“Pressure sensitivity,” I knew the iPad could do it!

Got an iPad? Do you ever draw anything on it?

Ever since the first iPad, I couldn’t figure out why the capacitive surface couldn’t tell the difference between a tiny tap and a hard push. Turns out, it can, and I’m not talking about the soon-to-be-announced new iPads… your current iPad — as long as it has iOS 8.

I first noticed this with Paper by FiftyThree and their Pencil stylus. You can use the edge of the stylus to draw lines with greater thickness. Pretty cool. Then I looked at Zen Brush. Turns out, that app can do the same thing with just your finger. Go try it out.

Makes me really excited for iPad Air 2 or whatever they’re calling it. Now if they would only release the iPad Pro.

Hearthstone on iPad! Plus 2 more amazing iOS card games

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft on iPad. It's incredible!

I didn't play the PC version of Hearthstone at all, so this is all brand-new to me, and it is stellar.

Now available for iPad, (I hope they'll consider a universal version) Hearthstone is a deck-building strategy game by Blizzard Entertainment set in the World of Warcraft universe. This fast-paced, turn-based game may be compared to Magic: The Gathering, but its closer in style to games like Shadow Era and Solforge. [Magic 2014, Shadow Era, Solforge at the App Store]

While those three are all wonderful games, what Hearthstone has over them is production value. Seemingly nothing has been overlooked; from the table art, card art, characters, voices — all of it is stunning. Selecting a card causes it to hover; as it does, it casts a shadow on the table. When you place a minion card, it changes to a circular token and hits the table with a thump. The griffon on the game board will roar and look up at you if you touch him. These details don't change the mechanics of the game, but they do make the game come alive.

The iPad is perhaps the perfect digital card game platform, and finally, it seems the general public is becoming aware of this. The App Store has a new section called "Card Battle Games," and while some of the titles are freemium junk, there's a handful of hidden gems such as Yomi.

Hopefully Hearthstone will encourage gamers to try these other games. By the way, Solforge is having a 30% off sale until 4/22/14. (I love that game as well — a superb game designed by Gary Games and Richard Garfield, creator of MTG, where cards level up as you use them, becoming increasingly more powerful iterations with enhanced artwork.)

If you love strategy games, give these a try, even if you don't normally play trading card games. The digital format takes away the mess of physical cards and makes the normally arduous process of finding an opponent simple and nearly instantaneous.

As I'm still sort of a Hearthstone and Solforge beginner, I'm not comfortable writing a full review, but as both of these titles are free downloads, I can surely recommend them! Both come with free cards and you can earn more as you play!

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Can't decide between iPad Air or iPad mini with Retina Display?

Written on iPad mini, using Penultimate & oStylus DOT

If you're having trouble choosing between Apple's new iPads, ask yourself this:

What do you use the iPad for, and where?

If your primary tasks involve text; plus you watch some TV shows, movies, browse the web and chat with friends, the retina mini is probably the way to go. It's $100 less, has the A7, 326ppi display (highest density Apple offers on anything), and is super light and portable.

However, if your primary tasks are some sort of visual content creation, you should strongly consider the Air.

Numerous reviews point out the sad reality that Apple chose a cheaper, lower grade display technology with less color accuracy for the new mini. In addition, the clock speed is 100mhz slower and the iPad mini has less thermal headroom. This translates into lowered performance over time when running processor intensive apps; the Air can keep running at higher speeds for longer while generating less heat on critical components.

While speed may not be an issue for months, it will invariably matter sometime in the future. The Air will remain viable for longer, making it a better overall investment, even if you are planning on upgrading each year.

Neither new iPad has Touch ID, a feature I've come to love and one that makes usage much easier and more pleasant. I can let my device lock whenever the screen shuts off without having to swipe and type a password each time I turn it on. It's arguably even more beneficial for an iPad than iPhone due to the size of the screen and the keypad layout; you have to swipe and stretch farther to unlock the iPad, and the power button is farther from the home button.

It seems inevitable that next year's iPads will have Touch ID and faster processors, and the mini will likely have a screen on par with competitors' and the larger iPad. If you really want a great retina mini like I do, wait for that one.

Meanwhile, if you do a lot of drawing, design, 3D or photo work on the iPad, you'll likely appreciate both the 9.7" screen and the accurate color. Apple has done a pretty good job ensuring that their full-size screens are calibrated straight-away. The Air is significantly lighter than iPad 3/4 — and while 1/4lb heavier than the mini, it's the same thickness.

If you can, get to an Apple retailer and demo the tablets.

If you're creating art on the iPad and dead-set on the mini — thanks for reading this anyway! :-)

You won't likely be disappointed; the new mini is pretty cool. I love the iPad mini; although a big part of that is because the alternative for me was a somewhat sluggish, heavy tablet with a slow charging battery that overheats constantly. If the iPad 3 was lighter, faster and cooler (temperature), I probably wouldn't have looked twice at the mini. Now that I have one, it's tempting to never go back to the full-size... but I think it's the best choice.

Whatever you do, please, please... do not buy the iPad 2.

Bradtastic supports Blogsy

The iPhone 5S is superb! Makes me want...

