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See this page: https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Electronics_Water_Damage
Leave the pen/tablet to draw dry for at least 48 hours. Keeping it in a dry warm (but not hot) place will help.
if your tablet is connected with any cables, disconnect the cables.
If your tablet is connected wirelessly, it may have an on/off button. Turn it off.
Remove the nib to help it dry faster
Keep the pen upright with the nib removed and pointed down to help drain water
Some pens buttons are a "rocker" type which can be removed and put back in. if you are confident you won't harm your pen this is one option.
Some people, disassemble their pens - but only try this if you find a good reference on YouTube and are confident around electronics.
https://www.reddit.com/r/wacom/comments/tcmqpz/ctl4100_wacom_intuos_pen_accident_with_water/ -
If the nib is broken in half and stuck deeply inside or there's not enough of it to grip then normal techniques may not get it out.
Here are some other options.
I used this iFixit set of precision tweezers. Specifically I used the one in the middle. I wasn't able to put both both ends into the pen. Instead, I put one end into the pen and pressed against the side of the nib to slowly pull the nib out a little bit at a time. Once enough was out, I used the tweezers normally to pull the nib out.
This method involves using a glue gun. Roughly the steps are:
put a very tiny amount of hot glue on the end of a toothpick
Then keep the toothpick touching the nib inside the pen for a minute as the glue cools
then pulling the toothpick which should hopefully cause the nib to come out
You've got to be careful to not get glue stick inside the pen.
Stick a heated needle into the nib and when the plastic of nib cools, pull it out. Some people suggest combining this technique with glue on the needle tip. Use this option with great caution. People have ruined their pens and made the problem worse with this hot needle technique.
Cleaning your drawing tablet should be a regular part of how you care for it. I recommend cleaning your drawing tablet once a month - and more frequently if needed.
Depending on the brand of tablet and the kind of tablet you'll find that manufacturers provide different advice for cleaning. For example, some manufacturers say it's OK to clean the tablet with isopropyl alcohol. While other manufacturers explicitly indicate that you should not use isopropyl alcohol.
Below are a few links I found from different brands about how to clean their tablets. It may not be comprehensive but it's a start.
STEP 1 - First, I remove dust from tablets, pens, and monitors with a microfiber duster. Specifically this one: the OXO Good Grips Microfiber Hand Duster ($12) that I bought on Amazon. The red microfiber brush can be detached and easily cleaned in a laundry machine and then dried on low heat.
STEP 2 - I gently wipe down the tablet with a damp cloth or towel
OPTION 1: If the tablet is a little greasy I may put a bit of soapy water on the damp cloth. I want to emphasize that the cloth is damp and not wet. You shouldn't have any water drops coming off the cloth.
OPTION 2: Since September 2024, for pen displays I've switched from soapy water to using a screen cleaning sprays (WOOSH and MISTIFY). more here: Screen cleaning sprays.
Removing the nib in the pen is a common maintenance task to deal with nibs that are wearing down and need to be replaced. You may also need to do this in an emergency if the nib is broken.
Your drawing tablet likely came with a nib remover. It's usually either a piece of metal or a metal part of a pen stand
Here's a simple nib remover.
This pen case has a nib remover (the small metal ring) built in.
If don't have a nib remover, it's not a problem you can use any instrument that can pinch the nib. Here are some options:
Tweezers
Needle-nose pliers
Fingernail clippers
A nib that has snapped off and left part of itself inside the pen may require some special techniques. See: Removing a broken nib.
All pen tablets (those without a screen) will experience some form of wear. The amount and type of wear will be affected by:
The material of the surface
The texture of the surface
The material of the nib
How you draw
Other sources of damage not related to normal use of the pen tablet
In general, surface wear is not a problem, unless it interferes with your pen. Typically this means a deep scratch which deflects the tip of the pen. This deflection may be strong enough that you will get little "bumps" if you try to draw a line across the scratch.
