Apple iPad Pro review for artist

Are you an artist interested on the Ipad Pro? Do you wanna know if it´s a device for you or not? Let me help you with this review. I´m a pro artist and I´ve been using it for a year now. So, I hope I would clarify some doubts and help you on your decision. Let´s start!

The iPad Pro 12.9
Right now I’m writing this review on an iPad Pro so forgive me but I’m going to be a little bit bias in my review. I simply love this device. I have the 12.9 version and after 8 months using this device I couldn’t be happier.
Maybe you are having doubts if the 12.9 is really worthy compare to the 9.7 inch version. My answer is, if you are going to draw on it a lot, totally yes. Indeed it’s almost 300 grams heavier than the smaller version but is not a deal breaker and you can take it and use it everywhere. If you are looking for a portable tablet for drawing everywhere I really recommend you this one. Is just awesome for sketching. The down side is the price and you gotta spend some extra cash buying the Apple pen. On the bright side, if you install Procreate your tablet becomes an amazing artistic tool. There’s basically almost no parallax and the pen sensitivity is simply fantastic.

The Apple Pen
In Appel words “Apple Pencil extends the power of iPad Pro and opens up new creative possibilities. It is sensitive to pressure and tilt so you can vary line weight, create subtle shadows, and produce a wide range of artistic effects, just like with a conventional pencil, but with perfect pixel precision”.

In my humble opinion I think this is probably the best digital pen I ever used in my life.

iPad Pro vs Surface Pro
I heard good things about the Surface Pro tablets so it’s not a bad alternative, but I had the chance to try both before I bought my tablet and the iPad Pro gave me the best impression. Is true the Surface Pro stylus is more convinient for drawing. The eraser, which Microsoft pointedly noted Apple’s Pencil stylus lacks altogether, is a plus and if you are used to the Wacom pens and their eraser you will be surprised how smooth this stylus work compare to the Wacom one’s. But for me there is no other advantages compare to the iPad Pro. The Ipad’s screen surface is better in my opinion, nice to draw on it , maybe alittle bit too hard compare to the Cintiq one’s but is not a dealbreaker by anymeans. The colors and the contrast are much better than the ones Surface Pro displays on their screen. Also the screen is bigger, 12.9 inches for the iPad compare to the 12.3 of the Microsoft’s tablet. The battery is quite durable. Full charged, Apple is giving a quote of 10 hours of battery life for the 12.9 inch model.

Nevertheless the device is still a tablet so if you are used to Photoshop for painting you will find some issues using a portable device. There is no keyboard, so the use of shortcuts is not an option here. In the Wacom Companion and the Wacom Mobile Studio Pro you have some express keys on the sides that can be set to do some of your more common actions, but I still think Photoshop is a software design for a Desktop Computer with a keyboard and not for a portable device.

The Surface Pro comes with a keyboard incorporated to the device. In iPad´s case if you really want a keyboard you can connect one to it. In my case I found a quite fordable and very convenient one that allows me to use the device like if I was in a laptop. At the same time the keyboard´s case folds in a way that allows me to use the iPad like an sketchbook, without the need to remove the keyboard or the whole case.

iPad Pro with Procreate:

If you are looking for an alternative to Photoshop in iPad, Procreate is not a bad one. Is great for drawing, with some of the best pencil brushes I ever seen in my life. You gotta try to do some shading with the 4B pencil brush using the Appel Pen, the result is like a real pencil. For painting I will say it can do the job and if you really do an effort to learn how to paint properly on Procreate the results are quite professional. Another plus of this App is the perspective tool, super easy to use and very powerful tool. Probably the best one I ever seen or try.

The device comes with some cool apps by default. In my case the iMovie app was a great discovery. Right now I am editing all my videos from my You Tube channel using this app. It’s great and very convenient to be able to do it on a portable device anywhere I want to. My only advice is if you want to edit video go for the highest amount of Memory you can afford. Yes you have the iCloud option but if you wanna edit a video it’s gotta be store on your iPad memory and you are going to do several versions like test and alternative cuts so you will need as much space as you can.

Hope the review was useful to you. If you have any doubts or comments leave them on the comment box on the bottom of the page.

Regards.

Toni Justamante Jacobs