Main Thread: Art Pen!
Pinned
(Comment From Wacom: We have made this the main/pinned thread for this concern. Please share in the comments your passion for the pen, including how you use the pen and what programs you use it in. )
Original Post:
The Art Pen is INCREDIBLY useful if you actually digitally paint. I use mine all the time. If you want to understand how useful it is look up WEBBYPAINT on Instagram. The rotation feature is implemented in the software and allows you to paint like you would in real life with a flat brush. The rotation feature is WAY more useful than the tilt functionality. I don’t miss it and never use it, even on my Apple Pencil. If Wacom doesn’t figure this out, eventually some competitor will and eat Wacom’s lunch, which would be a pity considering that Wacom had this functionality first. PLEASE BRING BACK THE ART PEN!
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Lost my art pen. seriously thinking about drop wacom products at all. I literally bought wacom because of the barrel rotation. Guess working on ipad it is :(
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Anyone that says tilt is the same as barrel rotation is not familiar with the way a large portion of atelier or traditionally trained artists manipulate their brushes to get a variety of marks. This is exactly the advantage of barrel rotation (mark making manipulation and edge control) and is often overlooked by many artists, inexperienced technocrats, youtubers and engineers. Tilt on the pro pen 3 is much improved, however it is only useful in simulating how an artist would manipulate a charcoal or graphite pencil and not a variety of paint brushes. You have to put your hand and shoulder in some very awkward positions to get the full range that tilt offers. The pro pen 3 should have come with BOTH tilt and barrel rotation! I have been using the art-pen for over 10 years and if Wacom fails to implement this technology in an updated pen I will be looking at alternatives very soon as many other artist here have already stated.
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This pen, at this point, is the only thing that distinguishes Wacom from the competition. The other guys are getting massively better at producing good quality tablets. But guess what, none of them offer a pen with barrel rotation, except for the Apple Pencil Pro which only works with the iPad!
I currently have 2 cintiqs and two Intuos Pro Touch tablets. I've been using Wacom tablets since the Intuos 3 came out, and guess what pen I used with that tablet? That would be the original 6D Art pen, because I could rotate the brush. It's basically why I have stayed with Wacom for 20 years; no other manufacturer offered a pen with barrel rotation--that is, until Apple saw an opportunity when Wacom dropped the ball with this pen.
The software I use it with is Rebelle 7 and I've used it with Corel Painter since my first Intuos 3. I used to use it with Photoshop, but I have gotten rid of everything Adobe because of their subscription licensing.
Now I'm thinking of buying an iPad pro for my next tablet. It will take some getting used to, I'm not fond of procreate, I just haven't used Apple products, but the barrel rotation feature is that important! I really want a Cintiq 27 pro, but with the Art Pen situation which remains unknown because of lack of communication, I'll forget about that for now.
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Glad to see this thread is still going. However, I’m frustrated by the reason why. C’mon Wacom grow a pair and acknowledge the humans that want to still make human art with tools that enhance the experience of working by hand.
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I am beyond baffled why WACOM has yet to release a new version of the Art Pen. You've released multiple updated products (very exciting), though you have yet to release a new pen that has barrel rotation. Why??? For artists, who use the Art Pen to digitally paint, it's imperative to use a pen that has barrel rotation. The tilt on the new Pro Pen 3 is worthless to us because it does not simulate how we work with brushes. It only simulates how artists work with graphite / charcoal / colored pencils.
Itchu said it best in their comment: "Anyone that says tilt is the same as barrel rotation is not familiar with the way a large portion of atelier or traditionally trained artists manipulate their brushes to get a variety of marks. This is exactly the advantage of barrel rotation (mark making manipulation and edge control) and is often overlooked by many artists, inexperienced technocrats, youtubers and engineers. Tilt on the pro pen 3 is much improved, however it is only useful in simulating how an artist would manipulate a charcoal or graphite pencil and not a variety of paint brushes. You have to put your hand and shoulder in some very awkward positions to get the full range that tilt offers. The pro pen 3 should have come with BOTH tilt and barrel rotation!"
Please, for the love of God and all things Holy, release an updated Art Pen.
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"You have to put your hand and shoulder in some very awkward positions to get the full range that tilt offers. The pro pen 3 should have come with BOTH tilt and barrel rotation!"
