• Software To Use With Xp Pen 12 On Mac Pro

Graphics tablets are standard fare in a photographer’s arsenal of retouching tools, but could a pen display make retouching even easier?

Jun 08, 2020  The XP-PEN G960S review show that this affordable tablet has features that are pretty hard to find in budget tablets: tilt, and the ability to use the tablet with Android. It also works with Linux, as well as Mac and Windows.

1. XP-PEN Artist 12 support Windows 10/8/7(32/64bit), Mac OS X version 10.10 or later. Compatible with many art software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, SAI, CDR, and more. It is ideal for drawing, photography retouching, sketching, digital art, animation, fashion, architecture design, illustration, image editing, 3D sculpting.
2. XP-Pen’s business concept is to offer creation and quality at the best price in a sustainable way. XP-Pen since it was founded in 2005 grown into one of the world’s leading graphic tablet companies for artists. The content of this site is copyright-protected and is the property of XPPEN Technology CO.

I’ve used a Wacom Intuos for years with no complaints, but I’ve been eyeing pen displays for a while now. As someone who also draws and paints, the ability to put “pen to paper” while retouching, sounded like a way to up my retouching game, particularly in the beauty and composite department. So, when I got the opportunity to review the XP Pen Artist Display 16 Pro, I was excited to see how working directly on an image would affect and—hopefully--enhance my retouching.

The Artist 16 Pro by XP Pen is a 1080p, 15.6' display that has a 178° viewing angle, with a color gamut that is up to 92 percent Adobe RGB accurate. It comes with two rechargeable styluses—complete with eight additional pen nibs and holder—an adjustable display stand that was pre-mounted (less work for me,) a partial glove for your working hand to keep the monitor clean, a cleaning cloth and all the requisite cables including an adapter for Mac. The kit also includes a USB thumb drive with the software driver, but the quick start manual mentions also being able to download the latest drivers via the website, which is what I did. The color of the display wasn’t quite right out of the box, so I calibrated the screen for color and contrast after installing with my X-Rite ColorMunki, and went right to work.

You can see that the Artist 16 Pro display is much cooler than my calibrated monitor out of the box.

The Artist 16 Pro works with both Windows and Mac, and is compatible with most popular software such as the Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, Corel Painter, and Open Canvas.

After having and using the display for two weeks, here is what I can tell you. In essence, the Artist 16 Pro functions like a second monitor that you can program to mirror your main monitor, or act as a second desktop. The functionality while retouching is incredibly similar to using a graphics tablet like the Wacom Intuos, but there are a few differences, both good and bad, that we’ll cover.

The Good Stuff

• The screen is matte, which means I don’t have to deal with any reflections from windows or room lighting. I work in my basement, and the windows can throw some distracting reflections on my iMac screen at certain times of day. The XP Pen display handled my downstairs lighting and windows like a champ. The matte screen made a big difference.
• The screen has a texture like fine-grained paper, which feels natural beneath the pen nib and allows for that little bit of ‘grab’ that stops the stylus from sliding around on the screen.
• The eight customizable express keys make using the display apart from the keyboard much easier. The express keys make basic actions, like zooming in and out or changing brush size, much faster, but I still needed the keyboard close by for things like cloning.
• The adjustable stand gives me room to change up the angle I’m working at, which is handy for keeping me from becoming stagnant and allows me to change things up when I adjust my desk from standing to sitting.
• If I needed to look at my larger iMac screen or give my neck a break from the angle of looking down at the screen, I could treat the Artist Pro like a tablet and work from my monitor.
• No lag. The pen worked in Photoshop as smoothly as anything else I’ve ever used.
• Pen pressure made doing things like drawing in eyelashes or hair easy and quick. Unlike dodging and burning where I needed to see the skin beneath the nib, being able to place the pen nib exactly where I wanted to draw in a hair was helpful.
• The size of the display is a nice balance between being big enough to work on, but not so big that it stresses my arm from making too many large movements.
• The price point is pretty outstanding for what you get.

