This sounds like a bad idea in my opinion. The first issue you will run into is that your colors will probably look different on each screen. The Cintiq comes with a pretty good factory calibration while you other monitor probably has none at all and uses a different color profile altogether. My advice is to either get the Cintiq and use it for everything drawing and painting related or rather get a Intous pro if you want to use your regular screen. Using the screen tablet but than not utilizing itâs screen capabilities is a waste of money.
In addition I recommend getting a Wacom Flex Arm for the Cintiq if its bigger than 16 inch. This way you can use it as secondary monitor when not drawing and its better for you posture too. The bigger Cintiqs otherwise just take too much space on the desk (I have a 27 inch Cintiq).
Another thing not mentioned here yet and a reason a lot of artists I know are not using screen tablets is the display resolution. Every screen display with less than WQHD resolution (1440p) has very visible pixels, especially on large devices wich is quite irritating and feels weird. Thatâs why I invested extra money to get one with UHD resolution. They get expensive pretty fast if you want them big and with nice resolution. Personally I prefer bigger tablets because Itâs easier to do arm strokes which are more precise (but thatâs a matter of preference) and I need fewer zooming.
And Cintiqâs fan is still pretty loud compared to other brands, I think that should be considered too, if youâre sensitive to that (I simply turn the music louder when ot bothes me).
About the colors, only the cintiq pro versions has better color than my iMac with 93% AdobeRGB. But not the regular Cintiq 16. I see the resolution could be a big problem. And now i recognized that it nees HDMI and not USB-C (i only has this), and a lot more cable and adaper compared to the Cintiq 16/24 Pro (only ac and usb-c cable).
Do i understand you correct that you prefer screenless pen tablets?
I just donât want my hardware to slow me down and hold me back. Today I notice with the wacom intuos pro m that I really have problems. However, not when I map the active aera with the precision mode to a small area on the iMac screen and it is 1:1 what you draw. Then it feels like on paper and i have a nice control. This looks to me like i have the eye to hand coordination already, but the lack is only the scale. If i map it in the right proportion to my monitor, it is 2,67x smaller. If i would buy the wacom intuos pro L, it is 1,9x with the adjusted proportion. With a Cintiq 16 Pro, 1,75x
I now prefer my Cintiq over my Intuos because it offers slightly better precision for me (although almost not noticable after 10 years with a screenless tablet) and it fits better into my studio. It doesnât take much extra space on the desk, thanks to the flex arm (i can easily move it away and still enough space for the keyboard) and it serves as a tertiary monitor when I do other work than drawing or painting.
While the extended AdobRGB gamut sounds cool, I use sRGB, because thatâs the standard of the web and I almost exclusively do works for the web. My second monitor is sRGB too.
The bigger ones are hdmi or display port only because of the bigger resolution I think. The small 16" model is more suited for working on the go e.g. taking it with you to the client or something. Thatâs what I would buy when regularly going to conventions or something (however Iâd probably opt for an all in one device then).
Thank you very much for your comprehensive answer!
I guess Iâll have to think about it some more. I will maybe decide between the following: Wacom Intuos Pro L or a Wacom Cintiq 24 Pro with Ergo Stand (not flex arm).
I used Intuos tablets fo many years and was perfectly happy with them. I used the large ones to have more room for strokes but also because some part of the tablet area can get lost, when mapping it to the screen (most screens are 16:9 nowadays but tablets not). If you donât have a 1:1 mapping everything feels of and you wonât be able to draw a circle without it getting translated to an elipse. Both types of tablets have their pros and cons. And Iâm just as happy with my Cintiq now.
This sounds weird but i donât have to much problem with cirles, doesnât matter if it is 1:1 (wide/length ratio same as monitor) or wrong the mapping. I have problem to paint small details and that it is exaclty on the place and straight. On a Display or on paper it looks like from a ruler, maybe cause my technical drawing experience, but this was over 12 years ago i drawn technical. It just looks like it is too small for me, i feel like i would have taken speed. (Have never taken though, just for illustration). And just a very very small swing with the pen on the tablet during a straight line becomes a huge big hack that i wouldnât see on paper or with. The length scale is just to big, 1cm stroke is 2,7cm on the monitor.
When small strokes feel weird, try disabling the stabilizer in the tool options (called brush smoothing in krita) and set it to none. Could be the case that the small movements get optimized away.
Using a pen tablet allows one to have the screen at eye level, thereby avoiding neck and back problems from bending over. I usually paint for several hours at a time so this is really important for me.
Reading all the comments it makes me realize that we are dealing with two groups of people working with pen tablet or a pen display from two different work disciplines.
Namely those who illustrate and those who work from a more traditional way of painting and drawing. Whereby it should be noted that traditional painting and drawing happens from and with a free hand. Whereby the work is placed on an easel or against the wall or even flat on the floor. Illustrators, on the other hand, are much more likely to work on a worktop or table.
These two ways of working will automatically bring someone to a digital conversion to:
(A) A pen tablet - works like a work surface or work table, your hands rest on the work surface.
(B) A pen display - where you work directly in the visible work.
Depending on how you position the pen display, whether on the wall or on an easel, you have the possibility of working with your arm stretched out and with that you have a distance from the monitor, namely that of an armâs length.
When you do illustrative work, use the pen display lying flat on a work surface, and your hand rests on the monitor, then you will often find yourself with your eyes closer to the monitor.
One thing I noticed about the pen tablets in the comments is that some models lack the right proportion and scaling in the transfer to the monitor.