Doodling with a Samsung Chromebook Plus and ArtCanvas

My Samsung Chromebook Plus finally arrived today. It comes with a pressure sensitive stylus and an Android drawing app named ArtCanvas. So, I used this combination to continue my Daily Doodle project. The test doodle is seen on the left here.

Is it as good as an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil? Absolutely not. Is it good enough for doodling (vs. serious drawing)? Yes, it is for me. Here’s a couple of observations after playing with the combo for about 30 minutes. Note that my frame of reference is using an Apple Pencil with the Procreate drawing app for the past two months.

• The stylus is too short. Given the larger potential storage space in a notebook sized Chromebook, Samsung should have designed a pencil length stylus. That said, it is nice to have a secure storage space for the stylus right in the Chromebook.
• There is a lot of lag when drawing on the Plus. I’ll be interested to hear from people who buy the slightly more expensive Pro model if the stylus is less laggy on it.
• The stylus’ pressure sensitivity is not as natural feeling/looking as on an iPad Pro with the Pencil.
• While the ArtCanvas app is relatively simple to start using, there doesn’t seem to be any documentation or community supplied tutorials on YouTube. So, figuring out simple things like how to modify a pen/brush size was done by trial and error. The app either needs documentation or obvious menus.

Having made these criticisms, it is a more enjoyable experience using the Chromebook Plus and its stylus to doodle compared to the Pencil 53 on an iPad. And, while I plan to do most of my doodling using the Apple Pencil on an iPad, I plan to return to the Chromebook Plus and ArtCanvas to learn more of what it can do.