One of the most frequently asked questions to me is what graphic tablet do I draw on when I work in digital. How to choose the right tablet? Which one would I recommend? Finally, we got our hands on this topic. I've been drawing on company tablets my whole life Wacom... I had very different from Wacom Intuos Pro(which needs to be connected to the computer) before Wacom Cintiq Companion(which itself is both a computer and a tablet). I like. Formerly tablets Wacom there was no competition. But now it still appeared Apple iPad Pro, who seems to be able to easily compete with the good old Wacom... Unfortunately, I know very little about this tool. I don't have it. But on it a wonderful Anya Kuvarzina. She prepared for us detailed review both tablets and the arguments of her preference IPad Pro.
"Via Apple iPad Pro I manage to create finished, print-ready, professional illustrations everywhere: on the plane, on the beach, in bed, and in cozy cafes around the world. All this happiness became available to me after initial investment v Ipad pro, pencil Pencil and several free apps for drawing. Thanks to these tools, I no longer feel isolated from society as a freelancer, spending whole days at a table at home in splendid isolation. I can choose where I want to work and I don’t have to constantly carry large bags of paints, paper and pencils with me.
How it all began
I realized that I needed to invest in a digital painting tool after finishing my first children's book. "Make a Face" with the American publishing house Pow! Kids. The fact is that all of my illustrations for this book have been done traditional materials(with colored pencils and markers) on paper. And while I love working with these materials, I found it difficult to deal with the stress of commercial work. I was afraid to make mistakes that would be difficult to convert into limited time... I also had to spend a lot of time scanning all the drawings, removing the background and cleaning up the scans in Photoshop - which is a very monotonous job. I decided to find more quick way creating illustrations that I would feel more comfortable with.
How to choose an electronic tablet? iPad or Wacom?
So, I decided to get myself a tablet. How do you decide which one?
Illustrators generally fall into two camps: supporters Wacom and iPad Pro
... Both tablets have their pros and cons, and a few main differences:
Buying iPad Pro, you can draw and see the picture right on the tablet screen. A similar effect is possible only on Wacom Cintiq which is more expensive than iPad Pro.
Portability
If you buy Wacom Intuos or Cintiq, you can only use it by connecting it to a computer or laptop, so portability and ease of movement are out of the question. To have a truly stand-alone tablet from a PC, you will need to purchase Wacom Mobile Studio Pro, which will also come out to you much more expensive than iPad Pro.
Buying Wacom, you are limited to the applications you use on your computer, usually Photoshop and Illustrator. On the iPad Pro you can choose from a variety of special drawing apps. Now there are many applications suitable for animation, which is also very useful for illustrators.
Multifunctionality
You don't have to use iPad Pro for drawing only. It can be useful to you in other life situations, for example, to check email, post a picture on social networks, edit a movie, etc. You cannot do this through Wacom.
Let's compare in detail the differences between the two types of tablets
Ease of drawing with a stylus
Wacom tablets are renowned for providing a very believable and accurate drawing feel. All the same, this company has been specializing in tools for artists for many years. However, how justified is this and is the surface iPad Pro very different from the surface Wacom? According to my feelings - not much. Having initially tried iPad Pro, you will notice that its surface is more slippery. But! You can get a very cheap matte screen sticker (I use this one) that will make it a bit rougher, like paper. It should also be noted that Apple is very rapidly developing technology. iPad Pro improving the properties of the pencil. Therefore, buying a new iPad Pro you get a tool no less professional than Wacom... That's why he, in fact, iPad “PRO”.
Software
Second argument of supporters Wacom, this is usually what Wacom works through professional programs type of Photoshop, which provide file sizes and resolutions (over 300 dpi) suitable for professional work... Indeed, at the very beginning of the release iPad Pro, there were few applications on the market that provided good resolution... But on this moment the situation is not at all the same. Firstly, popular application Procreate allows you to choose any resolution and materials for drawing. Second, the creative software giant itself Adobe released two professional applications for drawing on iPad, it Adobe photoshop Sketch and Adobe illustrator Draw... They integrate perfectly with computer Photoshop and Illustrator through the service Creative Cloud... In them you can draw in vectors and in raster graphics.
