Tags: iPad, stylus t. Frog, Digital Art, ArtRage, Tablet art, Fresh Paint, DrawQuest, screen art, HP, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Sketch, Project Sprout, Paper by 53, Pencil by 53, Gold Pencil
Date: 07 February 2015 14:22:56
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/14165410358/sizes/l/
Long time readers (hi mum) will know that I'm a bit of a stylus addict. I did a quick head count of my box of styli the other day and, without looking for the ones which have fallen to the bottom of a range of bags and boxes around the house, I reached 130 fairly easily.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/16437831336/sizes/l
There's no specific stylus I buy more of (although I do seem to have more Nomad, Pogo, Jot, Dagi and Wacom than other names but that shouldn't be surprising - they're the ones who make the majority of named styli), and I'm certainly not in a position to buy all of them as they're released, but I do love to see what each and every new scribble stick will bring to the square glass firework which I like to draw on. Some styli work best on one screen, others refuse to work on another screen. Surface hates Nomad, Hudl 2 loves Maglus and Dagi, for example. Surface RT would only work with Dagi and Jot, Jot doesn't work, at all, on HP all in one desktops in my experience (which is odd and must have something to do with the amount of connectivity needed to pair to the screen). I mentioned the fact to a couple of HP product managers at BETT last month and they seemed surprised that it was the case or that there were so many alternatives out there (it came up in discussion because I was having a quick draw with Sprout and the stylus they chose to demo it was the Jot classic, which seemed ironic).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/16154977648/sizes/h/
I have a range of styli that I love, which I'll get onto later (and which is the subject of a forthcoming article in a very lovely art magazine that I've been invited to write for) and I have some which I don't love. I've never gone into a stylus review wanting to give it a good kicking, as all have positives and a stylus which I don't get on with may be the favourite of another artist. The very lovely Susan Murtaugh loves the Jot Pixelpoint, which I respect but find almost inexplicable, and the equally lovely Mr Matthew 'Roz' Hall loved an Alupen which I bought for him way back when at the IAMDA meetup which, again, wasn't a stylus I gravitated to.
[embed]https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/9165017783/sizes/z/[/embed]
Studio 53, makers of the extremely user friendly app Paper (by 53), have in the past released the Pencil stylus which has divided opinion (another hugely talented tablet artist - Paul Vera Broadbent - hates it. I like it loads). I wanted the Walnut one but only managed to buy the black one in the end (yes, stylus looks are important to me too :) which makes me, at times, a shallow screen scribble stick consumer). Now they've released a Gold Pencil stylus which I think looks fabulous, but which again I can see dividing opinion. Whatever... Don't like it, don't buy it! I think it looks striking and confident and can't wait to use it. With the Maglus a close second the Pencil is, apart from being a thumpingly good stylus, the most beautifully packaged stylus I've ever laid hands on...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/16437879786/sizes/o/
Sadly, I'll probably have to wait. In the same week as the stylus is announced I've had to shell out many, MANY, stylus bucks to have our house rewired. Sigh. There is a competition though, running daily from the 4th to the 9th of Feb, which I'm entering daily. The competition is to remix a stylus image with whatever ideas you bring to the table. This is what I've come up with so far (and I'll edit the post to include any that come up until the 9th)...
day 1:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/15823553893/sizes/c/
day 2:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/16258043398/sizes/c/
day 3:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/16448445905/sizes/c/
day 4:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/16426602006/sizes/c/
day 5:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/16459520795/sizes/c/
day 6:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/16274937298/sizes/c/
day 7:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/16440675966/sizes/c/
day 8:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/15850859323/sizes/c/
day 9:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/16296771678/sizes/c/
...and A bonus update on the Golden Surfer pic as I flipping LOVE Galactus :)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/16324169850/
Wish me luck :) (that was then... I didn't won one of the coveted ten styli boo, but it was fun to get closer to Paper...) Unless you think I need an intervention on Styli matters (quite possible) in which case wave as I go by :)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/56759148@N00/6665331555/sizes/z/
(as always, click on the picture to see a higher resolution version. No idea, now I've moved onto a Surface, how to centre the pictures here or make them bigger.... Techno artist I may be but some - probably simple things - fly well over my head..)