Introduction

If the aspect ratio of your pen tablet's active area does not match your monitor's aspect ratio. You will see distortion. The diagram below shows that if you trace out a circle on the pen tablet, you will have traced out an oval on the screen.

Don't worry! You can correct this. And it's important you do. Because not only does it produce a distorted drawing experience, the mismatch between what your hand is doing and what is happening on the screen can be incredibly frustrating.

Companion Video

This video goes into great detail about this topic. https://youtu.be/9oAvsJk5ESU

Pen tablets are prone to this problem

The issue with pen tablets is that the tablet and the display are separate devices. And each device has its own aspect ratio. The odds of the aspect rations matching by chance are very low. For example, as of 2024 most pen tablets do not have a 16x9 aspect ratio even though most displays do have a a6x9 aspect ratio.

If the aspect ratios match, then there is no distortion when you draw.

How much distortion you might experience

Here are some examples of what happens some Wacom pen tablets because of the mismatched aspect ratios when using a 16:9 monitor.

Force the aspect ratios to match on pen tablets

This mismatch of aspect ratios is SIMPLE to solve. All tablet drivers have a setting for this, although they call it by different names and the drive UI has a different way to enable it.

What this setting does is let you use only the region of the active area that matches to that of your monitor - so the aspect ratios will match.

Trade-offs

If you enable this setting you will not be able to take advantage of some of your tablet's active area, but BY FAR this is the better alternative than the distorted drawing.

Should everyone use this setting?

YES. I highly recommend it for for the vast majority of cases.

Instructions for pen tablets

Wacom

The setting is called Force Proportions.

• Launch Wacom Tablet Properties

• Under the Mapping tab, enable Force Proportions

Huion

The setting is called Screen Ratio.

• Launch the HuionTablet App

• Go to Working Area

• On the bottom left there is a drop down.

• Switch the dropdown to Screen Ratio.

Gaomon

The setting is called Screen Ratio.

• Open the Gaomon driver app

• Go to Workspace

• Select Screen Ratio

XP-Pen

The setting is called Proportion.

• Open the XP-Pen driver app (called PenTablet)

• Go to Work Area

• Go to Pen Tablet

• Select Proportion

Xencelabs

The setting is called Screen Ratio

• Open the Xencelabs driver app

• Go to Device Settings

• Look in Tablet to Screen Area Mapping

• There's a drop down on the left side. It has three options: Full Tablet Area, Define Portion, and Screen Ratio

• Select Screen Ratio in the bottom

Pen displays and aspect ratios

The active area of a pen display and their display panel inside the pen display are equivalent. So they always match.

Overview

Extra-large pen tablets have an active area diagonal of about 23".

• Are very specialized and not appropriate for most people

• Are no longer in production - only Wacom made them and the most recent models series - the Wacom Intuos 4 XL is from 2011.

• Require lots of adjustment to your work style due to their size

Video

Watch this video to learn about the reality of using EXTRA LARGE pen tablets:

Pen tablet size vs monitor size

Overview

You may have a pen tablet with a larger active area than you'd like. For example it may feel like you're having to move your hand too much over the tablet surface in order to draw.

The good news is you can actually configure your pen tablet to use a smaller active area. You can control the active areas dimensions and make them as small as you need so that drawing feels comfortable.

This is something supported in all tablet drivers.

Instruction for for Wacom drivers

• Open the Wacom tablet properties app

• Then go to the Mapping tab

• Enable the force proportions checkbox

• Change tablet area from full to portion

• The Portion of tablet dialog will launch

• At the top part there's a region that shows a red rectangle drawn on top of a photo of tablet.

• Using the corner handles, resize the rectangle roughly to the area you want to use for the active area

  • Don't worry about matching the aspect ratio of your display - the force proportions check box will ensure that the correct aspect ratio is used.

• Now click OK

• And now in the mapping tab you will see a red rectangle that is smaller and has the correct aspect ratio.

Overview

A large pen tablet has an active area diagonal of about 15 inches.