Note! Often people say that they lack a full-fledged Photoshop for iPad, How on Wacom or on a PC. For this there is special application Astropad, which displays all your screen content on iPad, thereby turning it into Wacom Cintiq... You can choose between free and paid version service (free is enough for me). Drawing through Astopad slightly slower than painting on Cintiq, but cheaper.
Final considerations
Choosing between Wacom and Apple iPad Pro, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I want to paint in full Photoshop, with all its functions? If the answer is yes, then it is more suitable for you. Wacom... You will be able to use iPad Pro c Astropad, but it will be slower and less enjoyable than Wacom Cintiq.
- How important is it for me to be able to work anywhere? If it is very important, feel free to choose iPad Pro... If you work happily from your home, Wacom into your hands.
- Do I like to experiment with different new mobile applications? If the answer is yes, then you will have a lot of fun trying various applications for iPad. If new technologies arouse fear rather than interest in you, then it may be easier for you to master Wacom, which simply displays the familiar Photoshop.
In any case, go to the nearest hardware store and try it live there. iPad Pro. Listen to your own feelings.
My Favorite Drawing Apps on iPadPro
Here I would like to list my favorite Adobe illustration apps for iPad Pro. Most of these apps are free, but if you have a subscription to Adobe creative Cloud, then you can use additional useful functions which really make life a lot easier for an illustrator. For example, you can easily send an entire image from an iPad with all its layers to Photoshop or Illustrator on your PC. You can also create libraries with color palettes and shapes, and use them in all your programs. For me personally, these functions turned out to be very important.
A separate mention here requires Kyle brush Are the coolest electronic brushes created by American illustrator Kyle Webster. Until recently, all of Kyle's brushes could be purchased through his website, but now some of his brushes are integrated into the program for free. Adobe sketch.
- Adobe Capture- to search for colors and scan forms. This is a monster, not a program. With its help, you can do such unthinkable things as digitize your drawing into vectors by simply photographing it. Or create color palette 5 colors by aiming the screen at an object or drawing. Sometimes I just walk around beautiful city or at an exhibition, and if I see an interesting combination of colors somewhere, then I save it with with Adobe Capture. This is very useful for digital illustration, where you often don’t know what colors to use. With this app, you can make impressive patterns and recognize fonts, create your own brushes, and more. This is just an app from the future!
Bonus - animation app Flipaclip. Recently I started doing hyphae and I wondered if it was possible to find animation apps on an iped. There were not very many of them (yet), but most of all I liked Flipaclip... There you can draw a simple but cool animation in a few minutes.
I must say that I am by no means encouraging everyone to switch to electronic tablets, because traditional materials have unique warm and human qualities, especially suitable for children's illustrations.
However, if you feel that you need to make the process of creating an illustration a little easier, or you are tired of working at home all the time, then be sure to try iPad Pro ... At the moment, iPad apps and the tablet itself are rapidly evolving, so this is a great time to join the ranks of mobile illustrators. ”
More more work Ani, as well as short videos the drawing process you will find on her Instagram page, that is
What are you drawing on? You like? What can you recommend for beginners? Or maybe you have more questions to Anya or to me on the tablets - then you are welcome in the comments. We will definitely answer everyone.
It was released almost two years ago, and since then it has been improving by leaps and bounds. The stylus itself has not undergone any changes, but the Cupertinians have significantly expanded the scope of its use throughout iOS, and the developers have created a number of wonderful applications for working with the "apple pencil". In particular, there are many drawing apps that turn iPad Pro into a sketchbook for true artists.
In contact with
Pixelmator
Linea
Linea offers a more straightforward but equally powerful approach than Pixelmator. The developers position the program as lightweight and easy to use, not overloading the artist with hundreds of possibilities.
Linea was released this year and is regularly updated. For example, the application received support Apple Pencil and presentation mode, and more recently the developers made it compatible.
Linea offers a wide palette of colors and makes it easy to manage layers and templates. Thanks to iCloud Sync, you can work on a project on all of your Apple devices... What sets Linea most apart from other drawing apps is its very simple and user-friendly interface allowing even technically inexperienced users to take full advantage of the program's capabilities.