Here are two of the images edited with the XP Pen Artist 16 Pro.

The Not So Good Stuff

• I had to install, uninstall, and reinstall the driver several times to get everything working properly so I could program the unit and calibrate the display. This was frustrating because it required restarting the computer as well.
• Retouching with a pen directly on the image leads to a few problems. While zoomed out, the pen nib sometimes covered what I was working on, so I found myself leaning to the side or looking up at my iMac monitor to be sure I was in the right area. For dodging and burning, particularly while zoomed out, it’s crucial to see exactly where the mouse is at on the image. Since the second monitor was still there to use, it wasn’t a huge issue, but it did stop me from using the display exclusively while retouching the attached images.
• The stand that allows the display to move between upright and down positions also stops it from lying flat. This isn’t a huge problem, but it is an ergonomic issue that I think could improve the usability for photographers and retouchers.
• Sitting on top of a desk, the display isn’t always at the best angle for healthy body position. I have a desk converter that allows me to stand, as well as a riser to keep my monitor at an ideal level for healthy posture, and the XP Pen display falls right into that area where I’ll either find myself with a sore neck from looking down for too long, or tiring my arm muscles out if I sit because the display sits up above the desktop a bit, so the arm needs to be raised unless the stand is removed. I got around this issue by altering between using the display screen, and using my monitor, as well as repositioning myself and taking breaks often.

• Having three cords running from the back of the unit (USB, HDMI, and power) does make moving the display feel clunky.

Final Thoughts

Because the XP Pen Artist 16 Pro works as a pen display and has the same functionality as a graphics tablet, it’s like having the best of both worlds. I can look up at my larger monitor when I need to, or work directly from the screen. When doing fine detail work (outside of dodging and burning) or drawing on an image, the Artist 16 Pro really shines. The unit feels well-made and is simply designed. Having two pens lets one charge while I use the other, and the ability to adjust pen pressure in the software menu seems like it will make it easy save nibs in the long term. While using a laptop, having the larger display to work from makes retouching much easier.

Retouching on the XP Pen Artist 16 Pro using the provided glove that keeps the screen in great shape

As someone who also loves to draw, being able to look down and see myself work lends a natural motion to my arm as I retouch, as does being able to adjust the angle of the screen. At almost half the price of some of it’s competitors, the Artist 16 Pro makes a great case for itself in value.I can see this being of great use to those photographers who also do graphic design or digital painting, but may be overkill for those of us who only do minimal retouching or aren’t interested in the feel of drawing while they’re working.

The value in price naturally comes with a few caveats, such as buttons that don’t feel high-end, and a stand that isn’t completely ideal for healthy posture. But given it’s $459 price tag—which makes this display cheaper even than the Wacom Intuos Pro tablet and more than one-thousand dollars less expensive than the comparable Wacom Cintiq Pro 16—those are things that can be adapted to for the savings.

If you’ve been looking to get your feet wet with a pen display, the Artist 16 Pro seems like a great place to start both in functionality and value. Mr. Sparklebum approves of the quality for the savings. Mr. Sparklebum always approves of savings.

In recent years digital advancements have designers leaving pen and paper behind, allowing them to create visual image files using their computer mouse or Graphic Drawing Tablets.

if you are good at freehand pencil/drawing then a tablet is great to have your work already created in the digital realm without transferring it there later to work on more. sketching basically, i’m not good at it but a good sketcher would probably love a good tablet.

and, if you need to edit (especially for raster images) down to individual pixels and pixel groups then a tablet is very helpful.

tablets are great to have when you need to transfer a raster image into a vector environment and vice versa because you are definitely going to need to edit pixel by pixel to get edges to blend etc.

Almost any professional graphics software will work for Drawing tablets, as they have pretty much a stranglehold on the digitizer tablet market. So you should pick the right software for your needs and preferences.