Generally I advise against getting a LARGE pen tablet unless:

• you already have experience using one

• or are highly confident your art style will benefit from it and you are ready to deal with the ergonomic issues that come from using one.

Ergonomics

With a medium pen tablet most people put their tablet to the right or left of their keyboard.

You can certainly try this with a large pen tablet. But what you'll discover is that it is extremely difficult to reach the more distant edges of the keyboard or tablet depending on how they're situated in front of you.

So a large pen tablet typically means you will have to have it directly in front of you. And then you place the keyboard above it. This of course means that it's more difficult to reach the keyboard.

Often if I'm not really drawing I'll in fact put the keyboard on top of the tablet.

Effort

With a large pen tablet your hand is really moving quite a distance to do some things. So for example if you are trying to reach a menu item at the very top of the screen you might be surprised how much distance you're going to have to move your pen. This can be very tiring for some people.

The active area is adjustable

If the active area is too big for you, then you should keep in mind that you can always scale down the active area to any size you want. You can make the active area match a medium sized tablet for example.

Large pen tablets in the market

If you want a large pen tablet, pick from one of these:

• Wacom Intuos Pro PTH-860: EXCELLENT (my notes on this tablet)

• XP-Pen Deco Pro XLW GEN2 (MT1592B): VERY GOOD (my notes on this tablet)

• Huion Inspiroy Giano G930L: GOOD (my notes on this tablet)

Video

In this video I go through a lot of detail about what it's like to actually use a large pen tablet. In this case I'm specifically using a Wacom intuos pro (PTH-860). But the same general issues apply to any large pen tablet.

Overview

There is a relationship between the size of a pen tablet and the size of your monitor that you should pay attention to. They both have different sizes and certain combinations may work better than others.

For more general information about choosing the right size, go here: Choosing the right tablet size.

General guidance

This table is based on my preferences - you might find you find that difference combinations work better.

Video

This video helps explain the thinking behind it:

Overview

Size = Active Area Size. The way we measure a tablets size is NOT the physical size of the device. Instead we measure the diagonal of the ACTIVE AREA of the tablet. The ACTIVE AREA is the region on the surface of the tablet that is responsive to the tablet's EMR pen. Learn more: Active area & Active area size

Companion Video

My size categories

I've given convenient labels ("small", "medium", "large") to drawing tablets. This will make it easier to talk about their sizes. These categories are based off the standard sizes that Wacom uses. The sizes here are approximate. For each category a typical value is provided, and also a range of values.

Manufacturer size categories

Manufactures also sometimes provide size categories in the names of their pen tablets. But don't trust the size categories - always calculate the actual diagonal distance when comparing sizes.

Here's are some great examples:

• The XP-Deco L is much closer in size to a Wacom Intuos Pro Medium than the Intuos Pro Large.

• Inspiroy 2L is sort of in-between a medium and large size.

Considerations

Here's what you should consider in your choice

• What is your natural drawing style? some people draw a lot from the wrist and others use much larger motions driven from their elbows and shoulders

• Do you have enough space on your desk?

• Do you intend to be mobile and use the tablet in different locations?

Size recommendations

Pen tablets size

• Small (7") pen tablets are good for scenarios where the focus is less on creating strokes. For example, if you need to simply use a tablet as a replacement for a mouse, then a small tablet will work fine. One creative task that works great with small tablets in photo editing - since it doesn't typically require "drawing". Most people who are drawing would find using a small tablet, to feel very "cramped".

• Medium (11") pen tablets are the best combination of size, cost, and ergonomics for most people interested in drawing tablets and is my standard recommendation. Medium tablets are the minimum size I would recommend for anyone who is interested in drawing, sketching, painting, or any creative task that requires drawing with strokes.

• Large (15") pen tablets are these days the largest size available. They are popular for some artists. They are large enough though that you will have to adapt to using them. More here: Using large pen tablets.

• Extra large (23") pen tablets are no longer produced but for some users they are ideal but require quite a bit of adjustment to use. More here: Using Extra-large pen tablets.

