It’s a set of questions I see pop up pretty regularly: “I have a tight budget but I want to get into digital art; what cheap drawing tablet options are there? Free drawing apps?”
And as someone not rolling in dough, it’s a question I can relate to, and I had to explore options for hardware and learning so that I could still pursue this as a career. So let’s take a look at whats out there…
Graphics tablets
Firstly, just to clarify, you get pen/graphics tablets and pen displays. Both need to be plugged into a computer to work (some, like those listed below, even connect to Android devices now) , and displays, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, are essentially a second monitor that you can draw directly on to. They look pretty flashy and cool to work on, but they aren’t essential for making professional artwork. Actually, a number of professional artists have been pointing this out on Twitter recently, and many still prefer a pen tablet over a display.
But we are here to talk about options with that $50 budget, so…
What to look for…
Grabbed from the product listing on their store
Many recent models of tablet are coming standard with a set of features that in some older models might be missing. Some aren’t all that essential but nice to have.
First, pressure sensitivity. Most tablets now come with 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity. This means the harder you press, the stronger your lines and brush strokes. You can usually set whether this affects your brush size and opacity or both in your drawing program.
Express keys. These aren’t essential but can be pretty convenient, and you can usually set them to perform certain functions like increasing your brush size, zooming in and out, colour picking etc. These won’t work on an Android device though, which is fine. So long as you have a good stylus and pressure sensitivity, you can still fly.
The stylus. Battery-free is also pretty standard now, but still make sure this is specified.
Tilt is another feature you might see offered with some products. This is one I’m the least fussed about, but can be nice depending on how you work. Many of the recent tablet and stylus models though are offering this, some within that $50 mark.
Size. At around $50 and under, you can expect to have quite a compact tablet, usually around 4″ x 3″ to 7″ x 4″. I got started on a tablet with a 4×3 active area, and still jump back to that on the odd occasion I’m having troubles with my main tablet.
The Brands
There are a few. Most are probably aware of Wacom, and their prices. They dominated the tablet and display market for a long time, and have positioned themselves as a premium brand. But there are others closing the gap at an impressive rate, producing quality products at a way more accessible price point. The two I am looking at are XP-Pen (which I currently use) and Huion. There’s also Gaomon and Veikk which I am less familiar with.
All the options below have 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, a number of express keys, a battery-free stylus, and can be connected to many Android devices. Note that some options do not have the Tilt feature, but I don’t think this is a major thing, especially at this price. For beginners, it likely not a function they will be using anyway.
Got $50?
I recommend the XP-Pen Deco Mini 7.
It has a nice 7×4.3″ active area, 8 express keys,
a battery-free stylus, 60 degrees of tilt, and 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity.
As a gift, the smaller Deco mini 4 Anniversary Edition is a nice option. It comes with a pack of fun stickers of their mascot, Fenix, and postcards to send to friends. Just a nice touch and demonstration of the added effort XP-Pen puts into the community around the brand.
Basic specs in the listing in the next section.
The Huion Inspiroy H640P is another option, with
a 6×4″ active area, 6 express keys, a battery-free stylus with 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, however no tilt functionality.
Maybe just $40?
So the XP-Pen Deco Mini 4. So compact at a total size of 7×5″, with and active area of 4×3″, and comes with those essential features: 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, a battery free stylus, and 6 programmable express keys.
Huion’s HS64 is slightly larger at this price than the Mini 4, with a 6×4″ active area. It has a sleek, minimal design, with just 4 programmable keys (situated at the top corners of the tablet rather than to the side), a battery free stylus and the standard 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity.
Learning resources
Quality learning obviously comes at a price, but there are plenty of platforms and resources that cost a fraction of a few years at art school. Some even offer 30-day trial periods of their courses, so if you have a bit more time available, you can really make good use of that. Two to look at are SVSLearn and Proko. You can of course also gain a lot just from watching tutorials on Youtube, but especially at the beginning when you need to work on your fundamentals, a more structured course is preferable. I chat about this in a little more detail in this post: Digital Art For Beginners – Hardware, Software, and Online Learning.
Free Software
I cover some free software options briefly in the post mentioned above, such as Krita and Autodesk Sketchbook, but something else to note if you go with one of XP-Pen’s Deco products is that you get the activation key for ArtRage Lite when you register your product with them online. So you can get drawing pretty much right away. There are also some tutorials on their website to get you started and familiar with their software. This is often the case with most drawing programs so be sure to check out their respective websites.
Well that about covers it. Please do let me know if this post was helpful for you or if you have anything to add. These are USA prices and the cost may vary depending on where you are in the world.
If you are interested to know what tablet I am currently using, you can find my recent review of the XP-Pen Deco Pro HERE.
Also, please note: there are some affiliate links embedded into this post, such as the Amazon and Huion ones, so I might get a small commission if you purchase from them. This helps me to keep creating visual and written content to share with you, and is an important part of having some diversity in my income stream as I’m not always busy with client work. So if you do purchase through one of my links, or use my discount codes, I want to say thanks and send you a virtual high5!
Eyekoo Draws Stuff 
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