One by Wacom — The Drawing Tablet That Opens Digital Creative Work to Every African Creative
The One by Wacom is the most affordable professional drawing tablet Wacom makes — and one of the most important products in the range for Africa’s creative community. It connects to any Mac, Windows computer, or Chromebook via USB and gives you a pressure-sensitive pen that replaces your mouse for every creative task that benefits from natural hand input. Sketching, illustration, digital painting, photo retouching, annotation, and design work all become more responsive, more precise, and more expressive when your input device reads the pressure and movement of your hand the way a pen on paper does.
There is no screen built into the device. You draw on the tablet surface while your artwork appears on your monitor — a working method used by professional designers and illustrators worldwide at every level of the industry. It comes in Small (CTL-472, active area 152 × 95mm) and Medium (CTL-672, active area 216 × 135mm). Both connect via USB. Both are fully compatible with professional creative software. And both ship with Wacom’s battery-free LP-190K pen — no charging, no interruptions, no maintenance cost for the pen itself.
Why This Matters Specifically for African Creatives
Across Africa’s creative economy — the design agencies of Lagos and Cape Town, the illustration communities of Nairobi and Accra, the design schools of Johannesburg and Kampala, and the hundreds of thousands of self-taught digital artists building creative practices across the continent — access to professional creative tools has historically been limited by price. The One by Wacom changes the calculation. At the most affordable price point in the Wacom range, it puts genuine Wacom pen precision in reach of students, early-career creatives, and individual professionals for whom the Intuos Pro’s investment is not yet the right decision.
The creative industries across Africa are growing faster than at any point in history — Nollywood and African film, the continent’s advertising and branding sector, a generation of illustrators building international audiences on social media platforms, and design schools producing graduates who compete globally. Every one of these creatives needs professional drawing tools. The One by Wacom is where many of them start.
Chromebook advantage: The One by Wacom works with Chromebooks natively — plug in the USB cable, no driver required. Chromebooks are widely used in African schools and universities. This makes the One by Wacom one of the few professional drawing tools that works immediately in most African educational environments without IT setup.
What 2,048 Pressure Levels Means in Practice
A mouse registers movement and clicks — every input is binary, the same weight regardless of how you press. The One by Wacom’s LP-190K pen registers 2,048 levels of pressure. Press lightly and you produce a thin, delicate line. Press firmly and the stroke thickens and darkens. This single difference transforms illustration and photo retouching from a frustrating technical workaround into a process that responds to your hand the way a real pencil or brush does.
For students learning digital illustration — the kind of work that builds the portfolio that gets the first professional job — this responsiveness is the foundation of developing real digital drawing skill. For photographers who retouch client images in Lightroom or Photoshop, pen pressure transforms selection masking and local adjustments from pixel-clicking into natural brush movement. For designers who annotate, sketch, and rough ideas digitally, the pen removes the mechanical feeling of mouse-based creative input entirely.
Small or Medium — CTL-472 vs CTL-672
The active area is the drawing surface the pen reads. Larger means more room for natural movement and expressive strokes. Smaller means more portability and a lighter, more compact device.
The Medium (CTL-672) at 216 × 135mm is the recommended choice for most creative workflows — illustration, painting, detailed retouching, and general design work all benefit from the larger canvas. Your drawing hand moves freely, wide strokes land naturally, and the mapping to your monitor feels proportionate. The Small (CTL-472) at 152 × 95mm is the right choice when the tablet needs to travel daily in a bag alongside a laptop, when desk space is genuinely constrained, or when it will be used primarily for photo editing and annotation rather than freehand drawing.
| Feature | CTL-472 Small | CTL-672 Medium ★ |
| Active Drawing Area | 152 × 95 mm | 216 × 135 mm |
| Full Device Size | 210 × 146 × 8.7 mm | 277 × 189 × 8.7 mm |
| Weight | 260 g | 447 g |
| Ideal Use | Travel, tight space, photo editing | Illustration, painting, all workflows |
| Pen | LP-190K — battery-free, 2,048 levels | LP-190K — battery-free, 2,048 levels |
| Chromebook | Plug and play — no driver | Plug and play — no driver |
One by Wacom vs Intuos Pro — The Honest Comparison
Both the One by Wacom and the Intuos Pro are pen tablets — neither has a screen. The practical difference is in how much pen precision and physical control each product gives you, and what that difference is worth at your current stage of creative practice.
The One by Wacom gives you 2,048 pressure levels, the LP-190K pen, no ExpressKeys, no Dials or Touch Ring, no tilt recognition, and no Bluetooth. It is a clean, uncomplicated drawing surface connected by a USB cable. The Intuos Pro Medium (PTH-660 or PTK-670) gives you 8,192 pressure levels, the Pro Pen 2 or Pro Pen 3 with tilt recognition, programmable ExpressKeys, mechanical Dials, and Bluetooth wireless connection. It is a professional tool built for creatives who use it as their primary working device all day.
If you are starting out, testing the pen tablet workflow, or working on a budget that makes the Intuos Pro’s price difficult to justify right now — the One by Wacom is the correct decision. It does not compromise the core experience of drawing with a Wacom pen. When your practice reaches a level where 8,192 pressure levels, tilt shading, and ExpressKey shortcuts become genuinely useful to your work, the upgrade to the Intuos Pro is seamless. Nothing you learn on the One by Wacom needs to be unlearned.