From Linea's description:
“Modern drawing apps are powerful, but they can overwhelm you with choices. Constantly changing brushes, changing colors and layers takes great amount time and fraught with roughness and heterogeneity. Linea offers a completely different approach and provides perfect balance between functionality and control for maximum performance... The focus is on what should be - your ideas, not the tools. ”
Procreate
Procreate is one of the most feature rich drawing apps with with Apple Pencil and iPad Pro. If you're an illustrator and want to get the most out of your tablet, Procreate is essential. Apple Design Award Winner & Listed best apps v App Store.
Procreate boasts the fastest 64-bit drawing engine and is optimized for multi-core iPad. Thanks to this, great precision can be achieved even in small parts. Procreate provides 64-bit color, 250 levels of "apply" and "undo", as well as permanent self-save of the project. The application provides 128 brushes, each with 35 settings. You can also create your own brushes and create a personal set from them.
This year, the developers promise to release the largest update for the application, thanks to which it will work four times faster.
Autodesk SketchBook
Another popular iOS application for drawing is SketchBook from Autodesk - the developer of a number of famous applications for iOS and Mac. The program offers over 170 brushes and is intended "for those who must sketch on a daily basis."
SketchBook supports Photoshop documents and also allows you to work with layers and customize the interface to make painting as easy as possible.
From the app description:
“SketchBook gives you access to functional art supplies without cluttering your workspace. SketchBook provides full screen mode called Rapid UI, which allows you to hide all interface elements in order to free up as much workspace as possible on the iPad or iPhone. In Rapid UI mode, you can remove brushes, layers, and color editors by swiping to the edge of the screen with your finger. Select from the menu the right tool and then lift your thumb and the interface will disappear. "
SketchBook can be downloaded from the App Store completely free of charge (also available full version for a fee).
Sketch Club
Sketch Club brings a unique social element to drawing. The app offers everything standard functions(brushes, blur, eraser, fill, pen, pixelation, text, etc.), as well as support for 54 layers and iCloud Drive... What makes Sketch Club truly unique, however, is the social aspect. Every day, the app offers artists a new challenge, and it also lets you use a library of shared brushes.
- Every day a new task and every week a competition!
- Extensive library of common brushes, patterns and textures.
- Live broadcasts and chats as you paint.
- Learn with tutorials, videos and workshops.
- Subscribe to your favorite artists and make your own fans to share your creativity.
- Public board for writing assignments when working collectively on a project.
- Annual awarding of the best art projects.
Astropad
Do you love to draw and use a graphics tablet all the time? Don't you want to turn your favorite iPad into it? Astropad allows you to draw in any graphics editor installed on your Mac, connected via Wi-Fi or USB.
Astropad was developed by two former Apple engineers, Matt Ronge and Giovanni Donnelly. The application works great with all the most popular models stylus and allows you to draw in all graphics editors on the Mac.
To run Astropad you need two apps, one for iPad with installed iOS 8, the second - for Mac with Mavericks or Yosemite.
Of course, I could not pass by such an application and immediately tried it out. When you install the program on Mac and iPad, you have a connection between two devices, and you immediately see a selected area of the Mac screen on the iPad.
In Astropad, you simply control the cursor from your iPad. Therefore, it is enough to launch Photoshop or Pixelmator and start painting or editing the photo. I'm not very much an artist, but anyway, I can assure you that the application works just fine, without freezes and misunderstandings.
To speed up your work, you can quickly change tools with the mouse and immediately continue drawing on the iPad. And to change the drawing area, you need to select the "move & zoom" item in the lower left corner. If you find the Astropad toolbar obscuring part of the screen bothers you, simply tap on the circle that resides on the iPad screen.
Since I do not have a stylus, I could not try this tool in the program. But you have such an opportunity, you just need to download two applications. You can use Astropad for free for 7 days, then, if you like the app, buy it for $ 50 ($ 20 for students).
