XP-PEN Artist 15.6 Pro REVIEW CHEAPER CINTIQ ALTERNATIVE

In today's video I'm going to be doing a review of the XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro which I'm really excited about because it's essentially a much more affordable alternative to the Wacom Cintiq 13HD which for those of you who don't know is actually my primary tablet. Had I known about this tablet two years ago, well had it existed two years ago, I definitely would have considered buying it over my Cintiq because the price is way more affordable and it does essentially the same kind of things. Just as a disclaimer, I was sent this tablet by XP-Pen for review purposes but this isn't a paid review and all opinions are my own. So this tablet comes in at a total cost of £399 which is a big difference to the comparable Cintiq model which is currently selling at £649. I was actually kind of surprised seeing the price of the Cintiq model seeming as that's the exact price I paid for it two years ago and since then Wacom has released a whole new generation of tablet models but the price on the old Cintiq 13HD seems to have remained stagnant. I might be wrong about that but I'm pretty sure it has. So this tablet model has eight customisable shortcut keys which is really handy especially if you like using your shortcuts while drawing like Ctrl-Z, stuff like that. It definitely speeds up your workflow having just the button press at the side of the tablet. You don't have to reach over to your keyboard which is really great and I really love the addition of this red ring sort of dial thing at the side because you can use this to zoom in and out of the canvas which made such a big difference. It wasn't something I knew I needed until I used it and I was like wow this is really cool like I wish my Cintiq had this because it's such a cool feature and I'm pretty sure you can customise it to be able to do other things like change your brush size and stuff like that. It also has tilt support which isn't something I'm personally fussed about. I never really care about tilt of pens but if that's something you're interested in it does support that and it also has a parallax reducing display which is achieved through the display being laminated. This is actually such a bonus for me because one of my biggest pet peeves with these kind of like budget screen tablets is they usually have really bad parallax. If you don't know what parallax is it's basically when you're drawing on the screen there's a distance between the glass and the actual like screen and you can see where you're drawing is not exactly where the cursor is actually drawing on the screen. I hate it, it's one of my biggest pet peeves and it's been a problem with screen tablets I've reviewed before but luckily it was little to no parallax in this like I really didn't notice any parallax at all. It also has matte film on the tablet which reduces glare and gives it much more of a textured feel although this does tend to be standard across display tablets I've only ever come across a few that aren't like this. For example my actually my iPad Pro I had to buy a matte screen protector for it because the iPad screen is quite shiny and drawing on it feels like drawing on glass which is kind of weird when you switch from like a Cintiq to an iPad. So having a matte kind of screen like on this tablet is great for drawing, I like the texture as well. It's pretty good as well in terms of colour accuracy covering 90% of the Adobe RGB colour range. I've noticed some other reviews saying that you might have to calibrate the colours a little bit but personally I didn't see any issues with how the colours were coming up on my screen. As for the stand, the stand is actually a very important aspect for me especially when it comes to display tablets because you will be looking down at the screen and I know some people like to, especially if they have the big Cintiqs, some people like to have their Cintiq up to such a tilt that it's basically vertical with their face. I personally can't draw like that but I also don't like having it flat to the desk so the stand is a kind of important part. The stand of this tablet only has one level of tilt, the plastic feels a little bit cheap but it's very very sturdy, like impressively sturdy, especially when compared to the awful stand that comes with the Cintiq. Like seriously, it is a joke when you pay for a 13 HD and you get that stand. You've paid £650 and then you get this really un-sturdy stand. So in comparison, this is actually a much better stand and I was very impressed with it. The pen is actually quite similar in shape to a Cintiq as you can see in this pen comparison lineup. I actually like the feel of the pen and the nib although it is a little too light for my preference. I would have preferred a little bit more weight to it and there's also no eraser on the end but that's not really the end of the world, it's just a little annoying. One advantage is that you don't have to charge the pen which I know with previous models was something you had to do and I know that's been a thing with previous Huion models that I've used as well and I hate having to charge the pen. As for the drawing experience, it was great especially considering the price. The fact there is no parallax makes drawing on it really nice. It still doesn't feel as good or as pressure accurate as a Cintiq would but