best art projector

Best Art Projector in 2022 – All You Need to Know to Buy!

In the digital world of today, everything is being influenced by the advent of technology, and the same goes for the world of art. From digital painting to 3D sculptures and animations, there has been significant growth in digital art lately.

Art projectors are useful tools that help artists create unique and diverse work. As a digital artist, you need the best art projector to take your work to the next level. Lucky for you, we are here with some pretty great choices.

Top Pick

ViewSonic 1080p

  • Hardware Interface: VGA, USB, HDMI
  • Lumens: 3500 Lumens
  • Wattage: 300 W
  • Resolution: 1080p

Best Art Projector for 2022 Review: Key Features, Pros, and Cons

The million-dollar question is: How to choose the best digital art projector when there are so many products available in the market? This list of the best art projectors is the answer. Our in-depth reviews below will help you make the right choice.

IMAGENAME & DetailsDETAILS
ViewSonic 1080p Art Projector
  • Size: 12.2 x 4.4 x 8.7 inches
  • Display Size Range: Up to 300 inches
  • Brightness: 3500 Lumens
  • Wattage: 350 W
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BenQ HT3550 4K Art Projector
  • Size: 14.96 x 5 x 10.35 inches
  • Display Size Range: 40 to 200 inches
  • Brightness: 2000 ANSI Lumens
  • Wattage: 350 W
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Artograph EZ Tracer
  • Size: 4.5″ W x 13.25″ D x 7.5″ H
  • Display Size Range: Up to 20 inches
  • Brightness: 1600 Lumens
  • Wattage: 23 W
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ViewSonic M1 Portable Projector
  • Size: 5.7″x1.6″x5.0″
  • Display Size Range: 20 to 100 inches
  • Brightness: 250 LED Lumens
  • Wattage: 55 W
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Optoma HD39HDR Projector
  • Size: 12.4 x 9.5 x 4.5 inches
  • Display Size Range: Up to 120 inches
  • Brightness: 4000 Lumens
  • Wattage: 125 W
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BenQ MH535FHD 1080P Projector
  • Size: 13.09 x 3.9 x 9.5 inches
  • Display Size Range: Up to 100 inches
  • Brightness: 3600 Lumens
  • Wattage: –
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Apollo Overhead Projector
  • Size: 23.23 x 19.45 x 15.98 inches
  • Display Size Range: –
  • Brightness: 2000 Lumens
  • Wattage: 360 W
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1. ViewSonic 1080p Art Projector

Highlighted features

  • Hardware Interface: VGA, USB, HDMI
  • Lumens: 3500 Lumens
  • Wattage: 300 W
  • Resolution: 1080p

We know that it is not easy to find the perfect projector to help you enhance your creativity. After ample research, we have selected the ViewSonic 1080p Art Projector as our overall best choice.

It is a high-resolution projector with a maximum brightness of 3500 Lumens. This projector will create a sharp, bright image for you to trace. You don’t have to worry about fuzzy lines or blurriness when you are working with this art projector.

Even if the room isn’t pitch black, this projector will work perfectly. Since the projector has 1080p HD resolution, you can easily trace fine, precise, and detailed designs. This digital art projector has awesome color accuracy and has a long lamp life of 15,000 hours.

Pros

  • The projector gives you high-performance at an affordable rate.
  • Since the projector has a wide color range, it is ideal for artists.
  • The reduced input latency of this projector ensures that the image quality stays constant.
  • It has an excellent maximum screen size which makes it ideal for large-scale art projects.
  • You get a three-year warranty for limited parts as well as one-year lamp coverage.

Cons

  • The On Button on the remote is red while the OFF button is green which confuses the users.
  • You cannot make adjustments to the 3D depth.

2. BenQ HT3550 4K Art Projector

Highlighted features

  • Resolution: 4K UHD Resolution
  • Brightness: 2000 Lumens
  • HD-pro tone mapping
  • Supports 3D projection

Projectors are generally made for giving presentations, watching movies, etc. When you use these projectors for sketching and large-scale paintings, the results are not great. This is because when you are drawing, you have to be really close to the canvas (the projection surface) and all you see are large pixels.

This makes it very difficult to trace the minute details. The best way of solving this issue is to buy the BenQ HT3550 4K art projector. If you have a compact and small art studio, the short-throw lens on this projector will be perfect for your needs. It can project 100-inch large footage from only 8.2 ft. away.

You get multiple connectivity options with this projector. Moreover, the DCI-p3 color support in this projector provides colorful images with excellent contrast. Even though the price is a bit high, trust us, this projector is worth every penny you spend on it.

Pros

  • The 8.3 million individual pixels on this true 4K projector give crisply defined details and incredible clarity.
  • The projector incorporates cinematic color technology and provides a large visible spectrum.
  • The HDR-Pro tone mapping is designed to improve the contrast and provide you with detailed images.
  • There is a specialized 10-element lens array that allows the right amount of light to penetrate and produce perfect sharpness, quality, and clarity.

Cons

  • The fan inside the projector is slightly noisy.
  • For best performance, space should be pitch dark, otherwise, the picture will be slightly dim.

3. Artograph EZ Tracer

Highlighted features

  • Lightweight & Portable
  • 1600 LUX LED Light Bulb
  • 1-year limited warranty
  • Lens: 163mm optical glass

When it comes to opaque projectors, Artograph is a well-known brand, with products that have stood the test of time. The reason why we like the Artograph EZ tracer is that it is very easy to use and has a quick setup.

Since the projector is compact and lightweight, you will not have to worry about taking it with you on your travels – something that we highly appreciated since as artists we had to move around a lot.

This projector enlarges the image almost 10 times its size and is perfect for creating artwork that is around 40 by 40 inches in size. It works great with small to medium-sized canvases.

Pros

  • This little projector is everything you need to blow up a medium-scale painting.
  • It works with a 100-watt light bulb with a brightness of almost 1600 Lumens.
  • Even though the lens is small, it is highly sharp and undistorted and provides super-high image quality.
  • It has a simple, quiet, noiseless operation.
  • With this projector, you get a warranty of 1-year.

Cons

  • The projector doesn’t come with a lightbulb and you have to buy it separately.

4. ViewSonic M1 Portable Projector

Highlighted features

  • Hardware Interface: USB, HDMI
  • Wattage: 55 W
  • Resolution: 854x480p
  • Built-in Battery

Want a projector that is perfect for the studio as well as outdoor use? The award-winning, ultra-portable, compact ViewSonic M1 projector is our recommendation. It has a built-in battery with an impressive battery life of over 2.5 hours.

Apart from the noteworthy battery life, the projector has a good maximum projection size of 100 inches and a brightness value of 250 lumens. This means even if you are using the projector in a well-lit room, you will not face any issues.

The projector has flexible connectivity options and works with most media players, Macs, PCs, mobile devices, etc.

Pros

  • The long battery life of this projector makes it great for long painting sessions.
  • This projector is remote-controlled.
  • The projector has an 854x480p resolution.
  • The short-throw lens can easily project up to 100 inches from a short distance of 8 ft.
  • You get a 3-year limited parts warranty as well as labor coverage.

Cons

  • This projector doesn’t have any art-centric software upgrades.

5. Optoma HD39HDR Projector

Highlighted features

  • Hardware Interface: HDMI, Lighting
  • Mounting Type: Ceiling Mount
  • Brightness: 4000 Lumens
  • 4K HDR Input

The projector that we have used time and again, and have loved using every single time, is the Optoma HD39HDR Projector. With amazing features, this projector is worth every penny that you spend on it.

If you are searching for an art projector that will work for the most demanding art tasks, this is the one. This projector is an amalgamation of excellent accuracy, superb image quality, incredible depth & sharpness, as well as unsurpassed edge-to-edge precision.

The 50,00:1 contrast ratio projects a highly detailed picture on the wall which allows you to draw minute details accurately. The 4000 lumens brightness ensures that you can work even in a brightly lit room.

Pros

  • Even though this Optoma projector doesn’t have the resolution of our premium pick, BenQ HT3550, its projection quality is definitely up to the mark.
  • The projector is HDR compatible and comes with HDR10 technology.
  • It has a lighting-fast response time of 8.4ms and a quick refresh rate of 120Hz.
  • The projector has various connectivity options.
  • This lamp has a long life of 15,000 hours which means that the projector will last for quite a long time.

Cons

  • It doesn’t have a 3D sync port.

6. BenQ MH535FHD 1080P Projector

Highlighted features

  • Brightness: 3600 Lumen
  • High Contrast Ratio
  • 2x Zoom
  • Universal Ceiling Mount

BenQ has made its name in the industry and the BenQ MH535FHD projector does justice to the market value of the company. With a sleek, elegant design, the projector has a high HD resolution of 1080p.