One of the most frequently asked questions to me is what graphic tablet do I draw on when I work in digital. How to choose the right tablet? Which one would I recommend? Finally, we got our hands on this topic. I've been drawing on company tablets my whole life Wacom... I had very different from Wacom Intuos Pro(which needs to be connected to the computer) before Wacom Cintiq Companion(which itself is both a computer and a tablet). I like. Formerly tablets Wacom there was no competition. But now it still appeared Apple iPad Pro, who seems to be able to easily compete with the good old Wacom... Unfortunately, I know very little about this tool. I don't have it. But a wonderful one draws on it.She prepared for us a detailed overview of both tablets and the arguments of her preference IPad Pro.
"Via Apple iPad Pro I manage to create finished, print-ready, professional illustrations everywhere: on the plane, on the beach, in bed, and in cozy cafes around the world. All this happiness became available to me after the initial investment in Ipad pro, pencil Pencil and several free drawing apps. Thanks to these tools, I no longer feel isolated from society as a freelancer, spending whole days at a table at home in splendid isolation. I can choose where I want to work and I don’t have to constantly carry large bags of paints, paper and pencils with me.
How it all began
I realized that I needed to invest in a digital painting tool after finishing my first children's book. "Make a Face" with the American publishing house Pow! Kids. The point is that all my illustrations for this book were done using traditional materials (crayons and markers) on paper. And while I love working with these materials, I found it difficult to deal with the stress of commercial work. I was afraid to make mistakes that would be difficult to redo in a limited time. I also had to spend a lot of time scanning all the drawings, removing the background and cleaning up the scans in Photoshop - which is a very monotonous job. I decided to find a faster way to create illustrations that would make me feel more comfortable.
Here is a little video sharing my workflow on Adobe Draw. ✎ I do all my illustrations in Draw first, then import into Sketch to add texture. I have never been a Procreate girl 😬 I like everything about Draw: the line, the fact that it's vector, its seamless integration with desktop version of Illustrator. And you? Adobe or Procreate? 🤔Actually, this is an excerpt from a longer video which is going on Youtube later on. #adobedraw #adobesketch #adobe #procreate #digitalillustration #speeddrawing #photoshop #illustration #digitalart #cactusdrawing #drawing #sunday #inamoodforart #apple #ipadproart #howtodraw
Published by Trees for Anya Nedilya, 4 birch 2018 r.
How to choose an electronic tablet? iPad or Wacom?
So, I decided to get myself a tablet. How do you decide which one?
Illustrators generally fall into two camps: supporters Wacom and iPad Pro... Both tablets have their pros and cons, and a few main differences:
Buying iPad Pro, you can draw and see the picture right on the tablet screen. A similar effect is possible only on Wacom Cintiq which is more expensive than iPad Pro.
Portability
If you buy Wacom Intuos or Cintiq, you can only use it by connecting it to a computer or laptop, so portability and ease of movement are out of the question. To have a truly stand-alone tablet from a PC, you will need to purchase Wacom Mobile Studio Pro, which will also come out to you much more expensive than iPad Pro.
Buying Wacom, you are limited to the applications you use on your computer, usually Photoshop and Illustrator. On the iPad Pro you can choose from a variety of special drawing apps. Now there are many applications suitable for animation, which is also very useful for illustrators.
Multifunctionality
You don't have to use iPad Pro for drawing only. It can be useful to you in other life situations, for example, to check e-mail, post a picture on social networks, edit a movie, etc. You cannot do this through Wacom.
Let's compare in detail the differences between the two types of tablets
Ease of drawing with a stylus
Wacom tablets are renowned for providing a very believable and accurate drawing feel. All the same, this company has been specializing in tools for artists for many years. However, how justified is this and is the surface iPad Pro very different from the surface Wacom? According to my feelings - not much. Having initially tried iPad Pro, you will notice that its surface is more slippery. But! You can get a very cheap matte screen sticker (I use this one) that will make it a bit rougher, like paper. It should also be noted that Apple is very rapidly developing technology. iPad Pro improving the properties of the pencil. Therefore, buying a new iPad Pro you get a tool no less professional than Wacom... That's why he, in fact, iPad “PRO”.
