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.

In order to charge the pencil, you plug it directly into your iPad Pro.

Yes, this looks weird.

When I first tried the Apple Pencil, I was a little bummed that I couldn't flip it over and use it like an eraser. But I quickly got used to the eraser function in Procreate.

Now I'm going to move on from the pencil and talk about the actual iPad Pro. There are two size options: 12.9 inches and the recently released 9.7 inches. I have the big one. I got it before the smaller version came out, and I don't regret it. It's huge, but I really love having the large surface area to work on. And it's awesome for watching videos. Plus, it's slim and lightweight, and I can easily carry it in my backpack. I don't think I've used my laptop once since I got the iPad Pro (which was back in December). Like I said, I'm not a tech-y person, so I might be missing something. But the iPad Pro feels like a perfect product to me. And no, this is not a sponsored post (Wish it were though! I'd feel like such a badass if Apple were paying me to blog.)

What do you guys think? Do any of you have an iPad Pro? Any tips or tricks you'd like to share?

I'm going to leave you now with a couple greeting cards I drew on my iPad Pro.
​FYI: these are both scratch n' sniff and available for purchase. You can buy the banana card here.

And you can buy the sliced bread card here.

Stay tuned for different (more impressive) iPad art!