Artist Review: XPPen Magic Note Pad Review unit provided by XPPen The XPPen Magic Note Pad is the new standalone Android tablet with pen support released in March 2025. This tablet has 10.95-inch LCD with matte glass surface and 90Hz refresh rate. Price at the time of review is USD 439.99. During the launch promotion until 4 April 2025, there will be a 10% discount to bring the price down to USD 395.99. You can think of this as a variation to the XPPen Magic Drawing Pad (USD 499) released in Jan 2024. The name of the product suggests that this tablet is made for note taking, but it can also ..read more

Book Review: Figured Out by Rembert Montald Rembert Montald (X | Instagram) is a storyboard, concept artist, instructor and prolific sketcher. Figured Out is a 224-page hardcover book packed with character sketches and some scenes. The book size is between A5 and A4, so maybe B5 size. Paper is matte, quite thick. The sketches are printed and reproduced really well. If you love sketches, you should definitely check out this sketchbook. The sketches are really detailed and each one must have taken so much time to create. This guy is so good with anatomy sketches. And his use of perspective is ..read more

Artist Review: Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 OLED PaperMatte (2025) Review unit on loan from Huawei Singapore Huawei has just released the new MatePad Pro 13.2 in late 2024 which comes with an OLED PaperMatte display. Please do not confuse this with the 2023 model with the Kirin 9000S processor, 88W wired charging and glossy display. This tablet comes with the Kirin T92, 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. This is the best of all the Huawei MatePad tablets I have tested over the years, but there's one issue that affects pen performance. Here in Singapore, price on Shopee SG for the bundle is SGD 1498 (~US ..read more

Book Review: Daytoner: Enslaving Humanity in Style by Daniel Hahn Daytoner: Enslaving Humanity in Style is a sci-fi concept art book by Daniel Hahn (Instagram) and published by Design Studio Press. The book's a large format 212-page hardcover filled with concepts for humanoids and robots from the future. The paper used is thick, low gloss and reproduces the artworks wonderfully. The logo on the cover is actually the design for letters DTNR, aka Daytoner, the alias the Daniel Hahn uses to create concept art for the gaming and move industries. From what I've found online, Hahn is/was the Crea ..read more

Review: Wacom One Standard Pen (with two buttons) This is the Wacom One Standard Pen that uses Wacom EMR and comes with two side buttons. This pen supports tilt, 4,098 levels of pressure sensitivity and palm rejection. It's not powered by battery so no charging is required. Do not confuse this with the Wacom One Pen that has only one side button. The Standard pen features an almost cylindrical body while the non-Standard pen has a thicker grip near the pen tip. Price of this pen at the time of review is USD 29 so it's not too expensive, thankfully. The pen comes with ten replacement pen ti ..read more

Review: Moko / TiMOVO Remarkable 2 Pen alternative (Wacom EMR) In my search for Wacom EMR pens with two side buttons, I came across the Moko stylus that's designed as an alternative to the ReMarkable Marker Plus pen (USD 129). This Moko stylus is a white label product because I've seen the same design sold under other brands, e.g. TiMOVO on AliExpress. I had purchased the pen from Shopee SG for SGD 35 (USD 26), so this pen is not too expensive. Note that I have not used ReMarkable 2 or ReMarkable Paper Pro before so I can't say whether this pen design works with those two tablets. E.g. Wheth ..read more

Best S Pen alternatives: Comparison of Wacom EMR stylus In this review we will look at the different pens that use Wacom EMR and help you decide which to get. I've personally tested all the pens featured in this comparison review. Few things to note before we start: Pen performance can vary depending on the pen tip used, or how pen tip is installed. For actual pen performance, check out my full reviews. All Wacom EMR pens support 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt sensitivity and palm rejection. Pens are not powered by battery so no charging is required. Pen side button, if available ..read more

Book Review: The Art of Being an Artist: 150 days Inside a Painter's Art Studio Bianca Berands is a fine art painter based in The Netherlands. She's known for her loose and expressive painting style, usage of collage and experimentation, and has her work exhibited at several galleries. The Art of Being an Artist: 150 days Inside a Painter's Art Studio is a book that documents her creative process as she embarks on a new series called "Beach Life". This book was originally published a few years ago in Dutch and has recently been translated to English. The book's a self published large format ..read more

February 2024 Roundup Hello readers, here are all the reviews and videos from February. Books The Art of The Legend of Vox Machina 21 artbook by Zeen Chin Maze of Whispers by Mari Zand Art product reviews Optimist Mixable Color (shellac inks) from Federal Color Canson Graduate Watercolour Paper Tech reviews Pilot Dr Grip digital pen with Wacom EMR Samsung S25 Ultra for drawing Parblo Coast 16 Pro (Gen 2) pen display Harry Potter-Themed iPad Accessories from eiP How to backup Procreate and your artworks OLED vs LCD pen displays for digital artists Youtube videos almost all my sketchboo ..read more

Drawing Attention Dec 2024 You can read the e-zine here. Or download the PDF here. Teoh Yi Chie Tue, 25 Feb 2025 - 12:24 Tags urban sketchers Add new comment ..read more