Pen tablet size vs monitor size

If you have a pen tablet (which does not have a screen), then you use it with a monitor. You should consider the relationship between these two sizes. I find that that relationship influences how it feels to draw on the pen tablet. A much more detailed explanation is here: Matching pen tablet size to monitor size.

Pen display size

• SMALL (13") pen displays may be good choices for children.

• If you are drawing the minimum size I would recommend is MEDIUM (16"), though many people work very effectively with SMALL pen displays.

• LARGE (24") are great but they do occupy a lot of space so ensure you have a desk that is big enough.

• I think the best balance is around 20" to 22" - these provide enough space to draw on without being to cumbersome, occupying too much space on a desk, or being difficult to move.

Impact of pen display size

• Anti-glare sparkle - For a given anti-glare treatment, the higher the pixels-per-inch of the display, the more anti-glare sparkle you will notice. For example using the same anti-glare treatment a 4K 24" display will show less AG sparkle, than a 4K 16" display.

In relation to paper size

Some of you like to think of a tablet size relative standard papers sizes. The tablet below shows the paper sizes with their diagonal size and you can see how specific paper size matches my standard tablet sizes

Videos

• Tim McBurnie - Which Size Wacom Is Right For You? Nov 28, 2022

• Aaron Rutten - What Size Drawing Tablet Should I Get? Mar 18, 2022

• The Seven Pens - What size drawing tablet should you get? Mar 8, 2022

• The SevenPens - Is a LARGE pen tablet right for you? Jun 27, 2022

• The Seven Pens - Is an EXTRA LARGE Pen tablet right for you? Jul 25, 2022

Using a pen tablet with a widescreen monitor presents some challenges and some new opportunities with a pen tablet due to the extreme differences in aspect ratio.

The typical case

Normally a pen tablet aspect ratio has an aspect ratio of around 16:10 but monitors often have an aspect ratio of 16:9. By default this distorts shapes drawn on the pen tablet so that they appear stretched slightly in one direction. The solution is to force the tablet's active area aspect ratio to match that of the monitor.

Because the aspect ratios are close (1.6 vs 1.78), we lose a little bit of active area on the tablet, but now the drawing is without distortion.

The widescreen case

But in the widescreen case, the aspect ratios are quite different (1.6 vs 2.33). So, if we match the tablet's aspect ratio to the monitor, we lose much more active area.

Options for widescreen monitors

You could map the active area of the tablet to a region of the monitor with the same aspect ratio.

The region is shown in the center of the monitor, but it could be left or right aligned.

You get to use the full area of your tablet, but then you have to carefully possition yoru drawing application into a region that the tablet is mapped to.

This is pretty rare, but I've seen people do it.

If you can reliably tile your windows to the left half and right half, this is an alternative arrangement

It loses active area on the tablet, but may be easier to work with in terms of resizing windows.

Some widescreen monitors, support presenting themselves to a computer as two separate monitors. Usually this requires two separate cables for two separate video signals.

In this case you can map the tablet to one the monitors.

This still loses some active area on the tablet, but now it is very easy to get windows into the appropriate regions.

Also some tablets, have the ability for you to use an express key or a pen button to swap between monitors. This means you can use your tablet with the entire physical display of your monitor.

These days many monitors and pen displays support very wide colors gamuts.

While these can look amazing, many people often find that they are too intensely saturated. This is often observed with reds, purples, and greens.

Often changing saturation levels or brightness might not do anything to reduce the intensity of these colors.

There are some techniques you can use to reduce the intensity of these colors

Option 1 Use the display's sRGB emulation mode

Many monitors an pen displays have an "sRGB emulation mode" that will rude the intensity of these colors.

This is the first option you should try.