I tried out a lot during the years: photoshop (cs2 - cc ), krita, gimp, paint tool sai, mypaint, corel painter, paintstorm studio and maybe more, just can't remember. I own a XP-Pen Deco Pro (Medium) graphics tablet .

What I can say is that every software has their own advantages. The question is: what advantages are good for you personally. That's why I suggest to try different softwares before you decide which one is the best for you.

I can name some really-well known ones and I'll say my own personal opinion about them.

5 Best Paid Drawing & Painting programs for Artists :

On this side we've the comercial programs. They can be very pricey but they have the advantage in that you’re buying a high quality product right out of the box made by paid professionals. They won’t suffer from a lack of updates or bugs like most opens source programs do.

1. Adobe Photoshop CC - many tools

The king of photo editing, painting and hands down the best program. When you see an amazing painting eight out of ten times was made on photoshop. On the free side only Krita comes close to match it’s raw power.

Get this one if you can.

This one is the favorite for all professionals mainly due to all the highly advanced tools it has and it’s second to none brush engine.

No wonder it’s the most pirated software ever.

Some people get intimidated by it, but it’s actually very easy to learn. Because you won’t be needing most of its tools as the majority are mainly used for photo manipulation —not for painting. In fact if you learn to use this program you’ll know the basics of all the others.

All painting programs want to be as good as it (wheter they admit it or not).

Most tutorials and learning tools are made for photoshop so it’s ideal for beginners and pros alike. All painting programs owe something to this one.

It’s main drawbacks are the fact that it’s a very heavy program that will demand a lot resources from your computer, like memory and RAM. Not for the faint of heart.

Software To Use With Xp Pen 12 On Mac Pro

Photoshop is the industry standard. It's easy to find tutorials, brushes, or anything else you need, 3d drawing software for mac.

This is subscription based now. Has so much stuff featured and it's good at doing anything. There are different tiers starting from $15/month (Photoshop + Lightroom + other stuff) up to $100 (All adobe apps + adobe stock). It has everything. Tons of options like custom brushes, workspace customization, plug-ins, filters, effects, 3D support, and many more features. Not sure if you can buy older versions for a fixed amount.. There's a trial too.

While it can be faulty, Photoshop is still 'the industry standard'. At some point you'll have to learn how to use it in one way or another. It can be complicated, frustrating and the default brush engine is not that good with lineart, but still, it's can be considered the best in everything overall.

2. PaintTool SAI:

Really popular and cheap for its capabilities. Has a free trial. It has a pretty good drawing engine overall.

This is the program all other “manga” painting software want to be. Manga artist love it. It’s legendary.

It has an amazing watercolor brush and eight out of ten times most manga style art, on the internet, is made with this software.

It’s very lightweight and very easy to learn and master. In fact the “easy” part of its name is not just a trademark; it really is easy.

Artist love it for it’s lack of lag, great paint feeling and it’s superior linear to even photoshop’s.

However it does suffer from the drawback in that its developers are too content “being at the top” and they seldom ever (if ever) update or fix bugs for it.

3. Clip Paint Studio/Manga Studio - Windows/Mac

Taking advantage of Sai's lack of— “enthusiasm”— comes Manga Studio , especially for lineart. Has trial.

Clip Studio paint is a specific software to use for digital painting and comic drawing. This software offer a lot of easy method to drawing comic (something like comic panels, comic page, comic cloud etc) and have a lot of artistic brushes to help you on drawing. Any professional artist use this software usually have manga style drawing .

It's very similar to Sai. But it has much more features. It leans heavily on artist that want to publish comics/manga as such it has many features that help on it including vectors.

It's a bit pricer than Sai, but it,s development team is much more committed .

4. Corel Painter

a great realistic painting tool, bridging the gap between traditional media and the digital world.

Corel allows you to customize anything you want, be it brushes, palettes, papers, colors, patterns, gradients, etc. It has every professional tool to provide the user with a seamless drawing experience. There are over 900 brushes in Corel Painter with an addition of 36 new brushes for diverse drawing requirements. It also offers a range of amazing tools for creating the perfect composition. Additionally, you can also import content from others to complete your drawing.

