-Pen Innovator
      • XP-Pen protective sheets
      • XP-Pen pens
        • XP-Pen X3 Pro pens
        • XP-Pen X3 Elite pen
      • XP-Pen ACS15 Ergo Stand
    • Ugee
  • Application links
    • MyPaint
    • Adobe Photoshop
      • 7P: Adobe Photoshop
    • ArtRage
    • Affinity Photo
      • Affinity Photo notes
    • Autodesk Maya
    • Blender
    • Clip Studio Paint
      • Clip Studio Paint notes
    • Concepts app
    • FireAlpaca
    • Freeform
    • Fresco
    • HEAVYPAINT
    • HiPaint
    • Ibis Paint
    • Infinite Painter
    • Inkscape
    • Kleki
    • Krita
      • Krita notes
    • Medibang Paint
    • Medibang Pro
    • Microsoft Whiteboard
    • Microsoft PowerPoint
    • Microsoft OneNote
    • Microsoft Paint
    • Painter
    • Paintstorm Studio
    • PaintTool Sai
    • Photoshop
    • Procreate
      • Procreate notes
    • Rebelle
    • Samsung Notes
    • ZoomIt
    • Feather 3D
  • Accessories
    • Screen cleaning sprays
    • Cables
      • CableMatters Thunderbolt 3 cable
    • Cable adapters
    • Drawing gloves
    • Extension cables
    • Keyboards
    • Auxiliary input devices
      • TourBox
        • 7P: TourBox
      • 8bitdo controller
      • Clip Studio Tabmate
    • Pen grips
    • Protective cases
    • Surface protectors
      • Foxbox covers
      • Photodon screen protectors
      • ePlastic polycarbonate sheets (velvet lexan)
      • Paperlike for iPad
    • Monitor arms
      • Ergotron monitor arms
    • Stands
      • VIVO Pneumatic Arm Monitor Desk Stand (STAND-V100R)
      • Parblo PR-100 stand
        • 7P: Parblo PR-100 Stand
      • XP-Pen AC41/AC42 stands
      • XOOT Stand
      • iPad stands
  • Resources
    • Drawing tablet community
    • Kuuube
      • Kuuube's Wacom tablet mastersheet
      • Kuuube's tablet buying guide
      • Kuuube's Wacom pen compatibility mastersheet
    • YouTube channels
    • Subreddits for drawing tablets
    • Koneko_w
    • Project Patchouli
  • Process
    • Pressure range data
    • Measuring hover
    • Measuring pressure
    • Measuring display sharpness
    • Measuring report rate
    • Measuring diagonal wobble
    • Diagonal wobble samples
    • Perfect pressure sensitive lines
    • Tablet evaluation
    • Microscope
  • Reference
    • Resolution info
    • Aspect ratio math
    • Standard paper sizes
  • Technology
    • Display panel technology
    • VESA
    • Wacom patents
    • AES
    • Apple Pencil tech
    • EMR
      • EMR technical resources
      • EMR position detection
      • EMR pressure detection
      • Active EMR vs Passive EMR
      • EMR tilt detection
      • The realities of building your own EMR pen
    • MPP
    • Digital pen tech
    • Wacom UD EMR
      • Pens that support UD EMR 2nd gen
      • Tablets that support UD EMR 2nd gen
    • USI
  • Misc
    • Circuit simulations
    • History of drawing tablets
      • Preface
      • Chapter 1: Antiquity
      • Chapter 2: Terms
      • Appendix: Timeline
      • Appendix: Other histories
      • Appendix: References
    • Mobile computer recommendations
Powered by GitBook
On this page
  • Overview
  • Getting strokes right the first time
  • Dealing with your hands
  • Adjustment period
  • Matching aspect ratios
Export as PDF
  1. Basics

The drawing experience

What it feels like to draw on a drawing tablet

Overview

The easiest way to understand what it feels like to draw on a drawing tablet is to compare it to drawing with pen and paper.

A pen display works just like pen and paper in the sense that you can exactly see what you're drawing. More specifically your eyes are looking at what you're drawing.

With a pen tablet things are very different - your hand is drawing in one place but you're looking somewhere else to see what's being drawn. So fundamentally using a pen tablet works differently than pen and paper.

Getting strokes right the first time

Because it is more clear what the pen is doing with the pen display many people who use append display say that they “get the stroke right the first time”.

With a pen tablet people often feel like they have to make the stroke multiple times to get it right and have to press undo to erase Any errant strokes.

I would generally agree with this feeling. When I want to get a drawing done faster especially if I have a general sense of what it is I want to draw then I do work faster with the pen display and I find that I have to press undo far less often.

Dealing with your hands

With a pen display, things are natural. You see the pen in the same place the stroke is being drawn - just like when you use pen and paper.

And just like pen-and-paper, your own hand and the pen will block your eyes from seeing the display. The easy solution to this is to reposition your eyes or take advantage of the canvas zoom and rotation features of your drawing app.

With a pen tablet, you are looking at a monitor but drawing somewhere else with your hand. Fundamentally this is no different than using a mouse. So this is kind of a convenience actually since you never have to worry about the positions of your hands. They can be anywhere and they will never block what you see.

Adjustment period

Because a pen display works like pen and paper almost everyone can immediately start using a pen display. It's just kind of obvious how it works. And especially these days with so many people having used devices like iPads. They know how to deal with the screen that they can interact with.

For pen tablets things get a little more complicated. I would say that 80% of people can immediately or at least in a few minutes get comfortable using a pen tablet. Another 10% of people will take anywhere from a couple of days to maybe a couple of weeks to adjust to a pen tablet. And the remaining 10% of people will never be able to adjust to a pen tablet. For them it will never feel natural to use. And they are better off getting a pen display.

Unfortunately without trying a pen tablet it's really difficult to tell if you would fall into the 10% of people who just can't use pen tablets..

Matching aspect ratios

With a pen display, the active are and the screen have the same size. This means the pen will draw exactly where you see it draw.

Last updated 1 year ago

With a pen tablet, the active area where you raw is separate from the monitor where you see the your strokes. Unless specifically configured in the driver, this will cause your strokes to be distorted. For example if you draw a circle on the tablet it will show up as an oval on the screen. It is easy to fix this problem in the driver. More here: .

match aspect ratios between pen tablets and monitors