A possible negative is that often these displays not only restrict the color gamut, but also keep reduce the brightness. If reduced brightness is not working for you you can try other options

Option 2: use the GPU to clamp the gamut to sRGB

AMD GPUs

• Launch AMD Radeon Software

• Click Settings

• Click Display

• Enable Custom Color

• Disable Temperature Control (CTC)

NVidia GPUs

• Use the novideo_srgb tool

• Download the release.zip file from here: https://github.com/ledoge/novideo_srgb/releases

• Extract the files in the release.zip

• Launch novideo_srgb.exe

• Click Clamped

References

• Taming the Wide Gamut using sRGB Emulation (https://pcmonitors.info/articles/taming-the-wide-gamut-using-srgb-emulation/)

• r/Monitors - sRGB clamp - what is it and how can it affect user experience. 10/24/2021

• r/Monitors - sRGB clamp for NVIDIA GPUs 8/24/2021

• novideo_rgb tool (https://github.com/ledoge/novideo_srgb)

• Blog: Wide Colour Gamut & SRGB Clamp (https://youtu.be/blcWTkv1bvQ)

• What Is sRGB Emulation Mode And Why Is It Important? (https://www.displayninja.com/what-is-srgb-emulation-mode/)

Overview

In terms of what you see on it, your pen display is just another monitor/display to your computer. So, you can control how the computer shows its desktop to the pen display.

You have two options:

• Extend the desktop - this means you can see different things on the pen display from your monitor. This is what I recommend you use.

• Duplicate the desktop (aka "Mirror ther desktop") - This means your pen display and monitor will try to show the same exact thing. Sometimes this is very useful but generally I think Extend is better choice for most people and situations.

Steps to control extend vs duplicate

The steps depend on which operating system you are using.

Windows 11

• Open Display Settings

• The displays your computer is connected to will be shown and each one is numbered. The one in blue is the display currently selected.

  • If a display has two numbers, that means the desktop is being duplicated across those displays

• NOTE: If you only see one display then the these settings do not apply.

• Select the display that corresponds to your tablet

• Towards the button right (to the right of the Identify button) you will see a dropdown setting that controls how the desktop is being applied to this display. Depending on how the display is already configured, the dropdown will say either

  • Extend desktop to this display

  • Duplicate desktop on X and Y

    • X and Y will be the numbers referring to the displays

• Switch the dropdown between the Extend or Duplicate option as needed.

Mac OS (Monterey)

• Go to Displays > Display Settings

• Select your monitor, then set Use As to Primary Display

• Then select your drawing tablet's display and set Use As to Mirror.

Sometimes people want to take a pen display and use it as a pen tablet. There are several options here. In this case, someone doesn't want to see anything on the pen display. It should be blank.

Option 1: Built-in support

Some pen displays have their power button configured to effect only the screen. You can power off the tablet, which will turn off the screen, but since the tablet is still connected to the computer it will essentially act just like a pen tablet.

Not all pen displays are like this. Many have their power button set to turn off everything. So if you turn the tablet off, you wont be able to see anything on it or use the pen.

Option 2: Disconnect the display signal via hardware

If your tablet is connected via an HDMI cable to the computer, you can disconnect the HDMI cable. In every pen display I know of, this will result in a blank screen but the pen can still be used with the tablet.

Option 3: Do not send a display signal to the pen display

In your operating system, you can configure the displays settings to not use the screen in the pen display. This should leave you with a pen display that shows nothing and the pen should still work.

Lag

Pen tablets have low pointer lag. Pen displays have higher pointer lag. More here: lag

If you use a pen display even if the screen is off, you will still likely see the larger pointer lag.

Overview

For a display tablet your are pointing at one location on the pen, but the pointer is showing somewhere else. It could be do to the pen being incorrectly calibrated to the display.

What about pen tablets?

Most pen displays offer a pen calibration to solve this problem.

Some, like the Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 offer this claibration because they are well-calibrated when you get them.

What about pen tablets?

Pen calibration is a feature found in pen displays. Pen tablets don't need the feature.