My view of Lake Merritt; Oakland, CA

Several days ago, I received an amazing gift — a new phone. For many reasons, I'd held off upgrading, leaving me with an iPhone 4. After years of use, it wasn't in great shape. Physically unscathed (mostly), but the battery life was seriously reduced and the device was just sluggish. After a lackluster experience with iOS7 on my iPad mini, I decided not to "upgrade" to it, but that didn't stop Apple from pushing the download to my phone and insisting the 4 could run it.

Because my iPad mini crashes constantly and is plagued with sluggish typing and random lag, I was skeptical about iOS7 in general. I'd no doubt that the new A7 was fast enough to handle it — my concern was with stability.

Crashing a game is one thing; crashing an art project and losing work, perhaps an hour of progress — that's entirely different. I'd lost sketches, vector work, notes, writing... it's destroyed the once beautiful iPad mini experience for me and I've been using the iPad 3 for basic things instead, just to get away from iOS7. I like the old notifications with the share widget. I don't mind the brushed metal and linen look.

Because of the iPhone 5S, I no longer hate iOS7 and can see the potential of a new iPad.

I read Anandtech's iPad Air review, and I'm super excited now. I can imagine working on the new tablet, switching between apps, browsing the web with more tabs, music playing on the device, Siri offering guidance... a bunch of things that I can't cleanly do on the iPad mini (non-retina). But I can on the iPhone 5S.

I can actually work on the iPhone 5S, multitask, read, write... it's more impressive than when I moved from iPhone 3GS to 4. At first, I thought my phone was defective because colors seemed really yellow and warm, and the pixels were clearly visible to me. For awhile I neurotically compared the iPhone 4 screen to the 5S — and then it dawned on me that the pixels are more obscure on the 4 because the capacitive layer sits above the LCD panel. The 5S' is built with the screen. Instead of glass > glue > capacitive touch > glue > LCD, it's glass > glue > screen. The colors appeared warm because my iPhone 4 was incredibly cool and inaccurate.

So far I have no complaints. The phone does what I want it to do. I can write, read and draw on it, talk on it, video chat, and take really nice photos. The image above was a quick snap from yesterday, unedited. I'm looking forward to finding new ways to be more creative with the 5S.

Perhaps the biggest thing is that I'm now really excited about new iPads. I'm still unable to decide between the models. I love the mini due to its lightweight frame and comfortable shape, but I like the retina display for art and design. Now the mini has the retina display so it should be a simple choice, but the large 9.7" iPad now has a lightweight, nice (mini-style) shape! The Anandtech reviews point out that the mini retina display is less color accurate than its larger counterpart, but the slight loss of color accuracy might be a fair trade for the portability and ease of use. I demo'd both at the Apple Store; unfortunately, the only drawing apps on their new demo models are Penultimate (without zoom) and Paper by FiftyThree, so I wasn't able to test the pressure-sensitivity and palm rejection of the Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus.

Every time I think I'm leaning toward one or the other, I think of a reason to switch. I don't want both — I think next year's models will be a huge leap forward, and it's silly to split my time and attention between two tablets with such similar specs and hardware. There was a vast distinction between iPhone 5, iPad 4 and iPad mini — now the three main iOS devices all run A7 SoCs.

If you have suggestions or opinions, I'd really appreciate hearing them. I'm especially interested in reviews by iPad artists regarding touch sensitivity and drawing accuracy, as well as comparisons between iPad Air and Note 10.1 (2014 Edition) and Wacom Cintiq Companion Hybrid. $929 for 128gb iPad Air — very pricy...

Unfortunately, Android just doesn't have many great sketching and design tools apart from SketchBook Pro. Lack of Procreate and Paper is a negative, but having an active digitizer is also a big deal — impossible on iPad.

For now, I'm going to focus on maximizing my iPhone usage moving preparation. I wanted to write about some new art that I've been working on and blogging woes (considering migrating this site; looking at Squarespace 6 and WordPress), but that will have to wait for some other time.

Bradtastic supports Blogsy

Penultimate Review 5.0 & iPad mini

After waiting for years, Penultimate (free, iPad) finally has zoom.

This change is huge: it makes Penultimate usable.

Above is some handwriting done on the iPad mini. I decided to try on my go-to tablet because it doesn't write as well as the full-size iPad, and if I were to incorporate Penultimate into normal, everyday usage, it'd likely be on my mini and not my iPad 3.

Simply, I use the iPad mini more. Penultimate is the kind of cloud-synced notes app that's used to capture quick thoughts and sketches, phone numbers and directions while on the phone. Prior to the version 5.0 update, Penultimate was too clunky and ugly to tolerate. I've always liked the Evernote integration, but it just wasn't important enough to put up with (and fight against) a crummy app.

Magnification has been on my want list since version 1. Now we have ZOOM and drift, a new feature that dynamically pans the zoomed-in frame while writing. It takes some practice; as evident in my first sentence on the image above, I was moving my stylus ahead while writing and added too much space between letters. Hopefully it's still legible for everyone else. -b

• If you're looking for a good note taking app for iPad, check it out. I can finally recommend it and call it #bradtasticapproved. Can't beat that price!
• If you're willing to spend some money, there are many great note-taking apps for iOS — I've reviewed several here on my blog.
• If you're looking for a text-based notes app, check out ThinkBook by bitolithic.

