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Good stylus for drawing/painting apps?

Godzilla71

Godzilla71

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 16, 2009
537
420
WA state
Thinking about getting a stylus for my iPad. I am excited to try out some of the drawing/painting apps such as Brushes and Sketchpad pro. Wondering what some of you have used and liked. I'll also take any suggestions on any other drawing/painting apps that might be cool to check out besides the 2 mentioned. Thanks! :)
 
I have used those rubber ones that are everywhere and I must say they are horrible.

After researching a bit I am going with the iFaraday. They have some specifically for artist.
http://www.ifaraday.com/

I ordered a Artist Firm Dome for general use until they release the Cobra.
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far. :) I'll check these out and any others that might get mentioned in the coming week.
 
I ordered a http://www.nomadbrush.com/ today. I would really love an accurate fine pen point stylus as well but I've heard things like adonit can scratch up your screen. I also don't want to put a screen protector on the device if it's going to interfere with the stylus response rate/pressure.
 
The ifarady, or the Wacomm are rated the best, the new iPad will be a great drawing platform, but it's also a case of shelling out for a decent drawing app. The freebies are ok. but if you want to get serious, you need a top end package.
 
Macman45 said:
The ifarady, or the Wacomm are rated the best, the new iPad will be a great drawing platform, but it's also a case of shelling out for a decent drawing app. The freebies are ok. but if you want to get serious, you need a top end package.
Click to expand...

kinda looking into the ifaraday at this point. Any suggestions on other drawing apps? other then the ones I mentioned?
 
I just bought a wacom bamboo this evening and I've been pleased with it. I've only tested it on my mama's iPad, but I had the chance to use a friend's Bamboo with Procreate.

Sketchbook Pro and Procreate are pretty lovely apps.

The only problem I have with the Jot is that I feel like that clear disk is a real breakage risk.
 
Another vote for the iFaraday. I got the set and like them quite well.
 
I received the "Pogo connect" (from TenOne) yesterday, which really is above my expectation. Basically it is one of the few pen that actually can manage pressure and anyone who ever used a tablet before for drawing and painting knows that this is the really important thing you need for a good drawing experience. So basically it connect through bluetooth 4.0 (so iPad 3 and 4 only) and send the pressure information to the iPad and the app. I had a wacom tablet for a while now, since i am an amateur "photoshop painting artist" and I must say so far that I am really impressed by how well the Pogo Connect work on the iPad compared to my wacom tablet. In a way I feel like this combo is kind of a more affordable portable high res Cintiq. The cheapest Cintiq display start at 999$, and the screen is nowhere near the quality of the one of the iPad. Anyway its a good thing that Wacom finally is challenged by serious competition. Especially since the iPad is also a way more versatile device in general.

About Apps, i tried Sketchbook Pro and Procreate, and i must say that by far Procreate is the best one of the two, and from the reviews, clearly one of the top painting app for iPad. It's a very well designed app, the interface is really well done, easy to use, easy access to the tools and brush you need, has everything a good image app need, like layers, lots of "undo", lots of customizing options for brushes, very useful gestures, and on top of it, it is really really fast. I see almost no delay at all even when using complex brushes and pressure dynamics with the Pogo Connect. Good export and importing option including very good Dropbox integration. And to top it all, it is only 4,99$

It can work with 4096x4096 images (although the image resolution limit the number of layers you can have. The minimum being 4 for a 4096x4096 image and it can go up to 28 for smaller images.)

It is a very well crafted app for a very affordable price. For me this app is a no-brainer for anyone who wants to sketch and/or paint on the iPad.
 
i have used a number of styli with my ipad and depending on your tastes and needs I would say either a rubber ball tip one like Griffin makes, a Jot (but make sure the disc is a small one or it can be annoying) or even the Pogo Connect. I just got my connect and even without the pressure turned on it is a very nice pen.

I tried the Sensu Brush a while back and not many apps really responded to the brush as a brush. But the rubber tip pen worked very nicely and the quality of the whole thing was good. Plus the price wasn't too bad. If you're going to be doing a lot of drawing it could be a good investment as I think the sensitivity of both the hardware and apps will increase over the next 2-3 years and 'brush work' (and thin pen work) will become more possible. I hung onto mine for the same reason although it might not get used much if Pogo uses that whole magnet attached nib idea to make other styles to go with the Connect cause it is at the moment my fav.

While you're looking into this I would also look for some kind of glove solution or apps that have palm detection in them. Because when drawing with a stylus in any kind of natural position it's common to have your pinky or hand brush the screen and you don't want it to read as a touch. I have an old Wacom half glove designed for that issue that I use although you could possibly get away with a DIY of thin cotton gloves with perhaps part of the thumb, index etc cut off so your hand doesn't get sweaty
 
I suggest:
Best Stylus: Wacom, Pogo and Jaja
Best Painting app: Mybrushes Pro for ipad and iPhone
 
I recently got a Wacom Intuos Creative stylus, it's good for certain things, but I'm a painter, I really want a brush! So far, in researching it seems like the new Pogo brush seems to be the best for pressure sensitivity in a brush. Anyone tried the brushes on Pogo? I may have to order one.

Edit to add: I should also add that I'm an Intuos fan from way back! Still using a small Intuos 1 as my main mouse replacement for my Mac desktop! (and have a 9 x 12 Intuos 2 for the times I do graphic and painting stuff - including the stroke pen, which has a spring in it that gives a bit of a brushlike feel).
 
I'd recommend the intuos creative stylus with the Procreate app. It's the closest feel to painting on the iPad that I have found and I'm a professional illustrator.
 
Thanks for the rec. I have Procreate but haven't found my way around it yet, in my limited time. Will try and spend some time with it. I love ArtRage's oils :)
 
I just got a Bamboo stylus duo but it doesn't seem to work well on my iPad. I do have a screen protector on it and am wondering if that's the problem. With past iPads though, I don't seem to recall this being an issue.

This is a Zagg HD screen protector (which I haven't used before). Does anyone know if these screen protectors cause an issue with using a stylus? Just thought I'd check before I peel this off...haha Thanks!
 
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