that is of course expected for the price. I was actually quite pleasantly surprised with the performance. I've personally never tried any XP-Pen products before and I went in with low expectations only to be completely blown away. The driver was very easy to download and install. You get this on-screen interface which allows you to change the pressure sensitivity curve which I personally did mess with a little bit because I like to turn my curve up a little bit. It also has calibration on it and other options like setting the shortcuts for the customisable keys along the side of the tablet. The pen holder is big and circular with lots of spare nibs inside which is super helpful and when I actually got the pen out of the box for the first time I thought it was like some kind of jumbo pen. I thought it was like some massive pen because it was only like the end of the pen poking out and I was like how come the pen is so chunky and then I realised I was just being an idiot and the pen was still inside the circular thing. I don't think anyone else has ever thought that while unboxing this tablet it's just me being stupid. In terms of what you get in the box that the tablet comes in, you get a little information box which has a sheet with the driver information, how to download etc, the warranty card, a thank you note and a guide to the tablet. You also get a power plug. I used the UK adapter but it also comes with EU and US adapters too and finally you get a cable box. It connects to your PC via USB and HDMI and connects back to the tablet via USB-C. It then connects back to the power plug via USB and they also include a USB to USB extender if you find that the cable is not long enough which I think is pretty neat because that came in handy for me especially because I've got quite a large desk space and I often find that cables aren't long enough so I'm actually really happy they include it. So I wanted a second opinion on this tablet specifically from someone not used to using pen displays so I got my friend Frankie to try out the tablet. She usually uses a Wacom Intuos for her digital art so I was interested in seeing what she thought of it. So I use an Intuos, not a screen tablet so this was like a first for me. I have used Jenna Cintiq before which I actually liked but I think I prefer this. The only thing I'm not too keen on is that the pen doesn't have an eraser on the end but it's just something you can deal with. I would recommend this tablet. It's pretty decently priced for a screen tablet as I've seen compared to a Cintiq and honestly even if it's just your first screen tablet I'd get it. I mean if I wasn't a broke student I think I'd go for it. On to the pros and cons. The pros of this tablet are the price definitely. It's on the much more affordable side of pen display tablets. Of course when you're getting any kind of display tablet it is going to cost a bit more than a regular tablet because you're getting the display as well. Other pros include the reduction of parallax, the size of this tablet, like seriously this thing is huge especially when I hold up my Cintiq for comparison. The Cintiq is 13 inches, this is 15.6 so it is huge. It's also a decent build. It's not a very high standard but it's not low standard either. It's pretty decent and the ring feature was definitely one of my favourite parts. The final pro is just the overall experience. It was really really good and honestly I would say comparable to using a Cintiq. Like if you do not have the money to afford a Cintiq this is definitely worth buying. The cons however include not as good for drawing as the Cintiq would be. That's in terms of the pen feel and the glass finish which goes without saying if you're going to be spending a little bit less it's not going to be quite as good but honestly the difference in quality was not that big. Another con of it is the fact that there was no eraser on the pen. That's not too much of a big deal. It depends how much money like that would bother you but you have to remember you don't have to charge this pen which of course is a plus. Also a final thing which is kind of a small thing. It depends whether what kind of art you're going to create. When drawing a straight line you may experience a slight wave or wobble to it but it likely won't be noticeable at all. Like I barely noticed it. If you create painterly art like mine this won't be an issue for you but if you do a lot of line art you may need to use a line straightener. Although most likely not because I barely noticed it and compared to some other budget screen tablets like I know Huion ones. I think they have a big issue with wave of the line when you try and draw a straight line. This was honestly hardly noticeable at all. So in conclusion I think this is an amazing and affordable screen tablet. It's great if you're on a budget and you want something that is similar to a Cintiq. It provides the same functionality that you'd expect to see in higher end display tablets with a few quality trade-offs but that's to be expected for the price. If you don't mind not having an eraser on the back of the pen and the feel not being quite the same as with a Cintiq then this tablet is for you. Thank you so so much to XP-Pen for sending me this tablet for review and thank you guys for watching. I have lots more exciting videos lined up soon so make sure you stay tuned. Bye guys!