XP-Pen pen displays

• Open the XP-Pen Pentablet app

• Under Work area > Screen, press Calibrate

• Follow the calibration steps

Huion pen displays

• Open the HuionTablet app

• Under Pen Display > Working Area, press Monitor Calibration

• Follow the calibration steps

Introduction

If you are wearing out your plastic pen nibs too quickly, you might be considering a metal nib. Metal nibs in theory never wear out.

Metal nib video series

Are metal nibs safe for your pen tablet?

• (part 1) (https://youtu.be/m0kYXa7Y4a8)

• (part 2) (https://youtu.be/aByhTQOcIeM)

• (part 3) (https://youtu.be/mU8MsD-DY0w)

• (part 4) (https://youtu.be/c1dQj4q5lDk)

• (part 5) (https://youtu.be/WvmMHzZoclg)

Metal nibs can damage pens

I DO NOT recommend using a metal nib

• ferrite core damage - Some people report that the metal nibs can cause the pen's ferrite core to easily break. When the ferrite core breaks it cannot be replaced. You have to buy a new pen. I did not experience damage to the ferrite core even after I dropped my KP-504E pen repeatedly with the metal nib hitting the floor directly. However, I don't doubt that others have experienced real damage.

• pressure sensor damage - I personally experienced that a metal nib cause a permanent increase in the initial activation force of my Wacom Pro Pen 2. This means the pen become less sensitive and going back plastic nib does not restore a low initial activation force. See this video for more details (https://youtu.be/WvmMHzZoclg).

Metal nibs and pen displays

I DO NOT recommend using a metal nib directly against the glass of a pen display

I haven't tried it with a pen display and I right now would not recommend someone doing doing that. I do believe there's a chance it can damage the screen. I've even seen people with plastic nibs damage the screen of their pen display.

If someone is going to do use a metal nib with a pen display, I would recommend using a protective sheet. See this doc protective sheets.

Metal nib options

You may find different options for nibs, here several I know of.

For Wacom Pro Pen 2

• TWITE Graphics (https://hitomins.tumblr.com/products_sus_English#b)

  • I purchased from (https://alice-books.com/item/show/1113-4) but you may find other sources.

  • This is the nib I use for the "Are metal nibs safe" videos

• REEYEAR ( https://a.co/d/8H6lqGq)

• TWITE Hybrid metal/plastix nib (https://hitomins.tumblr.com/products_hybrid)

  • Store: https://alice-books.com/item/show/1113-3

For Wacom CTL-672,CTL-671,CTL-471, CTL-472

• REEYEAR metal nibs (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B2PGDF6S)

Reddit Threads

• https://www.reddit.com/r/wacom/comments/740ktd/metal_nibs_where_do_you_purchase_them/ -

• https://www.reddit.com/r/wacom/comments/ts2ted/titanium_alloy_pen_nib/ -

• https://www.reddit.com/r/wacom/comments/tklhcn/stainless_steel_nib_finally_came_time_to_art/ -

• https://www.reddit.com/r/wacom/comments/t7lraf/better_nibs_for_ctl472/ -

• https://www.reddit.com/r/wacom/comments/gyo4ug/pro_pen_2_stainless_steel_nib/ -

• https://www.reddit.com/r/wacom/comments/kyl5lj/but_seriously_why_are_all_my_nibs_sharpened_to/ -

Overview

Typically, when you press down with your pen and touch the tablet it will be interpreted is a "click" action - just as if you left clicked with a mouse.

However, in some rare circumstances and depending on the tablet and tablet brand and tablet driver, you MIGHT be able to modify the behavior to a slight degree.

What customizations are possible

• Sometimes you can enable or disable the clicking of the tip

• I don't know of any way to assign the tip to perform some other behavior when pressed. For example, no way for the tip to be assigned to the SHIFT key or something.

Wacom

Wacom pens just always "click". There's no way to change this behavior.

Huion

The Huion driver lets you disable clicking.

In the Driver UI it is a little confusing though. The tip is shown as being in one of two states: valid and invalid.

The default is valid and this means the pen works normally.

The invalid setting, disables clicking.

XP-Pen

In the XP-Pen driver, you can only disable the tip.