This one is a favorite for many professionals due to it’s power to emulate real life tools/ traditional media. The feeling of painting with actual oils and the like is second to none. If you come from a traditional background this one is the very best bet.

It's awesome - the real brushes simulating the real deal are uncanny, it's almost too good to be believed. However, some of the functions are extremely clumsy to use - resizing or moving images, rotating layers etc, small details which can frustrate the user or slow down the workflow.

Higher tier, expensive stuff . Just like photoshop, profesional love it but–

I personally don’t recomend it for hobbyists, like me, due to the fact that it’s too pricey (money you should be investing in learning)

It’s also very complex and it has a high learning curve so it can be incredibly confusing specially for people that don’t know anything about digital painting.

5. ArtRage 5

This full-featured digital painting software from Ambient Design, with new digital editing tools, provide improved performance. The advanced features make creating art a fun and easy activity.

On ArtRage 5, you can customize your paper to get the desired effect and allows you to design brushes, composition tools, pattern and gradient fill, filters, etc. The latest version comes new tools such as the natural pencil, flexible custom brush editing along with previous tools. The user can personalize everything and can adapt the software to one's needs.

Art rage is a cheap alternative for a program that emulates traditional medium like oils and water colors.

Free digital art software

First let’s talk about the ones you can get for free “as in gratis.” It’s said that there is no such thing as a “free meal.” But this is an exception as most of these were done by talented people that believe in freedom of software (open source) . Neat uh?

6. Gimp

Mac Os/Windows/linux. While it's free and has a lot of freedom, it's like linux. Can be complicated, faulty and frustrating.

Even painters that love it tend to heavily modify it to suit their needs. I was using gimp for Graphic Design for more than 2 years and I guess I'd say it's more of a Graphic Design rather than painting software.

It also suffers from the drawback that it’s creators want it to be an image editor and painter features aren’t a priority for them. Updates can take years to materialize.

Developers tend to care more about catering to other developers than the average users (hence it’s weird version numbering and confusing “save as” option) .

But if you want a solid photoshop replacement this one is the one you should try.

Many incredible artist use this program. Once you get used to the UI you’ll be doing amazing works of art in no time. Best of all, you’ll get the best of photoshop at no charge.

The “underdog” feeling of creating art as amazing as photoshop is also priceless.

7. Krita - extended tool-set aimed at digital drawing

It’s available for Mac/Windows/linux and some tablets. Krita seems to be one of the most underrated free and open source painting apps on the market, despite it being in development for over 10 years. Krita has an intuitive and customisable interface, where the dockers and panels can be set up to maximise your workflow.

Its free, open source, and very powerful. It is great for beginners who don't have the money for photoshop and you can do most things that you can do in photoshop. Have fun and enjoy!

This one is my personal favorite and in my opinion the best. The developers are hardworking knowledgeable individuals and in some aspects this software is even better than photoshop. This program was designed with 100% of painters in mind. It’s been used by profesional artist as a serious alternative for photoshop and it has every tool you could possibly need and even more!

Looking for an amazing brush engine? Perspective tools? layers? Masks? brush customization? This program has you covered.

The tool offers nine unique brush engines, including a Color Smudge engine, Shape engine and Particle engine. You can also import brushes and texture packs or create and share your own. As an added bonus, you can use a brush stabiliser to help get those perfectly smooth lines every time.

Its developers made it possible to use photoshop brushes on this program neat uh?

8. MyPaint - basic tool-set

MyPaint is a free and open-source raster graphics editor for digital painters with a focus on painting rather than image manipulation or post processing.

has a lovely, endless canvas (raster) & nicely done brush engine. Free & open source. - Linux, macOS & Windows. Can require some technical knowledge to install on macOS (use MacPorts) & Windows.