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I really hope that the new iPad mini with Retina Display is as good as it sounds, because even without one, the mini has been my favorite thing. Its diminutive frame and weight makes it a perfect tech companion for me. It's small enough to bring anywhere, light enough to use all day — yet large enough to really enjoy apps, games, movies, websites, ebooks, and typing out emails and blog entries. However, I think between the two new devices (iPad Air, iPad mini Retina), for an artist, the iPad Air is the more practical choice. I'll have to wait and see how the iPad Air and new mini handle pressure sensitive styluses like the Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus, but my guess is that the Air is slightly more accurate and sensitive to small, light pen strokes.

But if the new mini is as precise as my iPad 3 — it'll be a no-brainer.

Favicon design part 2 coming soon. I also want to share my recent illustration work, but I've been a little busy earning entries for the Borderlands 2 $100,000 Loot Hunt. Wish me luck!

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Favicon Design part 1, Ideas, Concepts + Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus

Adobe Ideas screenshot, freehand sketch

Learning how to keep my hand steady again has been a tricky process. Luckily, the iPad has some amazing tools. The sketch above, a favicon design concept for this site, was first loosely drawn in Tayasui Sketches, but I almost immediately switched to Adobe Ideas to take advantage of a new Bluetooth pressure-sensitive stylus.

The Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus is probably the nicest all-around stylus for the iPad. In certain situations, I like the oStylus DOT more due to its small tip and predictable, 100% functionality. The Adonit Jot Touch is supported by many more apps, and their SDK is actually starting to work as intended (it was buggy; more like a tech demo or concept product, not quite usable for my design style).

Adobe Ideas is compatible with a variety of pressure-sensitive styluses; with it, I've only tried the Jot Touch and Intuos (both work really well in general). Ideas offers pressure sensitivity and palm rejection. Pressure sensitivity works great; there aren't a lot of options for it, but simplicity is sort of Ideas' thing. The Intuos' buttons work to bring up a quick tool menu to make changes to settings like tip width, color, tool... it's really nice, but an undo option would've been nice.

The palm rejection sucks; it works by rejecting any stroke on the iPad while there's no pressure on the stylus tip, but as soon as you start actually using it in earnest, it fails. Tons of unintended marks, because in practice: you have to set the tip down first — pressing enough to trigger pressure sensitivity —followed by your palm/wrist, and then lift your hand before lifting the stylus tip off to finish. It's a nuisance; setting a simple folded microfiber cloth underneath your palm is much easier... and it actually works.

But that's not an Ideas problem, it's just the technology. The iPad wasn't, isn't intended to be used with a stylus. For shame, Apple! Release for us a Penabled version, or something like the Samsung Galaxy Note. Artists will buy it; they're excited about dropping $1600-2500 for Wacom Cintiq Companion tablets — we'll buy an iPad: Artist Edition!

Currently, I can only compare the Hex3 Jaja, Adonit Jot Touch (2.1) & Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus. I would love to test the Pogo Connect & others — I'm saddened that Paper by FiftyThree only utilizes the Pogo. I contacted them; they said that they have no plans to support any other Bluetooth styli, but that they're looking at the others to see how well people take to those devices. FiftyThree also mentioned that they weren't planning on portrait mode, but that it's been requested (duh!). Seeing how long they took to add custom colors and magnification (up to 3x zoom), it might be a long while. Like iPad 7 kind of awhile.

Contrast that with the great people behind Concepts: Smarter Sketching, and you'll know why I'm so excited about that app. Concepts as a free app is full functional, and an inexpensive IAP unlocks cool precision options unlike any other app I've used. Using a dot grid and guides, it's easy to create perfect lines and shapes on an adjustable, vector art canvas.

But that's not the amazing part; Concepts started months ago as a broken app with laggy pen strokes to a professional-use design tool with Copic colors... at less than 1/3 of the price of Paper. What started as an app with just a pen tool has become a vector app with a beautiful pencil, marker and airbrush tool — and it's fast and responsive. The pencil and marker are stunning.

The really great part about Concepts, however, is TopHatch, the guys behind the vector design and sketching app. I contacted them via Facebook and got a quick reply that made two things clear: these guys are nice, and they care about user feedback. I felt like my suggestions would help to improve the app — they even invited me to beta test it. I was told that I would be really pleased with the next update, but didn't get too many specifics. Only that portrait mode and Bluetooth stylus support were both happening soon.

Part 2 will be about favicon design itself (a sort of beginner's guide, I suppose) as well as my thought process for it, and a more in-depth review of Concepts: Smarter Sketching.

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Notes Plus Review - iPad Handwriting Apps

An inkblog Bluetooth pressure sensitive capacitive touch stylus written response to a comment!

 

Yesterday October 17, 2013 was a pretty big day here in America — our lackluster government has resumed spending ten billion dollars per day and the default crisis has been averted postponed until mid-January.

But I also got a comment on my blog entry iPad mini note taking problems. I decided to write a reply in atypical, inkblogging fashion. Here's the comment by Jeremy.

What did you think of the Notes Plus IOS App? I've used quite a few low and high end stylus' with the app and have not been disappointed with the results. www.notesplusapp.com

Here's my handwritten 'ink' reply, with text transcript.