Texture erosion - where the surface texture starts getting a little smoother as you continue to move your pen over it. More here: .
False scratches - False scratches are things that look like scratches but are really the result of a tablet surface that isn't clean. More here:
Scratches - permanent grooves cut into the surface. More here: .
There are options to help protect the surface
Maintain your pen nibs so that they don't develop a flat edge
Use a felt nib which is softer than a plastic nib.
Don't press down so hard on the tablet
When traveling with the tablet, make sure you put it inside something to prevent something from scratching the surface
Store your pens so that the nib is not experiencing constant pressure. Some tablet users suggest that if the nib has a constant pressure applied to it, over time the pressure could damage the pressure sensor.
If you pen came with a case designed for it, that is the safest place to store it. These cases provide a lt of protection for the entire pen and the pressure sensor
In the photo below you can see how a case has extra room for the nib so nothing can press into it.
Below, three conceptual options are presented for storing a pen.
The one on the far right places no load on the pressure sensor
The one on the far left places the entire weight of the pen on the pressure sensor
The one in the middle places only the weight of the nib on the pressure sensor. This is the way I store my pens.
Use
Pen displays (tablets with a screen) come in two varieties
those that have a glass surface, where your pen is making direct contact with the glass surface
And those that have a film on top of the glass surface, where your pen only touches the film and does not touch the glass
the glass surface is usually an etched glass surface. The etching is a very subtle texture created on the glass usually through the means of some acid that has eaten away a little bit of the surface.
The texture gives two benefits. First, it helps the glass avoid feeling slippery as you draw. That slippery feeling is a very common complaint for some devices like an iPad. Second, that texture also disperses light that is coming from the room and this dispersion will reduce glare. So the etching is often referred to as an anti glare treatment.
One negative aspect of the etching is that it can create an effect called anti glare sparkle. Sometimes the anti glare sparkle is very subtle but sometimes it is extremely strong and people do not like it. More here: Anti-Glare Sparkle.
in this case the film provides an anti glare treatment typically and provide some texture. Though I typically find that the texture.
In a general sense the glass that is used for append display is highly durable. They are designed to be directly drawn upon with the pens / nibs that the manufacturer also supplies.
And while these glass surfaces are designed to be very durable, they are not infinitely resistant to damage from various sources.
Let's talk about the first kind of damage which is damage from just basic drawing. There are a wide variety of experiences people have with scratching up or damaging the glass of their pen display.
Some people like me have drawn on pen displays for many years and have never seen any kind of scratching or damage that came from drawing.
But you can easily find people posting on online forums who show you photos of how the surface of their pen display has become worn. You can see for example regions of their pen displays that seem more scratched up and where the etched texture has clearly changed.
Some people suggest that small particles of various materials can be on your land on the glass or attach themselves to the nib of the pen. And they suggests that as you draw on the glass with your pen that you might see scratches that are caused not by the pen and nib itself, but by the motion of those small particles as your nib moves them across the surface of the glass.
I cannot say that I have personally experienced this myself. But I do think it is in your best interests to keep the surface of your pen display and your pens clean.
Some artists are very careful to remove anything metallic from there hands or wrists when they draw. And I think this is also a very reasonable thing to do to avoid the potential damaging the glass.
If you were transporting your pen display you should make sure that the glass is covered by something to protect it during it's journey. I have seen people mentioned that they put their pen display in a backpack but that's some other object in the backpack made contact with and
The glass surface of a pen display is not designed to be removed. In the case of fully laminated pen displays, remember that the glass is bonded to the display panel with the layer of optically clear adhesive (OCA). So in summary the glass you have is going to be there forever.
And anywhere or damage you caused the glass will also be there forever.
I have never seen anyone find anyway to somehow remove any on the glass surface
Protective sheets on top of the tablet glass naturally protect the glass from damage.
One benefit of protective sheets is if they do get damaged you can generally replace them.
