Darkboard Drawing Accessory for iPad Now Available

[Amazing Iceman]

$120 is high for the item.

Actually, whoever set the price for this, was high on something!

 

[terrapinjess]

How is this not an April Fools thing? Imagine bringing that on a plane? Imagine bringing that ANYWHERE.

 

[csfossett]

You did it well.

Thank you, sensei!

 

[beermode]

Astropad and its products are both interesting and well thought out. It would be worth investigating if one likes this type of setup. Way before they offered it - I got this and use it from time to time and its "okay" but not spectacular.

I think I am going to give this a go.

 

[ZMacintosh]

Out of curiosity how many professional iPad designers do you personally know well? YouTube doesn't count.

many of the agencies we work with utilize an iPad as it has been a bit better than Wacoms offerings. with sidecar it helps immensely. we've set them up and see how they utilize them and I'm pretty impressed. Wacom is slightly better than iPad for pairing with Mac as the accuracy and nib precision is much better than the one size "fits all" Apple Pencil.

 

[TopWhiteboard]

I'll chime in...as an artist, and as someone who has both the Sketchboard Pro and the Darkboard.

I've owned too many iPad drawing pad holder things to count at this point. I've also made my own out of yoga mats! I found a yoga mat that was essentially the same thickness of the iPad. Here's an example of the first one I made...

View attachment 2224629

I made a few versions of this, but they all essentially were the same. I had tried the bamboo holders from Amazon, and those were okay. I didn't find the bamboo surface all that fun to rest my wrist on for hours at a time, and they all just kind of looked...janky.

Sketchboard Pro rolls around and I backed it on Kickstarter. I liked it, I never loved it. Same issue as the bamboo ones, the hard plastic surface wasn't great, and the legs on that one felt flimsy. I have a "heavy hand," so I always wondered when I would press too hard and snap those damn legs off.

I backed Darkboard, too, and this one, in my opinion, is the better one. It's lighter, MUCH lighter. Sketchboard Pro is 4.5 pounds, while Darkboard is 1.4! It's also smaller, and fits on my desk nicer.

View attachment 2224633

The sleeve that it comes with is super nice, and AstroPad added in the stand for no additional cost to Kickstarter backers (I actually prefer the angle of the Darkboard stand over the Sketchboard Pro) My only complaint was the charging port didn't have a hole to run the power cord through, so I just drilled one in there myself. Pretty easy, seeing as it's made of foam.

View attachment 2224634

Expensive? Sure.

But I use this every day, for hours at a time, and it's light enough to take off my desk and sit on the couch with, or take it on the road with me to draw in hotels or on vacation. So far, this is the best drawing pad / cradle I've used for the iPad, but every artist is different and has different needs. This one works best for me.

I backed this also (because I’m an idiot, mostly) and now that I’ve finally gotten around to using it, I find my IPP 11” (3rd gen) device baaarrreellly fits in. It takes extreme pressure and some bending the plastic moulds back to get it in there. Certainly there’s no way to squeeze the apple pencil in while the device is in place.

Do you find that also?

I almost feel as if perhaps I’ve been sent the wrong size for my device. Or the foam has somehow shrunk in transit or I don’t know what. Surely it’s not meant to be this tight a squeeze. I must be doing something wrong.

Did anyone else back one and also having this problem?