Hey there! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment! This is written in Notes Plus on my iPad3 (retina) w/ Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus. I've had the app for quite awhile, but never spent much time with it until recently. I really like the recent app enhancements and the close-up writing mode — its method for adjusting the writing box is probably the best I've used. [Note: referencing the app itself] I wish that it was either raster-based, or had cleaner line creation, more adjustability, more color options (or better colors), and finally, Bluetooth capacitive touch stylus support (for line thickness — pressure sensitivity). Jeremy, you've inspired me to work on a full Notes Plus review. Question: which stylus is your favorite, or what type of styli do you like, the soft tip, disc shaped [tip], Bluetooth, etc? Last, what iPad version are you using, and are you using iOS7? I prefer iOS6. I think that iOS7 slowed down my iPad mini substantially. I hope that you have a great weekend and I look forward to hearing from you!

It's difficult to simultaneously compose beautiful sentences and fiddle with legible handwriting, spacing and color, but it was an interesting exercise. I think that my quasi-cursive writing style looks pretty good; quality that I think would be impossible in either Penultimate or Bamboo Paper and probably many of the handwritten notes apps, with the exception of Noteshelf and Remarks.

The image at the top of this post was edited (just for fun) using Repix and Distressed FX — both apps downloaded free. I'm not very familiar with either yet, so I decided to combine the effects of each to gauge the results. Distressed FX is particularly cool; I think I'm going to use it more, likely in combination and conjunction with other apps such as Tangent and Over, for photos and designs.

If you're looking for a great app to use with a capacitive touch stylus and don't mind a vector-based app, check out Notes Plus. It has a great deal of features and a lot of options, but remains usable and straightforward.

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Wacom Bamboo Paper Notebook review iPad mini

Inkblogging on iPad mini with Wacom Bamboo stylus.

Tried writing block print and cursive (ink blogging, note-taking) on the iPad mini again, although this time, I used Wacom Bamboo Paper - Notebook iOS app instead of Penultimate (Evernote). The resulting handwriting still looks fairly hideous; that said, it's much nicer than Penultimate. The Wacom app has pinch-zoom magnification, but using it is finicky; often when I try to pinch, I end up drawing a line on the screen instead. Hopefully Wacom can fix this.

As a note taking app, Wacom's Bamboo Paper - Notebook isn't too bad — especially for free.

It doesn't compare to the premium apps such as Noteshelf, but it is functional. On the full-size iPad (retina), it's actually pretty nice. The color palette, while limited, offers some nice options. Wacom obviously took time selecting attractive, complementary colors.

Despite originally being designed as an eponymous companion-app/marketing tool for Wacom's Bamboo capacitive touch stylus, 'Paper Notebook has gone through several major iterations and feature changes — the recent iOS7 update being the most substantial and significant. Wacom added new drawing tools, paper styles and notebook covers, as well as support for their new pressure sensitive (2048 levels) Bluetooth 4 device, the Intuos Creative Stylus for iPad..

The drawing tools and artist notebook set is available as the Creative Pack for $3.99, and everything is is offered at $0.99. In the image above, I used only the two standard free tools and free paper type.

I love the iPad mini; mostly because of its lightweight design and rounded edges (the iPad 3 has narrow edges, making it uncomfortable to hold without a nice case like ones made by Incipio), but I don't like drawing on it. In addition to the lack of retina display and slower processor, narrow margins on the left and right side of the screen makes it difficult to draw on-the-go in landscape mode because my palm ends up making contact the edge of the screen (doesn't happen to me when using the full-size iPad).

I also created some handwriting samples on my iPad 3 (Retina display) for comparison that I'll post later. I used the same two apps with very different results. The process of drawing and writing on my iPad and iPad mini side-by-side has confirmed that the iPad mini (first gen; I hope Apple releases a better, retina version soon) isn't a great visual artist's tool.

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Worth mentioning: great tools, great devs.

I've been very impressed with several apps and their respective developers, so I'm going to review and feature more sketching and notes apps in the near future. For now — if you haven't already, go get Concepts Smarter Sketching and Tayasui Sketches. Both apps are prime examples of freemium done right; ad-free, fully-functional and useful without any IAP, and the paid features are inexpensive, major enhancements to the base app. Function and feature-rich! Check them out and let me know what you think! (Tell the developers, too! Both respond quickly)

Note: If you like creating vector art using software like Adobe Illustrator, Inkpad by Taptrix is still free (normally $4.99)! Inkpad is the best vector tool I've seen for the iPad, and it's been updated for iOS7.

Have you tried Inkblogging from an iPad?

If you have, I'd love to see it and share it with people. If we can encourage more people to draw, the world would be a better place... and if more people used iPads for ink blogging and handwriting, we might be able to convince Apple to release a special active digitizer iPad! Just a thought.

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3 Best iPad Notes Apps

I forgot that I wrote this last month for Halloween. I guess the colors are appropriate for Thanksgiving, too. Anyway, the information is still valid.

The three best note taking apps for iPad

1. Noteshelf – Ramki
2. Remarks - Write notes and Annotate PDFs – Readdle
3. Infinite Sketchpad – AllTom

Noteshelf and Remarks are similar, but there are notable differences. Remarks uses some kind of vector line technology for its ink, while Noteshelf is raster. Both can export and notes in multiple formats (image and PDF) and both can backup to Evernote and Dropbox, albeit in different ways. Both Noteshelf and Remarks have a selection of paper types (grid, lined, dot grid, blank, etc) and zoom. Many users will likely choose one over the other, but there are distinct uses for both.