In the driver, press the gear icon and you can disable the tip by checking the box that says disable pressure.

Overview

You can use a pen display like a regular monitor. However, there are a few things you should be aware of.

Safety

It's completely safe. It's safe for your pen display, your computers, and the cables connecting them.

Leaving them on continuously

Pen displays that use LCD display panels

The VAST majority of pen displays use LCD display panels. Just like any monitor or TV that uses LCD panels you can just keep them on all the time.

I've used multiple pen displays as a second display and leave them on 24/7 and my computers are set to never sleep so they are always showing something.

With some LCD panels, If they are showing the same thing on the screen that you many encounter a phenomena called . This is normal and is not a permanent change and is not screen burn in ().

Specific pen displays I have used this way (each has been continuously turned on and showing something for several months at least):

• Wacom Cintiq Pro 16 DTH-167

• Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 DTH-271

• XP-Pen Artist Pro 16 GEN2 MD160QH

• Wacom One GEN1 (DTC-133)

• Wacom One 13 GEN2 (DTH-134)

• Wacom One 12 GEN2 (DTC-121)

• Huion Kamvas 22 Plus (GS2202)

• Huion Kamvas 13 (GS1331)

• Huion Kamvas Pro 16 Plus 4k (GT1562)

• Huion Kamvas Pro 24 4K (GT2401)

• Xencelabs Pen Display 24 (LPH2412U-A)

Pen displays that use LCD display panels

OLED panels are relatively new to pen displays. They only started appearing in 2024 with the arrival of the Wacom Movink. How long OLED panels can last without issues like burn-in is unknown, but it is widely understood that their lifetime is less than that of an IPS panel. For now, my recommendation is to turn off OLED pen displays if you are not actively using them.

Refresh Rate

Display inputs and cabling

A monitor often has a variety of inputs. For example, most of the monitors I have support these display inputs such as HDMI, DisplayPort, USB-C.

Some pen displays have a variety of inputs. The Wacom Cintiq pro 27 DTH271 is a great example of one. It supports all of the inputs mentioned above.

But most modern pen displays now have only USB-C ports - usually two. One for a display signal & data and one for additional power if needed.

Aspect ratio

Typically monitors have to aspect ratios: 16:9 and 16:10. And there are variety of widescreen or ultra-widescreen monitors that support many other aspect ratios.

Pen displays have much less diversity of aspect ratios. The vast majority of modern pen displays are exactly 16:9. A very small number are 16:10.

Display panel technology

Monitors and pen displays use various panel tech such as:

• IPS

• TN

• VA

• OLED

OLED introduction to pen displays. Starting by around May 2024, we seen the introduction of a few pen displays with OLED panels. The first pen display to use OLED was the Wacom Movink 13 (DTH-135) and the second OLED pen display was the Xencelabs Pen Display 16.

Display panel brightness

Pen displays aren't especially bright. most around around 250 nits. And only a few are >= 300 nits.

VESA-mounting

Most often monitors support VESA mounting so you can attach them to a stand or an arm.

Many pen displays support VESA mounting also. However, the pen displays that are 16" or smaller often do not support VESA mounting. Likely they do not support VESA mounting because these sizes of pen displays are to thin to do so.

More here:

Power cabling

Monitors tend to have the normal power cables and adapters.

Modern pen displays may also use normal power adapters. But some support getting power via their USB-C ports.

Anti-glare sparkle

Speakers

Many monitors come with built-in speakers. They usually sound terrible, but they can be useful. As far as I am aware, no pen displays have speakers.

Picture-by-picture & Picture-in-picture

One of the benefits of supporting multiple display input ports is that it makes it possible to display two or more inputs simultaneously. Many monitors allow this now and it is very useful for very wide monitors. Pen displays do not support this feature.

Heat

Noise

Monitors are almost always completely silent and don't even have fans. However, some pen displays - notably some Wacom Cintiq Pro models - have fans are are known for fan noise. If you are sensitive to noise research this first.