TL:DR: If you’re an artist, get a Cintiq today! What are you waiting for?
My style and history as an artist:
I’ve been an artist my whole life and I started making digital work in MacPaint as a kid in the 90s. I make traditional drawings and paintings in addition to working digitally. I have been using an iPad Pro since 2016 to make digital drawings, everything from figure drawings, to a comic that I publish online called Tilted Sun. I’ve loved using Procreate and also Clip Studio Paint on the iPad Pro for the past six years. Ever since I got my first iPad Pro in 2016, I’ve been making more and more digital work.
^ A page from my comic, Tilted Sun, and a drawing of a figure model. Both digital art pieces were drawn on an iPad Pro - the comic in Clip Studio Paint, and the model is drawn in Procreate.
Long story short, this review is written from the point of view of a person who has been primarily using an iPad for making digital drawings.
This is my first Cintiq but not my first Wacom product. I’ve utilized the Intuos 4 and other tablets in the past with, personally, no success.
The Cintiq 24 is different, for me, than the non-screen Wacom products I’ve tried. The Cintiq is an experience of pure joy.
Size:
The Cintiq 24 is the right size for me. I would say it’s very large.
I was considering the Cintiq 32. In recent years I’ve adopted a ‘Go big or go home” mentality because it usually works out for me. In this case, I am very, very glad I got the Cintiq 24 instead of anything larger, because that would have been too large for me.
I’m 5’11 and I’ve been lucky to have very long arms and legs. As soon as I turned 13 years old, I became a bit of a treelike person, very tall and slender. Back when I bought more clothes before Coronavirus, I usually tried to get clothes with extra-long sleeves and extra-long legs. This is important when it comes to the Cintiq because it is easy for me to reach across most of the Cintiq 24, however, I noticed in some reviews that some artists struggled with reach for both the 24 and the 32. So, if you’re a big and tall person, you might have better comfort with reach with this particular device than someone who is say, 5’2. That said, if you’re 5’2 and you are fine with things like painting murals, using your whole arm, etc, I can’t see this as being much of a concern.
Here is a photo of the Cintiq 24 with my sunglasses on it for reference.
If you’re still on the fence and size is a primary concern, what could be done is measuring out a piece of cardboard or a canvas that is about the same size as the 24, and seeing if you generally feel comfortable reaching across it while sitting down. I’d say one of those extra-large drawing pads would be good for this, too.
Also, what can help is getting a stand or a mount for the Cintiq. I personally like it without any stand, but I can see how a lot of other creators would have a better time with a stand or a different angle for the machine.
File Management:
The nicest thing about the Cintiq 24 so far compared to using my iPad Pro is that I don’t have to worry about extra considerations around managing large files.
The iPad is a great machine and well made, but, right now, in 2022, it is not what I consider to be a Real Computer when it comes to file management. (I say this in hushed tones so my iPad does not overhear.)
I fully realized just how bad file management is on the iPad when I went to retrieve some files for a project. The files were a few months old. I was able to locate the files just fine, but after that, all I tried to do was export the files from Clip Studio Paint into Dropbox, and the iPad did little more than become very hot in my hands, and fail to upload the files. It took me a decent 30 minutes of fussing, watching loading bars, getting bored and reading Twitter, watching the loading bar, to figure out how to get a 40 MB file off of the iPad and into Dropbox, airdropped, anything at all.
I have tried what I would say is … a lot … of data storage and file management solutions with the iPad. I’ve got the $2.99 monthly extra iCloud storage, I’ve got the $9.99 monthly Dropbox. I gave it, as far as I can see, a solid effort. When it comes to file management and exporting to Dropbox or saving files, I had to do exactly 0 effort with my Cintiq, as it is effectively a display hitched into my computer. No watching loading bars, no heating, no getting bored and checking Twitter. Just files where I want them, right away.
The file management on the iPad was so annoying for me that it reminded me of having very stylish, good looking shoes, yet the shoes are incredibly uncomfortable, unwalkable. It’s fun to look good in fantastic shoes, and you can wear them for 2 hours a day or so, but it’s not so fun to go down the stairs in them or run up the mountainside with them.
I’m sure that in a few years, this comparison review between the iPad Pro and Cintiq 24 will be a bit more irrelevant, and the iPad will be a Real Computer (sorry iPad!). The iPad will overflow with space instead of feeling like a thumbdrive. In a few years.
Display itself:
A 'little thing' I like about the tablet is the art stays on, like I will get up from my desk to stretch or grab some water, and I come back and the art is still on the tablet and it hasn't gone to sleep. Very tiny thing but something I like a lot.
Speed and Feel:
The Cintiq 24 feels more like drawing on paper than the iPad Pro, which feels like drawing on glass. I really like the soft matte feel of it and the feel of the pen. I haven’t switched out the pen nibs very much, but I can see that as I get more comfortable with the machine, I might feel a bit more experimental and expand my nib use over time.
Conclusion:
Getting the Cintiq 24 was my effort at giving my art skills the most honor that I possibly could. I am lucky that it turned out wildly positive for me. It didn’t feel like driving a sportscar after driving a junker for several years - I never had hardware issues with the iPad. Yet, the Cintiq truly felt like a new, big, simple car after driving a bit of a cramped machine for several years. Much in the way that the iPad “Just works”, the Cintiq “Just works,” too, and it’s a lot bigger, more comfortable, and it’s easier to manage those files.
I watched a few Youtube review videos before deciding on the Cintiq, and if I had any advice to a friend who is also watching Youtube reviews on this specific product, I would say to listen to haters and critics with a big grain of salt. Something that someone else hates and gripes about the Cintiq might be something that you love. Also, I think that some artist reviewers can lean towards being a bit too negative or flaw-focused. Negative reviews can often rise to the top of our consciousness and they are often too-heavily-considered by algorithms. However, take what I say with a grain of salt too, because I trend towards being a very positive person who is willing to power through various issues in order to reach goals.
When I think of the positives that the Wacom Cintiq Pro 24 has brought to my life, my cup overfloweth. I can’t think of a single negative about it. It takes up my whole desk, and I like it that way. The way I see it, the thing I love most in life, art, should take up the most real estate, both metaphorically and physically.
So I would say that if you’ve been thinking about a Cintiq, go for it. I say that with all the warmth and encouragement in my heart.