One by Wacom vs Wacom One — Two Different Products, One Confusing Name
Clarification: The One by Wacom (CTL-472 / CTL-672) is a flat drawing tablet with no screen. The Wacom One is a pen display with a built-in 12 or 14-inch screen. If you want to draw directly on a screen, you want the Wacom Cintiq 16 or Wacom One display — not the One by Wacom. Both are available from eTOP Africa.
What Software Works With the One by Wacom in Africa
Any professional creative application that supports pen input works with the One by Wacom. On Windows and Mac, this includes the full Adobe Creative Suite — Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and Lightroom — as well as Clip Studio Paint, Autodesk SketchBook, GIMP, Krita, CorelDRAW, and dozens of other professional and free creative applications. The Wacom driver is a free download from wacom.com/support and takes under five minutes to install.
On Chromebook, the One by Wacom requires no driver installation at all — plug in the USB cable and it works immediately with Chrome Canvas, Sketchbook, Adobe Fresco, and Android drawing applications from the Google Play Store. For students and educators at African schools and universities using Chromebooks, this instant compatibility removes every setup barrier.
Who the One by Wacom Is For Across Africa
- Design students at South African, Nigerian, Kenyan, Ghanaian, and Tanzanian universities and art colleges who need professional pen input for coursework and portfolio building without a large upfront cost.
- Self-taught illustrators and digital artists across Africa learning through YouTube tutorials and online courses who want a genuine Wacom pen experience to build real drawing skills on.
- Photographers retouching client work in Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop who want pen precision for selection masking, local adjustments, and skin retouching — work that mouse input handles frustratingly.
- Educators and teachers at African schools running digital art, design, or photography programmes who need a reliable, easy-to-set-up drawing device that works across Windows, Mac, and Chromebook environments.
- Early-career creative professionals who have just started freelancing or taken their first agency role and want a professional drawing input device that is within reach at the beginning of their career.
- African social media content creators — illustrators, graphic designers, visual artists — who build audiences across Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok and want a professional tool to produce the kind of consistent, high-quality visual content that grows a following.
Technical Specifications — One by Wacom
| Specification | Small — CTL-472 | Medium — CTL-672 ★ |
| Active Area | 152 × 95 mm | 216 × 135 mm |
| Device Size | 210 × 146 × 8.7 mm | 277 × 189 × 8.7 mm |
| Weight | 260 g | 447 g |
| Pen | LP-190K — battery-free EMR, 2,048 pressure levels, no tilt | |
| ExpressKeys / Dials | None | |
| Bluetooth | No — USB connection only | |
| OS Compatibility | Windows 7+ / macOS 10.10+ / Chrome OS 87+ (no driver needed) | |
| Colour | Black top / Red base |
Frequently Asked Questions — One by Wacom
Is the One by Wacom the same as the Wacom One?
No — these are two different products. The One by Wacom (CTL-472 / CTL-672) is a screenless drawing tablet — a flat surface you draw on while your artwork appears on your connected monitor. The Wacom One is a pen display with a built-in 12 or 14-inch screen — you draw directly on the screen. If you want to draw on a screen, the Wacom Cintiq 16 or Wacom One display is the product to look at. If you want the most affordable Wacom drawing tablet, the One by Wacom is it.
Does the One by Wacom work with Chromebooks?
Yes — plug the USB cable into your Chromebook and the One by Wacom works immediately, no driver required. This makes it one of the most accessible professional drawing tools for African schools, universities, and professionals who use Chromebooks as their primary device.
Does it support tilt recognition?
No. The LP-190K pen does not support tilt recognition. For tilt sensitivity — which enables brush angle and shading effects that mimic tilting a pencil or brush — you need the Intuos Pro range. For most creative workflows including illustration, photo retouching, and design, the absence of tilt is not a limitation that affects the quality of the work.
Which size should I choose?
The Medium (CTL-672) is the better choice for most creative work — more active area means more room for natural drawing movement. The Small (CTL-472) is the right choice for daily travel, very limited desk space, or primarily photo editing and annotation use where large strokes are not the main working action.
What software does it work with in Africa?
Any application that supports pen input — including the full Adobe Creative Suite, Clip Studio Paint, Autodesk SketchBook, GIMP, Krita, CorelDRAW, and many others. On Chromebook, it works with Android drawing apps from the Play Store, Chrome Canvas, and Adobe Fresco without driver installation. The Wacom driver for Windows and Mac is a free download from wacom.com/support.
Can I upgrade to the Intuos Pro later?
Yes — both are pen tablets with the same fundamental working method. The step up to the Intuos Pro Medium (PTH-660 or PTK-670) adds professional-grade pen precision, programmable ExpressKeys, Dials, Bluetooth, and tilt recognition. Nothing you learn on the One by Wacom needs to be relearned.
Where can I buy the One by Wacom in Africa?
eTOP Africa supplies the One by Wacom (CTL-472 and CTL-672) across South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, and the wider African market. Contact us for current pricing and availability — note that global stock of this model has been tightening, so we recommend confirming availability before you need it urgently