• Noteshelf can send individual pages and export them, and has pressure sensitivity support — Adonit Jot Touch, HEX3 Jaja and Pogo Connect. Noteshelf has extensive color and line shape options (pencil, pen and calligraphy lines) as well as highlighter colors.
• Remarks can automatically backup pages in a specific Dropbox notebook, a very handy feature. Documents can also be saved as annotated or flattened PDFs and opened in a myriad of other iOS apps, including Evernote, iBooks, Kindle reader, GoodReader and other backup services such as SkyDrive and Box.

If you're mostly drawing, sketching, and note taking by hand, pick Noteshelf. If you work with PDFs and want to insert images and audio recordings, choose Remarks.

Saving (perhaps) the best for last...

Infinite Sketchpad is a creative's dream canvas. This unique app is a must-have for sketchers, doodlers and planners; as its name implies, with Infinite Sketchpad, you can draw and write on a near infinite workspace with single-color vector pen tools. Incredibly simple, straightforward and intuitive, the incredible zoom levels, undo/redo, and lightning fast UI make Infinite Sketchpad the ultimate blank sheet for ideas. Files can be sent as images or published on the web as a scalable format that allows viewers to zoom in and out, exploring the document they would from the iPad itself.

If you do any kind of work on the iPad, consider these apps if you haven't already. These three are amongst the best notes and planning software for any platform, and should work wonderfully on the new iPad mini. Let me know if you have a different favorite note-taking tool!

Brad Chin uses Blogsy

iPad mini for artists

Apple finally unveiled its worst kept secret of the year, the iPad mini.

However, Apple also surprised a bunch of people with several product updates: a new iMac, 13" MacBook Pro with Retina display and my favorite, 4th generation iPad with Retina display. (I got a heads-up about the new New iPad from RazorianFly)

The new computers are very exciting on their own, especially because I desperately need one. (My 2007 iMac is entering senescence, is painfully slow and can't run current software due to minimum hardware requirements and specifications.) The 13" MacBook with Retina display isn't impressing me, however, after looking at all of its specs.

Since getting my first iPad, I've never missed my notebook computer. For years now, the iPad has replaced my need for mobile computers. There's an app for basically everything that I'd do on the go or in a hotel room. The sketching and productivity apps are incredible! Plus photo apps, reading, video, news, games. There are only a few things that I can't do from an iPad, things I prefer to do at my desk anyway.

The iPad revolution, again?

The New iPad was new for about six months. The 4th gen iPad has an A6X processor, supposedly twice as fast as the A5X, Lightning port and an improved FaceTime camera. (I wonder what's next and when it'll arrive!)

The mini was thought to be Apple's response to the Android 7" tablet market and industry analysts and experts guessed that the iPad mini would start at around $250. To me, that sounded like nonsense because of the iPod touch price tag and hardware specs. The mini has a bigger screen than the iPod touch, but isn't any faster. I think Apple might've deliberately scaled back the iPad mini components to prevent cross-competition with its own devices. The iPod touch is in essence, an iPad nano.

On the topic of nano…

Apple has gone backward with the new iPod nano. Some might think of the constant design changes as revolutionary, some might think the term renanoed is cute — but I'm not one of those people. The previous generation nano was much more groundbreaking; its size and shape made it a hit with athletes and travelers, and its form and software lead to numerous wristwatch conversion kits for the iPod.

The new iPod nano is basically a gimped iPod touch — it doesn't make sense to me as anything other than a gift for someone else (because if you're going to get it for yourself, save up a little and get an iPhone or iPod touch), but there are so many better things available for $150. My Amazon wish list has a bunch of those things — you know, just saying.

Art and design on the iPads

The iPad is amazingly an all work and all play all-in-one.

The iPad could be significantly improved for artists in two ways: first the impossible — Apple adds a Wacom digitizer to the tablet, second (mkre realistic, definitely feasible) — Apple could support pressure sensitivity on an OS level. There are some amazingly creative solutions for pressure sensitivity built into capacitive touch styluses, but apps haven't yet fully utilized the hardware. Many apps will never support pressure-sensitive styli such as the Adonit Jot Touch or HEX3 Jaja on their own, and stylus manufacturers don't have any standards to work from, inventing their own as needed.

Currently, pressure sensitivity is more of a gimmick in a few apps, unable to recreate the digitizer tablet experience. I love Wacom tablets, but I don't miss pressure sensitivity much on my iPad. The trade-off is size, weight, iOS software and amazing battery life.

Drawing and writing on the iPad with Retina display is truly magical; I thought doodling and sketching on the iPad 2 was fantastic, the Retina display is something else entirely. The wow factor is like seeing Disneyland at night for the first time, with everything lit up and fireworks overhead. Well, I suppose that's a bit of an understatement.

I don't know how the iPad mini will be as an artist's platform. Will it be a good drawing tool? Undoubtedly. Will it have a place with an iPad with Retina display? That's the question. I already know that I want the fourth generation iPad.

Brad Chin uses Blogsy

Daedalus Touch, a Must Have iPad Writing App

From The Soulmen website, app developer of Daedalus Touch natural writing app.

I'd intended to wait to post a full, comprehensive app review, but if you don't already have this app, you need it. If you do any writing on your iPad at all, you need this app.

