Oldest daughter is interested in digital art and would like something to draw on/with for xmas.
This is not an area I know much about so what are my best options? Dedicated tablet of some sort? a pen that will work with existing hardware?
Hardware already owned includes
Touchscreen win10 laptop
touchscreen chromebook
5th gen ipad.
Wacom Intuos will work with the Windows laptop and the iPad.
Personally, I'd just get an Apple Pen for the ipad. Loads of great apps available and the touch screen is superb.
How old / how serious / how tech savvy? In a lot of cases (but potentially not all) the answer is likely to be an iPad + Apple Pencil.
Have a look at what people have done with Procreate - it almost certainly won't hold her back and is relatively easy to get started with.
I only have experience of the first gen Apple Pencil on the original iPad Pro - it works really well. You can use the same (1st gen) pen with any current iPad I believe, although the thicker screen on the base model iPad makes drawing on it a bit more detached apparently. Unfortunately, your 5th gen iPad is too old to use the pen. A newer pen with an iPad Pro is £££ though (almost £1k) so upgrading to an iPad (air?) might be the way?
Unfortunately, your 5th gen iPad is too old to use the pen
Ah. apologies, didn't realise that. Isn't there a 3rd party pen(cil) that'd work?
Ah. apologies, didn’t realise that. Isn’t there a 3rd party pen(cil) that’d work?
there is but i have no idea how good these are. Also if they would work with the chromebook?
Ah. apologies, didn’t realise that. Isn’t there a 3rd party pen(cil) that’d work?
Yeah but I think they only work like an expensive rubber stylus. The Apple Pencil is way cleverer than that, with pressure and angle sensing etc. My suspicion is that the Apple Pencil would be night-and-day better but I don't have any experience of 3rd party ones. Could be worth a try if you are on a tight budget.
David Hockney Does pretty OK with an I Pad
i think thats a matter of opinion.
Yeah but I think they only work like an expensive rubber stylus. The Apple Pencil is way cleverer than that, with pressure and angle sensing etc. My suspicion is that the Apple Pencil is nice-and-day better but I don’t have any experience of 3rd party ones. Could be worth a try if you are on a tight budget.
Some are pressure sensitive, unsure how good they are. Worth a punt for £70?
From expereince with something similar with my daughter, don't go for a graphics tablet, get something that you can draw directly onto the screen with - newer iPad or something for your current laptop.
If you want something cheapy, this stylus worked quite well - MEKO stylus - the wider clear base works with the touchscreen but with it being clear you get a decent accuracy.
iPad with pencil and Procreate is just amazing, I have one and it's a joy to use.
Apple Pencil works with an iPad 6 minimum.
I could never get along with a graphics tablet.
If she wants to look beyond an iPad (as she already has computing power via laptops) then maybe take a look at a ‘drawing pen display’ such as HUION Kamvas or XP Pen?
sample comparison/reviews:
https://essentialpicks.com/huion-kamvas-pro-16-vs-xp-pen-artist-15-6-pro-comparison/
There are other brands but I forget. Not sure what drawing/painting software is available for Win 10 but there must be a good few?
Something no-one has (I don’t think) mentioned is multi-touch support. I use an iPad Pro and can’t recommend the capability of multi-touch gestures highly enough. It just makes everything smoother and more intuitive IME. Some examples of the kind of moves here (again via Procreate)
Forgot to say, I think that any pen/stylus that works on an iPad 5 or similar would run the risk of being disappointing. Some do support bluetooth and palm-rejection both of which would be a minimum requirement. Although if a stylus/pen doesn’t support palm-rejection then you can use a thin glove that will do the ‘rejecting’.
Looking at reviews for such styli (Adonit Pixel seems to be the only one consistently mentioned) it seems users are most often disappointed in some way or another. In short I’d be looking at a stylus (for the 5th gen iPad) only as a very last resort/budget option while being aware that it would have limitations and patchy/limited support with popular art apps. Some advice here:
Just to update the thread. I went for the Adonit Pixel on the 5th gen ipad.
Daughter set it up last night with procreate and loves it, working really well with pressure sensitivity and palm rejection.