More here: protective sheets
From this reddit post:https://www.reddit.com/r/wacom/comments/zv593v/does_cintiq_13hd_have_screen_protection_see_coment/
To prevent glare a pen display will have either:
An etched glass surface
Or a anti-glare film.
Besides reducing the glare, films have the added benefit that they prevent the glass underneath from being scratched. Also the films can be removed and replaced.
This document covers the case when your tablet has an anti-glare film.
If it has an anti-glare film, the film can be carefully lifted off.
You can start at a corner and gently and slowly start lifting it up. And then slowly working your way across the entire surface.
First, you should realize than manufacturers might sell replacement films for their tablets. But even if they do not, you can find third party films that are pre-cut for your tablet or for which you can order them cut to a specific size. More here on your options:
How much anti-glare sparkle do you want?
Your replacement will will likely have some amount of anti-glare sparkle effect. If you buy the replacement film from the manufacturer you will get the same amount of ag sparkle as you originally had. More here on .
If you want less ag sparkle, you should consider getting a film which has less. This is where you should evaluate options from companies like photodon. They sell little samples you can try out to evaluate how much the film will look on your tablet. I highly recommend trying those samples first before you commit to putting a new will film on.
Here's a video where you can see me try some of these photodon samples and talk about how it affected the ag sparkle:
The surfaces of a pen tablet usually have some texture applies to prevent drawing on them from feeling "slippery".
Tablets vary quite a bit in how much texture is on them. The Intuos Pro models (PTH-460, PTH-660, PTH-860) are known for having a lot of texture.
As you drag your pen on the surface you will eventually notice two forms of texture erosion:
thin or thick marks
broad areas where the texture has been worn off
For more examples of surface wear and how to minimize it go here: Surface wear on pen tablets.
These texture erosion marks can be very difficult to see. Depending on the lighting, they may be invisible, lighter than the texture color, or darker than the texture color.
Some texture erosion marks aren't even caused by then pen. Other objects that come in contact with the tablet can cause them. You can often detect these because they produce much wider marks than the pen can produce.
Here is an example of broad area texture erosion on a Wacom Intuos Pro PTH-860. The overall area can be uniformly smooth/shiny or smooth/shiny in patches.
Here is an close up example of the texture of a Wacom Intuos Pro Large (PTH-860)
The texture erosion can be very subtle.
Below is an example of deliberately trying to erode the texture over a wide area by moving the pen back and forth over an area. Notice how much of the texture is gone.
Texture erosion is typically benign. While it is unattractive and sometimes visible it does not deflect the tip of the pen.
https://www.reddit.com/r/wacom/comments/144a6lk/is_my_wacom_intous_pro_m_okay/
Scratches are a form of permanent damage. Depending on how deep the scratch is, it can affect your drawing experience. For more examples of surface wear and how to minimize it go here: Surface wear on pen tablets.
Below is an example of some scratches that while ugly, do not interfere with the drawing experience. Small scratches are also hard to see sometime and greatly affected by the lighting conditions.
As you can see the scratches can be very small. These kinds of scratches will not affect your drawing experience.
Here is a close up view through a microscope:
Deeper and larger scratches are also possible. This can definitely affect your drawing experience.
Dropping sharp objects onto the surface of a pen tablet can result in big changes. The crater below was formed by an accidental dropping of scissors from a height of about 6" above the pen tablet.
Nib wears down due to friction caused by the nib moving against the tablet surface.
Many factors influence how fast a nib wears down and people have vastly different experiences. For some people a nib may last years. Some people seem to go through a nib in a week.
Below you can see the wear on an Wacom Art Pen nib which has been used on a Wacom Intuos Pro Large (PTH-860) surface after two weeks.
Tablets vary in the amount of surface texture they have. The more texture, the more likely the nib is to wear down. More here: surface texture.
Keep in mind, even the surface texture can wear down and become smoother. So, even if the texture is eating through your nibs at first, later it may not affect them so much. More here: Surface wear on pen tablets
Some people draw "heavy-handed" and put a lot of pressure on their nib. This will increase the friction and the rate at which the nib wears down.
