An artist’s guide to the Apple Pencil
talking about features only artists care about
There are a lot of Apple Pencil reviews out there. But as an Artist, there are questions I had when I ordered my Pencil that just weren’t being talked about. How’s the Pencil feel after holding it for hours? Will the iPad Pro be able to handle large files? Is the pressure sensitivity really as good as my Wacom tablet? Will the Apple Pencil and iPad Pro combination really be an effective tool for a professional artist, or will it just be a fun toy to bring out at parties?
My usual setup is an iMac with a Wacom Intuos 5 large tablet using the MacOS versions of ArtRage and Photoshop. I need not just a big, crisp screen, but also a large work area. However, I also hate being tied down to my desk sometimes. It would be great to have the flexibility to work from anywhere, whether that’s on a trip across the country, at a local coffee shop, or just sitting on my couch.
I’ve avoided getting iPads and various styluses in the past, because besides being too small, they just didn’t seem worth the headache of trying to make them work well together. But when Apple announced the larger iPad Pro with a stylus made just for it, I couldn’t wait to add the pair to my everyday set of tools. I’ve had them both now for a few weeks, and I can honestly say I’m loving every moment I can spend curled-up on my couch sketching.
Size & Battery Life
First of all, there is the size. It is big enough to create some nice gesture strokes without feeling cramped, but small enough to easily fit on a tabletop or on your lap. And it’s sized right between my travel sketchbook (a 5x7 inch Moleskine) and my homebase sketchbook (a 11x14 inch Canson XL mix media). To me, the size of the iPad Pro is just about perfect.
One nice thing about the iPad being so large is that it can have a large battery. That being said though, the battery life on the iPad Pro could still be better. The painting apps really seem to drain it quickly. I tend to get about 4–6 hours while sketching. Long enough for most sessions, but not a whole day’s work. It will take a few hours to recharge completely. So, if you need a longer session, you should work while it’s plugged in. Luckily, the lightning cord is 6 feet long.
The Pencil’s battery is a different story. Once fully charged, it has lasted 5 days without a refill. The Internet has not stopped making fun of charging the Pencil in the iPad Pro. The battery life is so good, that I expect my iPad would die way before the Pencil during any field-trip drawing session. That’s not really how you would ever charge it anyhow; the Pencil comes with a female-to-female adapter for charging with the lightning cable. My only concern is losing the adapter when it’s not in use or the Pencil’s cap while charging. My solution so far is to make sure I store them both in the same place while not in use.
Ergonomics & Drawing Experience
The Pencil is one of the most slender touch-sensitive styluses on the market, and it feels great in hand. It’s not too thin, but it is a bit heavy. I naturally have a death grip, and the extra weight definitely adds some strain on my hand, especially when drawing for hours. So, I’m styling some middle-school fashion with a purple foamy grip! And now, I can draw for stretches of a few hours without any hand strain.
At first I didn’t buy the Smart Cover. And after drawing without it for about a week, I was finding that I was hunching over the iPad Pro causing some neck and shoulder stiffness. Adding the Smart Cover has allowed me to prop up the iPad Pro on either a table or my lap just enough that I naturally sit straighter while working.
I was originally concerned that there was not an eraser end to the Pencil. Most of the other pressure sensitive styluses have one, so I worried the drawing experience would be clunky without the eraser end. It’s a non-issue though. My graphite pencil doesn’t have an eraser end either. And at least now, I don’t have to carry around my whole box of erasers.
Another worry originally was if the Pencil on the iPad Pro glass would just be too slick. But it’s only a little slicker than my Intuos tablet. And definitely not as slick as the first generation Surface Pro stylus with its smooth plastic nib. The Pencil’s plastic tip has a soft coating that gives it some grip against the iPad Pro glass ensuring that the Pencil doesn’t go slip-sliding across the glass without control.
iPad Pro Apps: Procreate, ArtRage, Adobe
Overall, I think the lighter iPad Pro apps keep up pretty well with their MacOS counterparts. The responsiveness of the Pencil and the iPad Pro is excellent even on larger files. I’ve drawn on canvases 3000 by 3000 pixels (which is the size I use most on my iMac) with no lag. File sharing between the iPad and the MacOS is also pretty seamless. Each app has numerous ways to share your full sized files between your iPad Pro and your Desktop/Laptop.
I only have a few minor complaints. First, the apps tend to have a limited amount of brushes and minimal customizability, especially Adobe Draw & Sketch. ArtRage definitely has my favorite collection of brushes. They seem more natural and more customizable than the other apps. Though, Procreate is a close second.
When drawing with a ‘pencil’ brush, I love how small the tip of the Pencil is. However, when painting with a larger brush it can be difficult to know where the edge of the brush is without a brush outline. This can make painting large sections within your outline difficult. Procreate is the only app where I can turn it the brush outline in the settings, and it has become my go to app because of it.
One thing that reviewers have been most excited about is the tilt sensitivity. I find it is very different in each app. It seems most natural with a nice taper from thin to thick in Procreate. In ArtRage, however, there isn’t much of a taper at all. This seems to be a software engineering problem that will be improved over time.
Palm rejection differs vastly in each app. It generally works well as long as a large portion of your hand is touching the screen. However, when I use traditional painting techniques like holding my Pencil high while supporting it only with my pinky to draw straight lines and round circles, my pinky usually ends up painting and my Pencil doesn’t. The worst offenders by far are the Adobe apps, Draw and Sketch. Procreate has some minor palm prints when I paint, but nothing too outrageous. ArtRage has an great option to turn off “touch input”. As a result, it’s palm rejection is perfect. Below are a few examples from my warm-up session this morning. I’ve circled the palm prints, so you can see how each app reacts.
Conclusion
The iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil are basically everything I have been looking for in a portable digital drawing set-up. I can comfortably use them for hours and the iPad Pro is robust enough to handle large files with no lag. In fact, it’s such an effective tool that I’m reaching for my Pencil and iPad Pro before my pencil and sketchbook when heading out the door to a coffee shop or curling up on the couch.
