If you are looking for a budget-friendly, entry level 12-inch display drawing tablet, you will definitely notice the XP Pen Artist 12 series.

The Artist 12 series are reasonably priced and well-designed pen displays that favorited by beginner artists all over the world!

This range currently has three models – XPPen Artist 12, Artist 12 (2nd gen), and Artist 12 pro, but they’re not quite the same.

And The difference between XPPen Artist 12, Artist 12 (2nd gen), and Artist 12 Pro can be confusing for new consumers.

Taking a little time to be educated on Artist 12 vs Artist 12 2nd gen, or Artist 12 pro can result in getting more of what you want before buying and make an informed choice.

Below, I will break down the differences between them and outlining the pros and cons of each.

XPPen Artist 12 vs Artist 12 (2nd Gen) vs Artist 12 Pro Comparison

Screen Quality

In terms of screen quality, XPPen Artist 12 (2ns gen) is the best of three tablets.

Resolution-wise, they are the same across the board, with the Artist 12, Artist 12 (2nd Gen), and Artist 12 Pro all boasting Full HD (1920 x 1080) displays, which looks smooth, and there’s no obvious pixelation.

However, The XPPen Artist 12 (2nd Gen) has 127% sRGB/94% Adobe RGB colour coverage, which outstrips the Artist 12 and Artist 12 pro – around 100% sRGB.

A wider color gamut allows for more accurate color reproduction, ensuring that colors are represented faithfully and with greater precision.

With excellent 94% Adobe RGB color accuracy, You can even use Artist 12 (2nd gen) to create professional art work.

Full Lamination

In the case of Artist 12, XPPen has opted for a non-laminated screen, while Artist 12 (2nd Gen) and Artist 12 Pro offers a fully laminated one.

The laminated display feels much nicer imo. It minimizes both the parallax effect and screen glare, making them appear as though you’re sketching on paper.

Due to the non-laminated display of Artist 12, there will be a gap between the line and the pen tip.

Drawing Surface

All 3 models comes with a pre-installed anti-glare protection film, which eradicates the impact of environmental light that can affect your view. This allows you to use them easily in bright conditions.

Meanwhile, the matte finish of the protection film is more similar to the texture of paper. You can enjoy a realistic life-like drawing experience.

Stylus Pen

The stylus pen is perhaps the most important of a drawing tablet.

Luckily, all 3 xppen Artist 12 models come with an EMR stylus, there’s no need for any charging or batteries.

In addition All 3 XPPen tablets with top-notch 8192 levels of pen pressure sensitivity that ensures they offer a natural, accurate and smooth drawing experience.

However, Only Artist 12 (2nd Gen) and Artist 12 Pro tablets have pen tilt recognition supprt, which gives you creative freedom and helps you with things like shading.

Pen tilt is a great feature for illustrators and painters since they do a lot of shading, blending, and other motions where tilt support adds realism.

The P06 stylus of Artist 12 tablet doesn’t support tilt sensitivity, which is a big flaw. But this stylus come with a unique feature that allows users to turn their stylus upside down and erase the art.

In terms of Pen performance or drawing experience, the X3 elite Stylus of Artist 12 (2nd Gen) is the best, because it features XPPen newer x3 smart chip tech.

x3 smart chip tech significantly improves the line stability and initial activation force – As low as 3g. In other words, you don’t have to apply much force when you draw with X3 elite stylus compared to the other two pens.

Connection

XPPen Artist 12 (2nd Gen) Stands out for it supports both the 3-in-1 cable and Single USB-C cable connection. Note that the Single USB-C to USB-C cable is Sold separately.

Ideally you would be able to connect your Artist 12 (2nd Gen) pen display to your laptop with a single USB C cable. This is pretty cool – so no dongles and a less cluttered workspace.

Artist 12 and Artist 12 Pro model only support 3-in-1cable connection. The 3-in-1 cable does get a little messy as there are a lot of cables and ports you need to cater to.

While these aren’t exactly travel tablets, if you are going to be regularly carrying it from place to place, that connection difference is something to consider.

Design

Although they all come with nearly identical 12-inch screen, The Artist 12 (2nd Gen) is smaller due to not having any bezel.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Artist 12 Pen Display (2nd generation) comes in four colours; black, green, blue and pink.

And this display has a nice rubber edge, which enables it to grip nicely so there’s no slippage that sits nicely on most surfaces.

Express Keys

Express keys are incredibly common in XPPen tablets as the programmable buttons are useful for customizing shortcuts such as Undo, Save and Zoom.

All 3 XPPen artrist 12 models offer these buttons, The difference comes in how many buttons they provide.

XPPen Artist 12 Pro model adding a red Touch Ring, while basic Artist 12 has a touch bar, which can allow you to zoom in and out by sliding your finger around the wheel or bar.

Compatibility

All 3 XPPen tablets are compatible with both Windows and MacOS computers. Compared to basic Artist 12 model, Artist 12 Pro adds the compatibility with Chromebook.

The XPPen Artist 12 (2nd Gen) model is also compatible with select Android smartphones and tablets that use Android OS 6.0 or later. You can connect one using a single USB-C Cable.

Conclusion

If you’re a beginner looking for your first drawing tablet with screen, and perhaps aren’t sure which artist 12 model is right for you, then I highly encourage checking out the fantastic Artist 12 (2nd Gen).

Comparing to other 2 artist 12 models, XPPen Artist 12 (2nd Gen) features better screen quality, Easier Connection, and more advanced X3 Elite Stylus.

If you still prefer the red roller wheel design on artist 12 pro, then you can upgrade to newest Artist 13.3 pro V2 (13.3-inch) or Artist 15.6 Pro V2 (15.6-inch).

There you can enjoy the X3 Pro smart chip stylus, single usb-c connection, larger drawing area and impressive screen quality.

Explore More: 10 Best XPPen Drawing Tablets of 2025