
One of the main reasons that tablets are so useful for drawing and animation is the incredible level of pen pressure sensitivity they’re capable of. Some tablets will have one or two customisable keys, some will have as many as 16, and others will have none – though many of these will be tablets like iPads, which offer other advantages. This may not seem that important to an inexperienced user, but trust us, having a suite of customisable shortcut keys that you’ve mapped to your preferred functions can super-charge the speed of your workflow. This will of course depend on the nature of the animation you’re doing – it’s worth looking at your art with a critical eye to determine how much space you need. While it may seem like the obvious thing would be to get as big a tablet screen as possible, this will drive the cost of the unit way up, and it may simply be more space than you need. In terms of screen size, it’s worth thinking about how much drawing space you actually need. A tablet’s size matters of course because you’re going to need to keep, store and potentially transport it, but also because a larger tablet will likely have more inputs, and more space for controls (more on which shortly). When we talk about a tablet’s size we are of course talking about two things – the overall physical size of the tablet, and the size of the screen or drawing surface. However, they also tend to be more expensive than graphics tablets – and if you already have invested in a high-quality monitor, a graphics tablet may be the more cost-effective choice.
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Display tablets are just as they sound – tablets that have their own display screens – while graphics tablets are drawing surfaces that need to be connected to an external display like a monitor.ĭisplay tablets are the better choice for animation where possible, as having your drawing surface and your display in the same place makes for a smoother experience, and makes it easier to take advantage of the various animation software programs. The two main types of tablet you’ll be looking at for animation are display tablets and graphics tablets. Here, we’ve put together a quick guide to the main criteria it’s worth thinking about when choosing a tablet for animation If you’re looking for a new animation tablet, it’s worth familiarising yourself with the key differences between the various models. Best tablets for animation: what to look for
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Head over to our Wacom Intuos Pro review to explore more. It's also compatible with the Wacom Pro Pen 3D, which is a great asset if you're looking to create 3D animation. The reason we'd also recommend the Intuos Pro Large for animation is that it’s a solid all-rounder that'll work for pretty much anyone! Easy to hook up to a laptop or other device, the Intuos Pro provides a dependable drawing surface, and is easy to take with you wherever you go. We've recommended two Wacom tablets on this list already – the Cintiq Pro 32 and the One, which are for pros and beginners respectively. Discover more in our Wacom Cintiq 16 review.

The balance of features, performance and price makes it one of the best tablets on the market, and any budding animator should get years of use out of it.

We would unhesitatingly recommend that new animators get hold of a Wacom Cintiq 16 if they can. The lack of built-in ExpressKeys may be a sticking point for some animators we’d definitely recommend also picking up the Wacom Express Key remote to speed up workflow. Wacom is competing with its lower-end competitors on price, while still providing a compelling alternative to expensive tablets like the iPad Pro. And with the Wacom Cintiq 16 you get the 8,192-level pressure sensitivity, the ability to use the Pro Pen 3D as well as the sublime Pro Pen 2, and a gorgeous display with a wide colour gamut. However, for most animation, you probably don’t need it. It’s less expensive than more advanced Wacom models – you don’t get the luxurious space of the Cintiq 32 (so-named for its 32-inch screen), not the UHD resolution of other Cintiq Pro tablets.
