The aspiring Jazza* in our house has asked for a drawing tablet for his birthday.

A bit of research suggests something like the Wacom Intuos would be a good starting point, although this doesn’t have its own screen.

The Huion KAMVAS Pro 12 does have its own screen but still needs to be connected to a computer to work.

A stand-alone one that has the software inside looks like it would be a good bit over budget (up to about £200).

We have a decent PC that would work fine with them, but I guess he’d prefer one that he could use up in his bedroom (or “art studio” if you listen to him) without having to be downstairs at the computer.

Is there anything that works without a PC around that price that is decent?

I’ve only just got to grips with what a Copic marker is so this is a new area of mystery.

*the 21st century YouTube Tony Hart as far as I can see.

vintagewino jr is also an aspiring artist, he just got one of these things at Christmas. It plugs into his laptop and he uses it to draw on a freebie programme called Krita that your son probably knows about. It is a Wacom, the smallest one I think but it seems to work for him and it was within his budget of less than £40. I’d say that was the most cost effective solution, one that works on its own is probably edging towards ipad territory I’d have thought.

Yes it does look that way. Wacom seem to be the brand of choice – they sell them an the Apple website. Thanks.

Two of my kids have the XP-PEN Artist12 pads. They need a computer to work, but are like a touch screen monitor. Having tried the other non-screen ones previously these are much better, and they are producing some impressive art.

That looks just the thing, bang on budget too!

Mrs STR does some fantastic stuff (pet portraits) on her iPad Pro.

I’m not going to show anything on here, as last time I did, the idiots that know nothing accused her of photo manipulation