Don't let the $4.99 (10/22/12 currently discounted! $2.99) price tag scare you — you get what you pay for with Daedalus Touch — it's pure quality. Notes, rough drafts, journal entries, code; whatever you want to put in it has a place. The app is fast, straightforward and easy to use, and its intelligent UI is brilliant and easy to learn.

If you're the cost-conscious (or broke) type, you can get AppShopper and wait for Daedalus Touch to go on sale. The Soulmen periodically discount their app, but their last discount ($4 off) was a few weeks ago so it might be awhile. However, they aren't the sort of big, nasty, non-caring evil corporation, so you needn't worry that your cash is going to a corrupt corporation (unless that's how you view Apple, in which case, you probably don't — or shouldn't — have an iPad, anyway).

I've mentioned the app before, but I'm mentioning it again because of a recent update. Content can be organized and synced with Dropbox and iCloud, and the document stacks can be exported in multiple formats including PDF and ePub eBook format. You can choose a photo for the cover image and make your own book, readable in iBooks and popular eBook readers. The app supports Markdown as well.

Let me know what you think app (because I'm curious) and don't be shy about contacting the developer (because they can directly do something with your feedback)!

Brad Chin uses Blogsy

Hand Stylus Part II

I thought I posted this a few days ago. Oops. Had some problems with my iPad crashing and some health problems, so I hadn't thought about the update. Today, I've been figuring out how to upload photos, attempting to fix my Says Brad gallery (here; haven't been able to fix it, however), and adding stuff to my dribbble page. Thinking about "going pro" at Dribbble but I'm not sure.

Note about Dribbble: dribbble requires images 400x300 or smaller; their website uploader will crop, but it won't scale images. My Paper sketches are natively 2048x1536, and I've been using PhotoForge2 to scale them to 400x300. That was working fine until today; PhotoForge2 just crashes after startup now.

About the Hand Stylus, 77/100

Anyway, above are a few of my new HAND stylus thoughts. It requires less pressure than the Adonit Jot Pro, but is less accurate and more difficult to use than the Adonit Jot Touch.

Above, I can see slight variations in handwriting across each stylus, but the differences are fairly small. The oStylus DOT, due to its thin shaft/handle, is harder to use while block writing. It's phenomenal for artwork and cursive, however.

I tried to use the Hand stylus to create my madewithpaper sketches, but I couldn't achieve decent results. I can't get the Hand to travel reliably and quick enough across the iPad surface to achieve the pencil and watercolor effects I use in my Paper art.

An interesting twist with HAND.

The Hand Stylus guys are based out of Alameda, and one of them read my earlier review and has offered to meet with me to test my stylus to see if it is functioning properly. If it works out, I'll share the results. They want to meet in Alameda. With my disability, mobility and timing is difficult so I'll see how it goes. It's a cool offer nevertheless.

Brad Chin uses Blogsy

Hand Stylus Review – First Impressions

I didn't write with it for long before I could feel my hand starting to cramp; the Hand stylus has some serious drawbacks that I hadn't read about anywhere, and I'm wondering now: what did the other reviewers do with it?

The HAND Stylus – far from being my favorite.

There was a lot of hype surrounding the Hand capacitive touch stylus; numerous reviews praised its design and functionality, thousands were per-ordered and paid for via Kickstarter, and… it looks fantastic.

The Hand stylus comes in super sleek packaging: a stamped aluminum tray inside of an understated white paper box with foil logo. The printed materials sport slick graphics. HAND: Designed in USA. Made in China. Sigh. We can't Affordably manufacture things statewide anymore? Oh wait, maybe we can.

The Hand has a magnetic clip. A retractable 4mm tip called the world's smallest. I chose the glossy red. It looks amazing and precise. It isn't.

The Hand, the problems

The Hand stylus isn't bad. I love many of its features — I love the styling, the highly-technical, over-engineered bits like the rotating retractable nib. But sadly, these features don't save the stylus because the most important attribute, reliably writing and drawing, is off. With great handwriting and focus, the Hand can produce decent lines… just like other less-stylish (and more comfortable) styluses.

The tip feels too soft, too squishy. In order to reliably convey my intentions from stylus to capacitive touch screen, an uncomfortable amount of pressure must be applied from HAND to screen. The tip deforms just enough to give the capacitive touch screen the 6mm it looks for. HAND calls this the sweet spot. I find it uncomfortable and aggravating.

My hand is mightier than the Hand.

The Hand stylus is about as inaccurate and annoying as the Adonit Jot Pro. It's not terrible; it's better than the WACOM Bamboo and the plethora of $10-or-less options. (For non-pressure sensitive use) I still prefer oStylus DOT — although in addition to being more expensive, the DOT is also more fragile. For an equally durable, inexpensive option, I recommend the COSMONAUT, a stylus David Pogue likened to a Pringles can. He probably thinks he's clever and funny, but he's doing his minions a disservice.

Final thoughts on the HAND Stylus

If you like super-stylish, frustrating, unreliable devices (like AT&T phones), get the HAND. However, I think that the Hand is cramp.

I can be clever, too.

Brad Chin uses Blogsy

The Best iPad Stylus and Five Touch Apps

These are a few of my favorite styluses for capacitive touch screens (for me, that's the New iPad with Retina Display). From left to right: Wacom Bamboo, Adonit Jot Pro, oStylus DOT, Studio Neat Cosmonaut.

Of these, my two favorites are the oStylus DOT and the Cosmonaut, but for different reasons.