Please, for the love of God and all things Holy, release an updated Art Pen"
THIS! ^
Absolutely this. C'mon Wacom, this thread has been going for a year! Where is our barrel rotation art pen?
You managed to have both features in the original 6D art pen for the Intuos 3 over 20 years ago. That pen didn't have buttons or an eraser, but it was the only one I used back in the day. If you have to leave out the buttons, that's fine, we just need you to produce a proper pen.
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I'm still holding out hope that Wacom will do something about this and won't just abandon their Art Pen. But I'm going to have to go for iPad in the meanwhile. I've heard that you can connected it with Mac Mini via Sidecar and use the barrel rotation in any drawing app, not just Procreate and mobile versions. I have 1 Art Pen, but I don't want to wait for it to break on me, I have to have something more long term, so instead of scavenging for scraps of Art Pens on eBay (with ever increasing prices), I'm gonna go with iPad. At least I'll know that I can always buy replacements.
Wacom, please, do something already. It's been more than a year of radio silence on this topic. I'll gladly go back if you'll make a new Art Pen, or at least will give an update that there will be a new Art Pen, but I can't keep tying myself to a platform with an unknown future.
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Hey Wacom,
It's now October 2025. There is still a lot of demand for the Art Pen, and you guys are not delivering for us.
Can you please direct more of your resources to the pens? We need that Art Pen, and the Pro Pen 3 is a fragile little bit of nonsense according to most of the reviews. And, it does not have barrel rotation. Can you at least let us know if you've made any progress toward releasing another pen with barrel rotation--and importantly, it also needs to be backwards compatible!
I use the Art Pen in Rebelle, Corel Painter
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I am really fascinated that Wacom is not making a new Art Pen.
There are obviously quite few people like me here who really love the Art Pen.So question is why is Wacom not making a new version?- Not enough users (perhaps we are just a very small enthusiastic group)
- Expensive to make
- Lost Know-How
- ...?
Please Wacom give us a little bit more information
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To Victor Volle's comment. I'm leaning towards 3.
Quite a few people have left Wacom since the creation of the Art Pen, so my suspicion is that the current team just doesn't know how to do it. Their Art Pen was relying on a specific tech made by a one or few manufacturers, and the fact that they can't find a replacement or rethink how it could to work in any other way at the same time as Apple adds barrel rotation to their pen, just feels like Wacom simply doesn't have people who could figure it out. To be fair, it's probably not the easiest thing to figure out, since it's the only feature that chinese tablets still can't replicate.
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Hi everyone,
Your passion about the Art pen is truly inspiring. I'm sorry there hasn't been much reaction on this front lately.
To put things into context, Wacom has been very busy this year. We have essentially renewed the whole product portfolio and released a new product line with the Movink Pad - https://www.wacom.com/en-de/products/portable-pads
This was a huge effort for all teams.But... we are not done yet. You might be surprised to see what is in store for next. Please stay tuned...
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That could be great news. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the surprise is what we all hope it is.
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I sincerely hope what you are implying is true! We NEED the art pen! 🙏🙏🙏
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Thank you for jumping in here, updating us and providing a glimmer of hope for the Art Pen, João! If you need beta testers from the Art Pen faithful or input from the art community, I am sure you will find many willing volunteers here to help you make it the best Art Pen on the market!
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Just purchased a new intuous and absolutely hate the pen that comes with it!! Please continue the art pen. I’m very thankful intuous supports the art pen and hope you will continue to do so as well as bring it back so folks new to a Wacom can have that experience.
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There's nothing like the Art Pen, I'm so hopeful it can make it back! :)
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Please please please continue the Art Pen. I can't live without barrel rotation.
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So, I made this post a year ago and while I’m very encouraged by the feedback it’s gotten from you all, Wacom still seems to be dragging their feet on this. Maybe something will happen soon, I don’t know. What I do know is that my 2018 Cintiq 22HD is now an unsupported device. So I’ve got an anachronistic stylus that I love and now a tablet that’s obsolete, too. I don’t know if if I’ll bother getting a Wacom product next or just go back to working with actual paint, thanks to AI killing the joy of posting digital art. Either way, I thank you all and I hope this pans out.