Some people a have drawing style that features lots of strokes drawn over and over. For example they might fill in an by drawing hundreds of cross-hatched lines. This can accelerate nib wear.
Nibs are typically made of plastic or felt. And the material choice will affect how fast the nib wears down. For example felt nibs wear down faster than plastic nibs. More here: Nib material.
Try drawing with less pressure. You can change the pressure curve in your driver to help lessen the need to press down so hard.
If you are doing a lot of back and forth strokes to fill in an area, that repeated motion of the pen can wear down the nib fast. Consider using some other way of filling in an area.
Some tablets like the Wacom Intuos Pro have replaceable texture sheets. In Wacom's case there are three texture styles: standard, smooth, rough. Try the smooth texture sheet.
I do NOT recommend using a metal nib.
I recommend you replace you nib when:
Most of the tip has become flat
The nib is getting short - nib remover tools need to be able to grasp enough of the nib to pull it out. If you let them get to short, they are going to be stuck or very difficult to remove.
Here's some videos related to this topic:
Aaron Rutten - When to CHANGE Drawing Tablet Pen Nibs
Aaron Rutten - Wearing Down Nibs & Tablet Scratches
For me what works best is just buying more nibs because they are cheap and easy to replace.
With a little care and light maintenance your tablet will keep working for a long time. Here are some basic tips.
They are surprisingly expensive to replace. They can cost from $40 USD to $120 USD for a Wacom Pro Pen 3.
Because drawing tablet pens usually have a case of black plastic they can be difficult to see under some lighting conditions, also they can be mistaken for other pens, etc. To give them some additional visibility I use masking tape to add some some color to make it more visible and serve as a label.
Here is an example:
Pens are the most sensitive component because they have some small parts and some moving parts. A fall onto a floor can damage your pen:
The can completely break the internals of your pen. Your pressure may be less sensitive, stuck at a certain pressure value for example either 0% pressure or 100% pressure , have sudden changes in its pressure profile.
The nib can be broken and make it be stuck inside the pen and very hard to remove
Normal drawing is fine. But don't *mash* it or hit it on a surface. You can damage the pressure sensor or you might break the nib. Use it for drawing on your tablet and nothing else.
A pen tablet, has fewer moving parts and most of the time nothing bad will happen to it.
However, If you drop a pen display, you almost certainly will cause significant damage that cannot be repaired. For example, any of these things can happen:
The pen displays will not turn on again
The screen will crack
The display panel will break and not show a full screen or will show random color patterns
The ports can get damaged, preventing it from getting a display signal
The surface of your tablet will be in contact with your pen, that contact and the friction that comes from it will cause some wear. It's good for you to understand what this wear will look like and how you can control it. Read the two documents below.
Avoid doing any of these things:
Disassembling the tablet
Disassembling the pen
Using metal nibs with the pen
Keep water away from your tablet and pen. If you get them wet, consult this guide on dealing with potential damage: .
Periodically, clean your tablet. Some people recommend lightly cleaning your pen displays before you start drawing. More here: .
In general store your pens so that you avoid pressure on your nibs. More here: .
There are options to protect the surface from damage. See: .
If you are carrying your tablet with you or transporting it, consider some extra protection via a case. More here: .
Monitor your nibs and replace then when they are getting too worn down. Nibs that are worn down to flat surface may be scratching up your tablet. See more here:
To remove a nib see this guide:
Sometimes you may encounter something that looks like a scratch on a tablet. But it is what I call a "false scratch" or a "temporary scratch". I use these terms because, these kinds of "scratches" can be removed by cleaning the tablet or even rubbing the it away with your finger.
These marks are caused by the pen displacing material on the surface. This material can include includes:
Oil from your skin
Dust and other grime
Tiny bits of the nib that have worn away.
Here are some options for cleaning your tablet: Cleaning a drawing tablet
