Tablet art buying advice.

Categories: artwork

Tags: Tablet art, Buying advice.

Date: 05 December 2012 08:27:44

I was asked yesterday for some buying advice for tablet art on a forum I'm always happy to frequent. Not sure I can link to it (think it's a log in page) so have attached the text below. It did become a bit detailed.

One of the problems is that apps and machinery change with updates and so on. As an example my Samsung Galaxy 8.9 has been slow and cludgey from about a week after I bought it but, yesterday, was updated to Android 4 (oh boy has that been a while coming, I have waited not entirely patiently) it's now not at all bad and the 8.9 is still a lovely form factor, one of my favourites...

So: when asked what should be bought to start off with tablet art? This is the short version:

 

The Nexus 7 is good, cheap and small, I don't think it's too small (in as much as I'm as happy drawing on an iPhone), but a larger screen can be more fun, yes. I prefer an iPad size screen to a n7/iPad mini size.

Galaxy Note 10.1 and Note 1/2 have the S-pen and it's a marvel. The Note 2 is a smaller screen and has a more fiddly (thin) pen but the input is slightly quicker than the Note 10.1. Wacom are in the process of releasing touch sensitive styli but I think they might be android/win 8 only (they tweeted about it today but it went to a broken link). Jot and pogo have released capacitive/pressure sensitive styli for iPad - I've only used the Pogo and it I didn't like it as much as the S Pen but partially that's down to app support which might improve.

iPad 3 and 4 are (bizarrely) indistinguishable in terms of speed on art apps (but the 4 is almost twice as fast if you're photo editing or panorama stitching). I did a painting in ArtRage on a 3 and 4 and couldn't see any difference at all whereas Autostitch panorama flies on a 4.

Surface (and related Win 8 tablets) have a fabulous art app by Microsoft called Fresh Paint which I love. Trying to persuade myself not to buy a Surface just for that app. Similarly I do love a bit of Art Academy on 3Ds.

At the end of the day I think it's an Apple vs Samsung debate as things stand. Apple has more apps, Samsung is (slightly) better hardware (and I far prefer the screen ratio/form factor of the Galaxies).

Apps; iPad has ArtRage, Art Studio, Brushes (although the current version is a dogs dinner with missing support for half of the key features and a less immediate and successful UI, v 2 is still the daddy if you can get it), Procreate, Animation Studio etc. Android and iPad both have sketchbook, Photoshop and Adobe Ideas, Android has Infinite Painter, Watercolor pencils (although it doesn't load on my Galaxy), Fresco and... That may be in actually. Android app store is pretty dreadful in comparison to the iOS store. To an extent you really only need a couple of go-to art apps but the choice is oh-boy limited away from iOS. That may change with the success of the Nexus/Galaxy but... Hmm...  (I've got 3 or 4 folders of art and creative apps on my iPad to one folder, maybe a couple more , on Android).

Stylus wise what works with Android will work with iPad: personally I have ones I like and ones I LOVE. I've got about 40 styli now, and they split into hard tip and soft tip. I love the Nomad brushes, the Sensu brush, the Jot Pro, the Pogo Sketch Pro, the Stylus Sock, and a couple of cheapies I got from eBay. Hated the estylo and the Pogo sketch styli are flipping fragile-as. On iPhone I never use a stylus but on iPad I always do. I could feel myself getting RSI from the way I was holding it and painting. Next on my shopping list (stylus wise) are the Jot touch, More/Real, Nomad Flex and a new Dagi to replace a broken (sniff) one. tablet wise I REALLY want to test drive a Lenovo 13 inch Yoga, a Google Nexus 10 and a MS Surface. Surface most of all I think...

If you were only buying one (and worried about screen size as you seemed to be from original post) I'd get an iPad 3/4, a Stylus Sock and a Nomad paintbrush and Brushes 2 (if you can), Adobe Ideas, Photoshop, Procreate, ArtRage and Art Studio. Or Galaxy Note 10.1 (which comes with Photoshop), Adobe Ideas and Sketchbook (which is a powerful app although, if I'm honest, I just don't get it - very cludgey UI - but I know a number of artists who can really sling it around).

I think the ecosystem (connectivity to Apple Tv, external batteries, cases, tripod stands, mic stands et al) make iPad the all round winner I think but, funnily enough, I've been drawing all night and it was a Galaxy I chose to do it on... Hope that helps.