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I will be glad to buy 10 new generation of Art Pen for my Cintiq Pro 16 if its sourced with better materials for durability, custom shell grips, backward compatibility and you will make banks, keep your recurring customers on good pen and nibs supply that goes on forever not just pumping out more high-end screens, the new Cintiq lineup is great as well as the Movink Pro 14 to replace MobileStudio (just need 16 inch thou). Other than that, we are missing the ART PEN to complete so please concentrate your R&D into the pen and you will get more customers from other brands that went away from you!
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WACOM PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE I NEED THE ART PEN IT'S ESSENTIAL TO MY WORK PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE i am literally like 15% slower without itttttttttttttttttt
i'll do anythingggggggggggggggGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG3 -
Here is an article describing how the Art Pen has impacted me and has left me with some disappointment.
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Hey, Wacom--my art pen is on its last legs! Any good news here? If a new art pen is close on the horizon, please let it be backward compatible, at least to the prior generation of Intuos pro and Cintiq.
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I want to add my voice here as a working comic artist and inker.
The Wacom Art Pen is not just a nice extra for me. The barrel rotation is part of how I actually draw and ink. It matters for line direction, flow, brush behaviour, and for the natural turning movement of the hand while working. That turning motion is not a gimmick. It is part of real pen and brush technique.
I also teach drawing and inking principles to students, and one of the important things I explain is exactly that freedom of rotation in the fingers and hand. If you remove that from the digital tool, you remove part of what makes inking feel natural and efficient in the first place.
Yes, workarounds exist. But tilt is not the same thing, and keyboard-based rotation breaks rhythm. In production work, that matters. It slows you down, interrupts decision-making, and makes the tool feel less intuitive.
For artists who built part of their workflow around this pen, this is not a minor preference. It affects speed, control, teaching, and professional reliability.
From Wacom’s side, I think this is also bigger than one discontinued accessory. This feature helps keep traditional-minded professionals inside the Wacom ecosystem. It is the kind of tool that creates long-term loyalty, because once it becomes part of someone’s real workflow, it influences what hardware they keep buying and recommending.
I really hope Wacom finds a way to support barrel rotation again in a new pen. For some of us, this is not about convenience. It is about maintaining a serious professional workflow.
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Chiming in to say I'm baffled barrel rotation isn't a standard feature at this point. As someone who has tinkered with EMR tech themselves for years, I cannot for the life of me understand how tracking one additional magnetic field would be supply chain constrained. The community's going to make our own solution if you don't give us something, Wacom.
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Hello! The art pen is my most important tool and I feel like i have lost a leg without it. It is the most important thing I own and I keep it safer than my money. Please stop deleting all my posts it is unfair that you do not let consumers voice their opinions.
Also what the hell is up with the new pen. The buttons fall out and you can't replace them!? You have to get a whole new pen?! Why?!
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Wacom posted a cryptic image on Instagram and it looks like we may finally be getting a new Art Pen y'all!!! Fingers crossed. I really hope this is what I think it is! If so, thank you very much Wacom for listening!
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Hey, everyone! I can't believe that there hasn't been a post by an official WACOM representative in this thread yet. The wait is over! The ART PEN 2 has been officially announced:
https://community.wacom.com/en-us/art-pen-2/
And adding to this great news, I can attest from personal experience that the new Art Pen totally lives up to expectations. It not only fully replaces the Art Pen, I personally think that it's even better (I love the third button).
So, just a little heads up to all fellow artists out there who happen to be subscribed to this thread - we finally got our Art Pen back!3 -
Most of all, thank you, Wacom, for hearing all our voices!
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Yeah. I just saw the video on Wacom's instagram. Art Pen 2 is real! It took 2 years, but you did it Wacom! Could've told us sooner, but okay, you wanted to reveal it with proper marketing, I get it. That's amazing news. Congrats to everyone in this treat. The wait of uncertainty is over. Now it's just a regular "wait for the release". I hope it's the same price.
Based on the info from the link, compatibility on release seems pretty limited. I personally have decided against buying 2025 Intuos (I've heard a lot of complaints about the sharp corners), so I hope it will eventually work with slightly older models.
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I was all excited until I see new pen is not compatible with older tablets!! Maybe they will update over time, they say. We will see, I guess.
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