iPad Pro and Apple Pencil for Artists

Here I am using the acrylic paint tool in Procreate.

​First, let me say that I'm absolutely obsessed with my iPad Pro and my Apple Pencil.

Second, you should know that I'm not a tech-y person. I have never used a Wacom tablet, and I don't know how to do anything in the Adobe suite. Until this year, I've done all my art the old-fashioned way- with paper, paint, charcoal, etc. I loved nothing more than going to art stores and sorting through rows of colored pencils and pastels and tubes of paint. I loved mixing colors with my palette knife and linseed oil was my favorite smell. I thought real art was tactile, and digital art was.... something else.

But slowly I realized the art world was leaving me behind, and I was becoming irrelevant. Here I was, an artist living and working in 2015, and I didn't know how to create digital designs. I began to feel a bit like my grandmother when she resisted buying a microwave. I found myself relying on other people to finish my projects, to change colors that weren't quite right and clean up my messy edges. The truth is I suck at computers and I was SO intimidated. I was paralyzed.

Enter the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil. These inventions have completely changed my life as an artist. Now it's kind of like I know Photoshop- and I didn't have to learn Photoshop!

I've been working with the Procreate app, which is available in the App Store for $5.99. This app is worth every penny. It took me a little while to get used to the layers, but now they're second nature to me. I love all the incredibly realistic drawing and painting tools. It's so fun experimenting with pencils, pastels, inks, acrylic, oil, watercolor, and media I've never even heard of (gelsinki ink, anyone? I have no idea what that is, but I use it constantly.).

The Apple Pencil is the best stylus ever (full disclosure- I haven't used many styluses, and I'm making a totally unfounded grandiose statement). There's no lag time, it doesn't skip, and it feels a lot like drawing with a real pencil. Also, it's a little heavier than I expected, which is nice . I'd say the whole experience is surprisingly tactile.

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