With a high brightness value of 3600 Lumens, this projector is worth the investment as you can use it easily in a bright room without struggling to clearly see the image. The high-contrast ratio ensures that images stand out clearly.

The projector is very simple & straightforward to set up. You can easily adjust the distance of the projector from the wall. It has an excellent lamp life, which ensures that you can use this projector for a long time to come.

Pros

  • The projector gives you a highly immersive experience with its 1080p 3D resolution.
  • With a high brightness range, it is the ideal art projector for outdoor spaces.
  • The 1.2x zoom allows you to correct the screen position very easily.
  • It has a very quiet operation and has flexible connectivity options.

Cons

  • The mounting holes on this projector are slightly off-center.

7. Apollo Overhead Projector

Highlighted features

  • 2000 Lumens output
  • 2-year warranty
  • 2 carry grip handles
  • Closed overhead

The last but not the least art projector on our list is the Apollo overhead projector. Even though it is not as compact as other art projectors we have reviewed above, it definitely has some good features.

This overhead projector gives sharp, accurate images and allows you to transfer your designs easily with the help of printable transparency film. This makes the overhead projector a lot easier to use than a slide projector.

With a built-in cooling system, you can use this projector for as long as you need without worrying about overheating issues. With a 2-year warranty, you can rest assured that you will be using this projector for a long time to come.

Pros

  • The projector has a closed head that keeps dirt and dust away from the sharp, double Fresnel lens.
  • It has a high brightness value of 2000 lumens.
  • You get a lamp changer along with a Kensington Security Slot that will prevent theft.
  • There is a thermal shutoff switch to ensure that your projector remains protected.
  • It is compatible with transparent film.

Cons

  • The projector is slightly bulky, so you can’t move it around easily, even though it comes with 2 carry grip handles.
best projector for art

Buying Guide

There are several art projectors available in the market. The million-dollar question is: What makes one art projector better than the other? To know this, you have to look at features such as the type of projector, level of brightness, size of your studio, etc.

Let’s take a look at some of the factors you need to keep an eye out for while buying art projectors.

Type of Projector

There are various types of projectors such as LED, opaque, digital, etc. Digital projectors are the most popular as they are versatile and easy to use. Opaque and LED projectors are purpose-specific.

Artograph EZ Tracer is a great opaque projector while ViewSonic 1080p Art Projector is our recommendation for a good digital art projector. Moreover, there are portable as well as overhead projectors.

 As artists, the most important thing is flexibility. Therefore, we suggest that you use portable projectors such as the ViewSonic M1 Portable Projector. Overhead projectors, like Apollo Overhead Projector, are great when it comes to moving visuals and animations.

Level of Brightness

The level of brightness of your projector depends on where you are going to use it. Are you going to use it outdoors or indoors? If you are working outside, you will need high levels of brightness such as that offered by Optoma HD39HDR Projector.

Resolution

Some people believe that resolution only matters when it comes to home theater projectors and not art projectors. However, they can’t be more wrong. The resolution makes a difference when it comes to projecting artwork.

The better the resolution, the easier it will be for you to trace the projected images. If you get a low-resolution projector, you will get big pixels which will make it hard for you to trace the artwork.

On the other hand, a projector with high resolution will have more pixels that will result in a sharp, clear image. If you are buying an art projector for tracing and drawing purposes, you should go for a projector with at least 1080p resolution.

BenQ HT3550 4K Art Projector is one of the best projectors when it comes to 4K UHD resolution.

Throw Size and Projection Screen Size

Another important factor that you need to consider is the size of the image you want to project. Moreover, you have to keep an eye on how far your projector will be from the wall. All the projectors that we have reviewed above have excellent projection screen size as well as throw size.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the purpose of art projectors?

Art projectors are used by various artists to enlarge a photo, image, or sketch onto a canvas or a wall to paint a mural. It makes it very easy to work on large-scale projects and you don’t have to spend a lot of time trying to get the proportions right.

Q: What kind of art projectors are available in the market?

There are four main kinds of art projectors available in the market. You can choose the type which suits your needs.

  • Digital Art Projectors
  • Opaque Projectors
  • Slide Projectors
  • Overhead Projectors

Conclusion

Buying the best art projector can seem like a confusing and daunting task in the beginning. However, once you narrow down your needs and know what factors to look for in a high-quality art projector, you are halfway there.

In this article, we have reviewed the top 7 best projector for art. The in-depth reviews and the compact yet comprehensive buying guide will make the final choice a lot easier for you.

Happy Tracing, Folks!