The oStylus DOT is a highly precise, reliable tool for writing and design. It never misses. Although it's base has a vinyl pad, people have mentioned scratch anxiety due to the metal tip. Believe me, gorilla glass is fairly tough. Unless you have glass shards or sand all over your screen, you should be fine. I've been using the oStylus DOT every day for months (on the iPad 2 and my New iPad) and my screen is perfect. [Also: The Adonit Jot Pro has a hard plastic tip that some people have complained can leave a residue on the screen if you swipe too quickly.]

The oStylus DOT is a phenomenal artist's tool.

The design of the oStylus DOT offers great control at any angle. Because the tip can rotate between the wires, you can maintain perfect contact with the screen irregardless of how sharp an angle you hold it. By comparison, the Adonit Jot Pro stops at 45 degrees. As an artist, I want precision and reliability; a stylus should accurately capture every line, stroke and dot, 100% of the time. The oStylus DOT delivers, making it essential to my artwork, designs and handwriting.

The wires won't easily break, but they can bend, so some care is required. I recommend getting a good protective case for it, as the sleeve the oStylus comes in isn't great protection. If I were able to change anything about it, I'd add a magnet and make the shaft wider for an easier grip: I'd like to be able to use the oStylus to sleep/wake the iPad like the Jot Pro, and after about an hour, my hand cramps — a thicker grip would help. Also, the DOT and Jot aren't as good for tapping and typing because they make a hard impact with the screen; it's uncomfortable and makes a clack similar to that of a fingernail.

Despite any minor issues or inconveniences, I love the oStylus DOT. The DOT, $38, is hand assembled by Andrew Goss, a jeweler in Canada, and the quality is phenomenal. If you draw on the iPad, you need a DOT.

The Cosmonaut is the do everything stylus.

The Cosmonaut, unlike many touch screen stylus designs, isn't shaped like a pen. It looks like a large, black crayon. Studio Neat (with Kickstarter) created the Cosmonaut to feel like a dry-erase marker, and it does. Their logic is simple and sound; the screen surface is slick, and because you can't easily rest your hand on the screen (*I have a super simple method to remedy this, check back soon for a full explanation), the iPad is less like paper and more akin to a dry erase whiteboard.

The wide grip is excellent, although I'd prefer it slightly longer because I have large hands. Due to the wide body of the Cosmonaut, it's easy to control large movements and broad strokes — this stylus is great for anyone, and perfectly suited for children and anyone with hand control problems. If I could have my dream stylus, it would be a pressure-sensitive combo with a slightly longer Cosmonaut shaft and the oStylus DOT tip.

The tip itself is hard to understand from photos — it's similar to the nine-bazillion other styli out there, although slightly more rigid. It glides easily enough, although I have to press down harder than I'm used to for it to accurately register. It has a softer impact on the screen than the oStylus DOT and Jot Pro, but is slightly harder than the Bamboo; it's a nice balance that offers good control and feel for drawing, and more comfort for tapping and typing than the hard tipped styli.

The Cosmonaut is a great everyday, anytime stylus; it's durable, accurate enough, comfortable and stylish. It costs $25 USD but doesn't look or feel cheap. It's not quite as accurate as the DOT, but it is more comfortable, and great for tap typing and games. I like using it with card games such as Assassin's Creed Recollection, Ascension and Magic 2013, as well as RTS games like Eufloria, Autumn Dynasty and Anomaly.

Here are a few apps you must try with an accurate stylus.

Some apps are custom designed to work with high-precision capacitive touch styluses.

Here's a list of apps designed to work with the Adonit Jot styluses. They work great with any stylus, and some have pressure sensitivity features for styli such as Jot Touch, Jaja and By Zero Studio Pen. This list includes many of my favorite art apps, such as Autodesk SketchBook Pro, ArtRage and Procreate.

Paper by FiftyThree is a fantastic sketching app for anyone. It makes your notes look good. Here are some of my thoughts on paper.

Remarks is my new favorite note taking app. It's wonderful; it has most of the features I'd ever want, it's stable, and when I got it, it was on sale for $0.99 — but it isn't the most simple note taking app. Write, draw, type, add photos, record audio, it does it all, and can automatically backup to Dropbox. Super.

Noteshelf is a simpler notes app, but equally amazing. It is beautiful on iPad 2, and the clarity is stunning on the Retina display.

Infinite SketchPad is a remarkable vector drawing tool that offers an incredible canvas — zoom in or out, for incredibly large or complex notes. You have to see it to believe it. Best of all, you can export your notes/art or publish it online in its full glory. This app is perfect for mind-mapping, diagrams ideas, thought webs and all kinds of brainstorming. I use Infinite SketchPad almost daily, and the developer is really cool and friendly.

Sketch Rolls is a super simple, utilitarian sketching app that acts as the successor to the now defunct Drafts by 37signals and drawthings apps. It isn't for everyone, however and it costs $4.99 — there are cheaper apps out there that do more, but some people will like the style of this app. Presently, I like it more than Penultimate.

I hope that this list helps you to get more out of your iPad; the iPad is the single greatest thing in my life due mainly to great apps and a great stylus, and I want everyone to experience it.