This one’s mains strength is that it’s simplicity and great UI makes you focus on painting and let’s you forget about everything else. It has great preset tools, like Krita, and you will be working right away expressing yourself. This program is the one that stimulates my imagination the best. They developers make you forget about the burdens of software making it one of the easiest programs to master.

Its main drawback is that it takes developers ages to update and they’re focusing mainly on linux. It can be a pain to install in none linux platforms.

9. Medibang paint

Platform: Available for Windows, MAC, android and iOS.

If you're looking for a great, free alternative to Clip Studio Paint, have a look at Medibang Paint Pro. Medibang Paint Pro is a lightweight digital drawing tool with a strong focus on creating manga art and comic books. It comes loaded with 800 free pre-made tones and backgrounds that you can use. It also has more than 50 brushes, and a huge selection of free fonts you can use within your projects.

This one is a favorite of manga artist due to it’s simplicity and the fact that it resembles the legendary Paint tool sai. It’s not open source but it’s still free.

It’s strongest points are how lightweight it is, the fact that it’s multiplataform, and it’s free “cloud service.” This means that you could be working on any device and continue your project in any other. Say you sketch in your iPhone and finish in your Pc’s tablet.

It also has tools for comics which makes it a serious contender. Lightweight digital drawing tool with everything you need to illustrate comics .

10. Autodesk Sketchbook

Autodesk SketchBook is available on iPad, Windows and Mac. This is a very good software as replacement for pencil sketches. What you would do if you start completely digital is start in SketchBook with the basic setup of the page and then use tools like Photoshop (Procreate, Sketch Club) or Illustrator to fill in the details.

This sketching tool is free for personal use, which is a recent update by the Company, but a paid one for commercial purposes. The Autodesk Sketchbook is perfect for beginners as well as intermediate users as it comes with a lot of customization option. The exceptional interface helps in maximizing the drawing space of every device. The drawing engine of the sketchbook can handle 100 mpx canvas while maintaining the zoomed-in feeling you get when you work on traditional canvas. Professional artist choose Autodesk Sketchbook because it is fast and precise.

I used it for about three(ish) years without the Pro subscription and if you know what you're doing, it can still work fantastically without the subscription. It runs on Mac and Windows (not sure about Linux) and on most, if not all, mobile devices.

It also comes packed with 70 effects and plug-ins, and other features like channel stripping, compressors, EQ’s reverb, and so on.Supported Platforms: Windows or MacPrice: Free Trial available; upgrade starts at $24.92Get it here: ArdourIt’s a fantastic piece of software that works perfectly well with Windows, Linux, and OS X. Overall, even being the curtailed version, the freeware still retains most of its essential tools.Supported Platforms: Windows onlyPrice: Free; upgrade available for $450Get it here: Avid Pro toolsThose looking for tools especially designed for mixing music the professional way, Avid Pro Tools is just what you need. Free sheet music software mac. While it offers the usual facility to create, record, mix, edit, master, and more, it also comes with the advanced version (Avid Audio Engine) that’s loaded with a super speedy processor, 64-bit memory, latency input buffer of its own that helps during any delays, and an innate metering.Time-stretch to alter the tempo, or Elastic Pitch which is somewhat similar to the autotune that helps rectify harmonies are among the other features to name a few. This advanced yet simple tool helps you to excel the industry standards. The version 5 comes with an all revamped graphic user interface that’s sorted with tabs.

It has the basic tools plus some extra brush sets, and if I remember correctly without the subscription you only get three layers to work on, plus a background layer (color/transparent only) so that can be a bit limiting, but for basic sketching and painting, it works just fine.

On mobile there's an option to convert a paper image to a drawing so you can sketch on paper and then paint over it on your phone or tablet. With the subscription you basically just get some extra tools and brushes as well as unlimited layer space.

conclusion

Afterward, go buy any tablet and app you wish, it does not matter. You will know how to draw on any of them. Without good basic drawing skills all of the apps in the universe will not help you

Draw, draw incessantly.