Sensu Artist Brush & Stylus, iPad 4 mini, & Procreate app
As much as I enjoy using the Apple Pencil with an iPad Pro 9.7" for my 2017 doodle-a-day project, the Pro “Jr.” (as I call it) is still too big to carry around. The iPad mini 4 is perfect as an on-the-go-device. However, it does not support the Pencil. I bought a Pencil by 53 Bluetooth stylus a few weeks ago but it didn’t provide a satisfying doodling experience. After reading several reviews and watching a couple of demos on YouTube, I ordered a Sensu Artist Brush & Stylus to try with my iPad mini 4 and the same Procreate drawing app that I use with the Apple Pencil on the Pro Jr.
After a few minutes of drawing random lines and shapes, I spent a couple of minutes (less than 5) to produce the doodle you see here. While it probably looks messy and non-brush-like to you (both true), I’m actually reasonably happy with the experience so far.
The brush has a nice size (length) and weight that makes it comfortable to hold. And, I can see what I’m drawing much easier than when using the Pencil by 53 (which I’m keeping anyway and may try again sometime in the future). Is the Sensu brush as good as an Apple Pencil? That is not a fair comparison since the Apple Pencil is a Bluetooth device with pressure sensitivity and orientation detection. The Sensu is a passive capacitive drawing tool whose “stylus” happens to look and feel like a brush. By the way, it also has one of those standard “nub” tips too that you can also use for drawing. But, it is no different than any of the $5 capacitive styluses you might try.
You can hear more comments and opinions about the Sensu brush on the MobileViews podcast that I record with Jon Westfall.
