From Desk to Sofa
When we first got our iPad we really didnt know what to use it for. It had been a christmas gift to ourselves because we couldn't think of anything better to buy that year.A few months later I discovered an App that would change that completely, something that would steal my evenings for the next 10 months until the untimely demise of one of the best creative communities that I've ever experienced before or since.
The App was called DrawQuest and it involved a simple daily challenge to complete a drawing that was part created by the "Drawbot". There was no fancy tools or layers, just a couple of pens, a brush, eraser and a flood tool. Colours were initially limited to half a dozen primary colours, but you could buy more with points. These were either earned by submitting drawings, or via in-app purchases, if you were in a hurry. There was even additional drawing tools available for purchase later. But the shear range of ideas and talent from the other users was nothing short of amazing. They ranged from little kids scribbling doodles, to fantastically detailed masterpieces from (I suspect) pro artists.
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| DrawQuests simple Interface |
Initially I started using my finger to draw, but it wasn't a good experience, so I dug out my bullet stylus (that came free with a card reader) and starting using that.
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| Bullet Styli |
Although better, the shaft was way to small, making my hand ache after half an hour, so I was soon researching an alternative. But it opened my eyes to the creative capability of Apple's tablet, and enabled me to have fun drawing and sketching from my sofa rather than a desk.
Wacom Bamboo Stylus
The first proper stylus I bought was the Bamboo from Wacom, and it was a huge leap forward. It had a soft 6mm rubber nib, worked well and was really nice to use.
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| Wacom Bamboo Stylus |
If I was being picky, the only problem I had was that I was going through a lot of rubber nibs. After only a couple of weeks use they'd split halfway up (perhaps I was pressing too hard?!) Oh, and like all other rubber tipped styli, it was a little like drawing with a crayon because the nib was so wide.
Soon a new range of electronic styli started to hit the market.
Adonit JOT Script
I was hankering for a little more accuracy and followed a link to Adonit's website to review the JOT Pro. It had been around for a while and had a small clear disk on the end of a gimbal that enabled you to see through the nib. Lot's of people on DrawQuest were using them, so I'd intended to get one and retire the bamboo.But then I saw the Jot Script with its 1.9mm nib giving what they describe as "ballpoint precision". It uses an electronic circuit to interact with the iPads capacitive display, and even promised to provide some degree of pressure sensitivity if the App was enabled. Back then I found that I couldn't buy it in the UK so I ordered it directly from their website.
It only took a week or so to arrive, but then I got hit by VAT + the post office handling charges, which took the effective price to just short of a hundred quid. But as I was going to get a lot of use out of it so I didn't mind too much.
Straight away I found it much easier to draw accurately, but I found I was struggling with a parallax problem caused by the thickness of the glass in the screen. Putting it simply, if you weren't looking perpendicular to the screen the stylus wasn't drawing where it touched. (Easily fixed by altering the iPad's angle)
Secondly it eats AAA batteries. The lithium long life battery which came supplied with it lasted me just 5 evenings (of 2-3 hour sessions). I switched to using NiMH rechargeables, but still found I could get through two an evening.
(The newer ones have a built-in lithium battery and are recharged via USB)
But just look at the difference with the nibs..
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| Bamboo left, JOT Script on the right |
This was great, right up until DrawQuest shut down just a few months later. I still haven't found anything to replace it.
So I installed the iPad version of Autodesk's Sketchbook Pro, it's not a bad App and I've been using this for the artwork in my other blog Building the Perfect Beast. I tend to spend 15-30 minutes maximum on the picture, producing a simple cartoony style image to illustrate each blog entry.
Update: here's some of the pictures I drew on Drawquest...
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| Add caption |
So many questions... I'll start with pressure - Apple are doing some clever things now with force, but was your iPad with the syli you describe able to vary a line according to pressure?
ReplyDeleteYou've given no shots of your drawquest work, did you lose it all when they shut up shop, or do you have it archived somewhere?
The Jot IS able to vary line weight using pressure on some apps, Sketchbook Pro certainly does this and I think Paper does too.
ReplyDeleteI lost most of the work, but I do have some work. I'll post a bit of it next time.
I have to say I don't recognise the guy on your driving licence...? You really found your way around those simple drawing tools, the astronaut looks amazing. Is there any opacity or does each stroke completely cover what's underneath (like acrylic / oils)?
ReplyDeleteThe tools were very limited (as I said), you had a marker that did lines about 10 pixels wide, a pencil that did lines a couple of pixels wide and the brush that had a set level of transparency.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened was that you soon learnt to mix these up so you could alter line weight by selectively erasing afterwards, or be more subtle with colour and shading by using the brush.
Later they added the flood fill tool, which really eased the problem of colouring the background. Nothing was ideal, but it was generally good enough.
Everyone had the same tools, and the fact that some incredible stuff was being churned out in spite of this really spurred you on.
I know some of the talent moved to the French Girls app, but the fact it was iPhone only (not iPad) really turned me off. But I'm hopeful that some day an real alternative will come along and we'll get the band back together. (my pipe dream)