Reasons why the iPad rocks- #5 Drawing

When I first purchased my iPad, I kind of had half an eye on using it for drawing/simple graphics work (it is worth mentioning at this point that I am not a graphic designer, my talent for design is even less than my talent for music!) and so I purchased a few drawing programs (both vector and bitmap programs) and I have spoken in previous posts about iDraw and what a fantastic program I think it is. However, I never really got the hang of freehand drawing on the iPad, maybe it's just me but there is something unnatural about using your finger to draw with.


Anyway, I initially purchased an app called SketchBook Pro but never really got around to doing much with it. Now, at the weekend, I purchased an app called Notes + which allows you to take hand written notes on the iPad (and it really is a fantastic app) however, writing with you finger is also a little unnatural so whilst in PC World on Saturday, I purchased a cheap stylus. What a revelation! Now I know Steve Jobs said something about if we include a stylus, we got it wrong but honestly, for drawing and handwriting you cant beat it.

Ok, so this post is supposed to be about drawing on an iPad so I will explain what I did. Firstly, I decided to try out the stylus on SketchBook Pro so I opened up the app and had a quick play. Then I decided it was time to actually draw something so that is what I did. As it happened, I came across a site that shows you how to draw various cartoon characters so I had a go at Sonic. The results you can see below:


As I said, I am no graphic artist but even so, I am quite pleased with the results, especially as I can't have spent longer than about an hour in total on the drawing.

SketchBook Pro has most of the tools you would expect in a bitmap freehand drawing program. It uses layers and you can merge these together to build up complex drawings and you can export finished work to the Photo's app. All in all I would really recommend iPad as a drawing tool, especially when combined with iDraw, SketchBook Pro and a capacitive screen stylus. What more can I say, for the price of a copy of Adobe CS3, you get a computer and all the apps you need! Another reason why the iPad is not an iToy!

PS: My recommendation for a stylus is the Boxwave stylus for iPad, these seem to be the ones that most people rate. I couldn't get one in the UK so bought a cheap (£10) one from PC World that works reasonably well. I pictured the Boxwave stylus but it isn't the one that I use! Hope that makes sense.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad