COMPARING IPAD DRAWING APPS

I thought I'd update my previous post about drawing apps for the iPad mini. Among the apps I use frequently now is "Paper." That's it above. I even use their stylus (see the comments for more on the stylus). I like the pen tool, which actually draws like a brush. It has a nice, fluid line and a beautiful thick and thin.

The problem is that the T&T only appears when you draw fast. If you draw normally with the same brush you get a thin, rapidograph line. That's because the stylus and the program aren't geared for pressure sensitivity. They do support the pressure sensitive Pogo Connect stylus, though comments to the support site indicate that some users aren't happy with the result.

So I start with Paper because that makes the best lines then, when I've got an idea I like, I switch to "Sketches." Sketches is similar to Pencil, but it has more features. The dot  and airbrush tools are wonderful!

I just started using the "Animation desk" program. I'll show you the doodle clips I began with when I figure out how to move them to Vimeo or YouTube.

The program has some annoying bugs.  Drawing with it is like trying to sketch with a tricycle dipped in paint. Lines drop out, become thin, colors change...there's some real stability issues here...but amazingly, even with those liabilities, the program is still a lot of fun to use...and it only costs a few bucks!

Here's (above) letters drawn with Animation Desk's fan brush and transported to Sketches for those cool halftone dots. Haw! I had no room for the "e" in "before."

Hmmmm....let me try an airbrush pass on that. Wow! It looks like a 50s jazz album.

Here's (above) a photo transported to the "Adobe Ideas" app. I haven't used this free program much so I won't comment on it. I'm still curious about "Procreate," "Sketchbook Pro," and "Art Rage." I'm also wondering about "Inspire Pro," which I think is also free. People tell me it has lots of brushes.

 Does anyone here have an opinion about which iPad drawing app has the best brushes for cartooning?

STYLUSES AND DRAWING APPS FOR THE IPAD

Here's (above) a demo of the Jot Touch (the latest version = Jot Touch 4), which I'm told is the stylus of choice for most serious artists. The video's a year and a half old so the issues with line width and lag might have been fixed by now, I'm not sure. Of course the lag might be due to the ProCreate program, not the stylus.

On Amazon people complained that the Touch scratched their screens. You can use a screen protector but that puts a distance between the tip and the glass, and results in broken lines for some.



I have a feeling that Jot'll fix these problem in later versions (if they haven't already), so I'll hold off on that for now. I'm new to drawing apps so I'll start with something less troublesome: the "FiftyThree Pencil." It's not pressure sensitive, and it's not as good at detail as the Jot Touch, but it works well with the "Paper" program I want to use.

 Paper is limited in what it can do but it's elegant, easy to use, has really intelligent color choices, and has a killer pen tool that looks like it would be great for cartoony, Walt Kelly-type lines.




Jot, on the other hand, makes boring rapidograph-type lines...at least I think it does. I've never actually used it. It was created for handwriting in an app called PenUltimate. If I'm wrong about Jot, or if it evolves into something that can do elegant thick and thin, then I'll try it, along with the ProCreate.

Actually, you need more than one drawing program. I love Paper but I'm glad I also have Adobe Ideas and Sketches because they can do things that Paper can't. Adobe Ideas can import photos and may be able to translate hand-drawn blocky letters into formal fonts.


What I'm most interested in is ipad animation apps. I haven't used any of them yet, but I'm about to. I'm guessing Flipbook HD (above) is the one to get.

Or maybe Animation Desk (above). I don't know...it's hard to tell which is best because the videos that promote them are all about bouncing balls and happy face symbols. They don't tell you what kind of lines they can make, or whether you can animate on ones and twos, or what the maximum scene length is. Some of the lesser-known programs are geared for moving pre-existing template characters. I guess you have to buy the app to find out what it can do.

[Note: I just downloaded the animation apps discussed above. In a month or so I'll let you know how they turned out.]

BTW: did you know that Wacom makes an ipad-type drawing tablet? I'm probably the last person on Earth to hear about it. Now THAT would be nice to have.