Wacom Intuos Pro Review

Sketched on Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch

Textured With Wacom Intuos Pro

When I decided to upgrade my pen tablet I had my doubts. Would I notice a difference, worth $350?

I skimmed over the specifications. Double the pen pressure?!

My digital paintings can have even more detail and I'd never have to restock on paints again!

I've had my Wacom Bamboo tablet for nearly five years now. It still works...

This was an investment, unlike casually upgrading my phone every year.

I do a lot of research. This seemed competitive in giving a user an edge on Deviant Art.

Enter Intuos Pro.

Just looking at the pictures, I found my silver bamboo with that nice
white LED strip to be better-looking than the Intuos Pro.

Not that looks matter much anyway, when it comes to securing a job in concept art.

After all I'm moving from an entry-level tablet to the staple Deviant Art standard.

So I order one.

When I first inserted the battery pack into my wireless tablet and turned it on, lo and behold--it had LEDs.

That was a pleasant surprise, which added to the overall aesthetic appeal.

I like lights.

Then I picked up the pen. It felt more comfortable than any brush or watercolour pencil I've ever used.

I've used almost every art tool and this one doesn't actually feel like a popsicle stick. Similar to that of the--Bamboo pencil.

It's hugely ergonomic and feels completely natural.

The Intuos Pro comes in three sizes--you guessed it--small, medium and large. I opted for the small, as it's the same size as my Bamboo that I'm used to.

If you're more of a fine-detail artist or graphic designer, I suggest the small too.

If you tend to draw with larger brush strokes, opt for the medium; and if you have larger hands or need to rest your palm on a bigger surface I suggest you go for the large. But beware, it's more costly.

The tablet is wireless and like any non-bluetooth wireless device, you need to insert a receiver into your USB port.

This is a small adapter that stays pretty nicely hidden, if you're like me and doesn't want anything sticking out of your shiny laptop.

In my beginner's guide to pen tablets, I tell you about the startup software best suited for a user. If you're using Corel or Photoshop or both--and you're upgrading from an Intuos regular or the Bamboo line--you'll notice you have to put far less pressure to get the thicker lines you can get.

On my bamboo I have to press down to the point that it wears down my nib within a few drawing sessions.

Although I can't say the Intuos is free from that issue, I can say the nib does last longer if you're applying less pressure.

Myself, however being used to pushing down on my Bamboo, wore out my Intuos nib within two days of use.

Luckily in the nifty pen holder that ships with it, if you unscrew it, you'll find an array of ten extra nibs.

You can adjust the pen pressure settings in the Tablet preferences menu, to extend the life your nib.

It may however feel a little odd, as the pen pressure is set by default to feel like pen-on-paper.

The Intuos Pro is also outfitted with six express keys and a touch ring for additional shortcuts.

You can also program the tablet to open a command wheel called the Radial Menu, that's divided in 8 sections, each housing a different shortcut command.

You can divide each sector further into submenus, for a total of 64 shortcut options.

I tend to use the express keys more than the menu, because I find entering each submenu to be more cumbersome than just going to the program's menu and selecting the tool/command I want.

The Wacom Intuos pro is a good step-up from a casual pen tablet like the baseline Intuos line and Bamboo tablets.

If you're a digital art enthusiast, career artist or professional graphic designer, you'll notice big changes the Intuos Pro tablets have to offer.