Software
Second argument of supporters Wacom, this is usually what Wacom works through professional programs such as Photoshop, which provide file sizes and resolutions (over 300 dpi) suitable for professional work. Indeed, at the very beginning of the release iPad Pro, there were few applications on the market that provided good resolution. But at the moment, the situation is not at all the same. First, the popular app Procreate allows you to choose any resolution and materials for drawing. Second, the creative software giant itself Adobe released two professional drawing applications on iPad, it Adobe Photoshop Sketch and Adobe illustrator draw... They integrate perfectly with computer Photoshop and Illustrator through the service Creative Cloud... In them you can draw in vectors and in raster graphics.
Note! Often people say that they lack a full-fledged Photoshop for iPad, How on Wacom or on a PC. For this there is a special Astropad application that displays all the contents of your screen on iPad, thereby turning it into Wacom Cintiq... You can choose between the free and the paid version of the service (the free version is enough for me). Drawing through Astopad slightly slower than painting on Cintiq, but cheaper.
Final considerations
Choosing between Wacom and Apple iPad Pro, ask yourself the following questions:
- Do I want to paint in full Photoshop, with all its features? If the answer is yes, then it is more suitable for you. Wacom... You will be able to use iPad Pro c Astropad, but it will be slower and less enjoyable than Wacom Cintiq.
- How important is it for me to be able to work anywhere? If it is very important, feel free to choose iPad Pro... If you work happily from your home, Wacom into your hands.
- Do I love experimenting with different new mobile apps? If the answer is yes, then you will have a lot of fun trying different iPad apps. If new technologies arouse fear rather than interest in you, then it may be easier for you to master Wacom, which simply displays the familiar Photoshop.
In any case, go to the nearest hardware store and try it live there. iPad Pro. Listen to your own feelings.
My Favorite Drawing Apps on iPadPro
Here I would like to list my favorite Adobe illustration apps for iPad Pro. Most of these apps are free, but if you have an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, you can use additional useful features that really make life a lot easier for an illustrator. For example, you can easily send an entire image from an iPad with all its layers to Photoshop or Illustrator on your PC. You can also create libraries with color palettes and shapes, and use them in all your programs. For me personally, these functions turned out to be very important.
A separate mention here requires Kyle brush Are the coolest electronic brushes created by American illustrator Kyle Webster. Until recently, all of Kyle's brushes could be purchased through his website, but now some of his brushes are integrated into the program for free. Adobe sketch.
- Adobe Capture – to find colors and scan shapes. Ethen a monster, not a program. With its help, you can do such unthinkable things as digitize your drawing into vectors by simply photographing it. Or create a color palette of 5 colors by directing the screen towards an object or drawing. Sometimes I just walk around some beautiful city or an exhibition, and if I see an interesting combination of colors somewhere, then I save it using Adobe Capture. This is very useful for digital illustration, where you often don’t know what colors to use. With this app, you can make impressive patterns and recognize fonts, create your own brushes, and more. This is just an app from the future!
Once upon a time, my choice of a tablet was influenced by the presence of a stylus in the basic configuration. I decided that this would be a cool way to kill two birds with one stone - to get a tablet, in which at some point the need arose, and use it for drawing - or at least try it. It was a Samsung tablet; a small stylus from Wacom was inserted directly into it. The stylus was not bad for such a device, it had pressure properties, and thanks to the engineering solution described above, I had no fear of losing or forgetting it somewhere. Using this tablet for drawing was unusual, but over time we began to understand each other, and I still sometimes use it for sketching in the field.
After a few years Apple announced the iPad Pro and a wonder stylus for it, positioning the entire kit as perfect solution for professionals, including designers and artists. An unexpected decision for a company that has been long term boycotted styluses as a phenomenon - but at the same time, it was natural: with the advent of large iPhones 6 and 6 Plus. With iPad Pro Apple continues to follow the path of increasing work area- screen diagonal is comparable to compact laptop... The device itself is even thinner and lighter than the Air 2 or Mini 3.
Yes, the sun in this position should give the sky different shades, but here I just tried to create smooth transitions between flowers, light clouds, sun light and sand. All this can be done quite quickly, and some brushes also imitate mixing quite convincingly. oil paints.
