Product Review: Art Pen From Wacom

The Art Pen is an add-on device from Wacom, the industry leader in digital pen tablets for computers. It was created to give you more freedom with your movements when you draw or paint digitally.

Much like the classic analog felt marker, the art pen gives you the ability to draw and control the thickness and how fine a line you want to create, all by turning the pen along its longitudinal axis. This is because the pen is sensitive to rotation so that if the software that you are using supports this behavior, then you have a total new level of control with the whole style of your stroke.

The pen itself looks similar to the standard grip pen that comes with the Intous4 or Intous5 tablets. Its black coating makes it fit in nicely with either tablet. It comes with 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity, has a programmable double side switch, an eraser, and is also tilt-sensitive.

Also, like the grip pen, the Art Pen comes with a stand and a complete set of replacement nibs, and a nib puller. The nibs are both angled as well as chiseled so that they can simulate calligraphy pens or broad felt tip art markers. The Art Pen is also has a bigger tip area and it doesn’t come with user swappable color rings.

I had no problem with any installation. Because it is compatible with either the Intous4 or Intous5 the pen was detected just fine from the start and I had no problem working with it in both Adobe Photoshop as well as Corel Painter.

The Art Pen comes with 11 nibs, 10 that store in the stand and one on the pen. There are two chisel POM nibs, two chisel felt nibs, three bullet POM nibs, three bullet felt nibs, and the bullet POM nib that comes on the pen itself.

I really like working with the Wacom Art Pen. Its feel and movements are great to work with and of course, the main feature is the barrel rotation that gives you much more flexibility than the standard grip pen for use in art work.

Overall it was very easy to use and requires no real learning curve if you are already used to painting in the traditional way or especially if you have worked with the standard Wacom pens.

While the Art Pen isn’t a necessity for everyone who uses a Wacom tablet, for those who do a lot of art work such as painting, matte work, inking, and the like, it is a very useful tool to have in ones arsenal and well worth the price in terms of the flexibility and usability that it provides to you. It is because of this that I highly recommend the Wacom Art Pen.