I will not go into specifications and compare the delay time of the line, I'll tell you about my personal feelings using iPad Pro for sketching after a week of use.
Firstly, the iPencil runs out of battery, but that's not a problem: connecting it to the iPad for a couple of minutes will charge it for about an hour more, so the stylus won't let you down in the midst of a creative impulse. The charge of the iPad itself also lasts for a long time, about 10 hours. The screen is large, there is where to roam, although in drawing it is the resolution that is more important, since most often work is in progress on a small area - but with a resolution here too full order... Needless to say, it's even bigger here than on my work laptop, for which I did everything that you saw and see on Disgusting Men.
If earlier the tablet could serve as a kind of sketchbook for drafts that were refined on a computer, now these are two practically equivalent devices. You can sketch on the iPad Pro, refine it on the computer, then transfer it back to the tablet and detail the drawings on it. For the test, I used several popular shareware graphic editors, one of them I used earlier - this is Autodesk SketchBook, you can start with it.
This daemon I drew in SketchBook from Autodesk. I painted the entire black area with a brush with maximum hardness, but the edges are still fuzzy - this demonstrates that brushes are not very suitable for high resolutions.
This is a very handy drawing tool with all the functions of serious graphic editors: it has a large number of brushes with basic capabilities settings, support for layers, different sizes and canvas formats, but in free version not everything is available. The brushes are clearly not yet adapted for devices with such high resolution even if you set huge size canvas - most of the edges are uneven and blurry, you cannot draw thin and clear lines, which means that iPencil functions are not fully used.
But the Procreate editor has an order with this: the full version of the program already at the stage of creating a drawing offers the size of the picture for retina, there are much more brushes here than in SketchBook. There are a lot of settings for them: from each brush you can make several more convenient ones for specific needs.
The blur tools are very cool, this is a feature of Procreate itself. It turns out not only to smear colors, which most often creates unpleasant dirt, but creates an effect that can be observed with oil paints - when a clean brush is applied over the already applied and slightly dried paints, such a slight pleasant blur is obtained. This is not easy to achieve in Photoshop.
Procreate looks stylish and cool, it is in this that I appreciated the full potential of the iPencil: the lines are very thin and neat, the stylus is responsive to pressure and tilt, there is no constant need to go into settings for minor changes.
To the important question “how strong is the delay in drawing”, I can say that it seems to be not there at all. There are also no slowdowns, even when you use the smudge tools (the same "finger") and blur in pictures is very high resolution... We were pleased with the possibilities of imitation of natural brushes, watercolors, oil paints - I have not yet seen this in editors for mobile devices, and it was at this moment that I thought that in some cases a tablet with such software can completely replace workstation... Feels like this is something new, interesting, albeit unusual, but this is a standard situation for all devices of this kind.
Despite the huge number of tools for working with color, drawing with simple lines is the most addictive. Apparently, the fact that they turn out to be thin and neat plays a role.
I also tried the Adobe Sketch application, which at the entrance makes it clear that this is not an analogue of the legendary "Photoshop" for tablets, but rather a fun drawing for entertainment. There are few brushes and settings, but on the main screen there is a gallery of various artists who also use this editor. You can put likes and even get on the board of honor yourself. I liked the ability to log in through my Adobe ID and it is convenient to export and import projects in conjunction with Adobe Illustrator.
Here I just played with texture brushes - the watercolor effect is clearly visible on the background, which can be easily imitated with just one brush.
The drawings that illustrate this article, I sketched in completely different conditions: sitting at the table, lying on the couch, and even standing. If before working with a tablet in the field a whole lot of questions arose - from getting used to to resignation to the inevitable technical punctuation marks, the iPad Pro closed all the cracks with its impressive diagonal: it is lightweight, productive, responsive and, as is customary with Apple, infinitely sexy - you want to constantly hold it in your hands, poke your finger at it and draw something, simply because now you can do it. For a person who is constantly drawing or designing, Pro is a great companion, the capabilities of which correspond to the stated price. Expensive, yes. But this is not a tablet that you want to buy for watching TV shows and mobile games.