I'm putting together an entry on palm rejection (wrist protection) on the iPad, and how to use the iPad more like a notepad without pesky software solutions, as well as a review of the new Adonit Jot Touch Bluetooth Pressure Sensitive Stylus for iPad (what a name!). So if you like my blog, please help me out and tell a friend! (Or Facebook friends, or Twitter followers.) Thanks!

Brad Chin uses Blogsy

Awesome iPad Stylus

There are 46.1 million capacitive touch styluses (styli maybe) on the market. Approximately. Most are the same with a different name. Many of them suck.

The Cosmonaut by Studio Neat is a wonderful iPad stylus for just about anyone. Don't let the odd looks dissuade you. Check out Studio Neat's product video.

Below is something that I wrote using the Cosmonaut stylus and Noteshelf on my iPad.

Brad likes Blogsy

Reading on the new iPad

I really enjoy reading Newsstand magazines, news, articles and books on the plethora of stellar iPad reading apps. Specifically, I like Pulse, Readability & Longform, Zinio, Newsify and Flipboard. I didn't really care for reading at length on the iPad 2 because of the eye-strain, but the pixel density on the new iPad Retina display is phenomenal.

Also, 1080p video and 720p HD streaming: fantastic. If you're on the fence about a new iPad, get off. Get one. Seriously, it's life altering in the best of ways.

Keeping this short because I still feel sick. But here's a cool resource if you like strategy games: Pocket Tactics. It's all about mobile strategy games — great content, interviews, and app reviews.

ttyl.

Brad uses Blogsy

Designing with Paper

I used to like real, analog paper.

Clairefontaine, Rodeo, Whitelines, and the occasional Moleskine. However, instead of lugging around thick, heavy notebooks, I now use the new iPad…

For just about everything.

 

Now, instead of the stationery store, I have the App Store. My Paper is supplied by FiftyThree and my notebooks are supplied by Evernote, Noteshelf and ThinkBook. I create mind maps and mood boards in Infinite SketchPad and Adobe Collage.

With my disability, I have to do just about everything from home. The Apple iPad allows me to find inspiration and create in an organic, fluid fashion. Apps open quickly, the battery lasts all day — I design more efficiently on the new iPad than I ever did on a desktop computer or in a sketchbook.

The new iPad Retina display is stunning — it's so clear that the iPad 2 feels unusable by comparison. As an artist, photographer or designer, four times the pixels is a fantastic upgrade. Further, text is so crisp that I prefer the iPad over Kindle for reading.

Sketching in Paper helps me unwind and brainstorm new ideas. I use it when I don't want to focus on precision and finite control. Brainstorming is about broad strokes, which Paper handles phenomenally. Some of these drawings inspire new designs and illustrations — some just look cool. And I enjoy sharing them.

So blogging, photography, design — art — all aided by iOS; an iPhone and an iPad. I also like to use an oStylus DOT and a KlearScreen microfiber cleaning cloth.

I like designing new things…

If you know someone looking for a design, new business card, marketing materials, an advertising campaign, billboard, postcard or help with writing or branding, please tell him or her about me — with a brief consultation, I can answer questions and outline the project. Thank you!

Brad uses Blogsy

The new iPad

Reading on the new iPad is wonderful. The Retina display is simply spectacular. If you do a lot of reading, writing or drawing, the new iPad is a worthwhile upgrade. Digital magazines and websites look better than printed pages, and sketching with Paper or SketchBook Pro feels real.

If you decide to get a new iPad, I suggest getting AppleCare+ for iPad. $99 and it includes two accidental damage replacements for $50 each. Get the AppleCare with the new iPad or before you open the packaging; this makes it easier, because it must be purchased within 15 days and if the iPad is opened, it must be inspected by the Genius Bar at the Apple Store.

What?! Blogsy compatible with Squarespace!

Blogsy is now compatible with Squarespace.

 

Blogsy is iOS’ best blogging tool. No doubt. If you have an iPad and you blog, you need Blogsy… that is, if your service is compatible with it. Blogsy has such a feature-rich, elegant environment that it enhances creativity. It does everything you'd expect — and a lot more.

One great, main feature is its WYSIWYG environment. It is structured similar to a word processor so it's automatically familiar. I think that this helps when blogging from the iPad, and also makes blogging more accessible to those without coding knowledge. Blogsy also has an HTML edit mode, but it isn't color-coded — serious programmers and coders may want to look at the other iOS options.

Overall, Blogsy is fantastic. And now, it's fully compatible with Squarespace, my favorite blogging platform! In particular, I like the drag-and-drop image uploader — Blogsy is much better than the universal Squarespace app.

Awesome Squared Cubed

I'm pretty sure that this new development means you'll see more blogging from me, as well as more #madewithpaper — perhaps in the Gallery!

Posted with Blogsy

Sketching with Paper

Countertop Cityscape

Everyday objects can inspire. Bottles and objects on my bathroom countertop reminded me of downtown Oakland buildings, so I decided to combine the two.

I love skyscrapers and cityscapes; I like the architecture, the colors, lights and distant city sounds. I like the angles, contours, steel and glass. I also like abstract art — for me, it's emotion in tangible form. Combining these passions in Paper by FiftyThree on my iPad lead to this drawing.

Countertop Cityscape was a lot of fun to make. Keeping it messy let me focus on bold shapes, color and concept. For this kind of drawing, I think that the oStylus DOT is essential. I hope you like it!

I will continue posting shots as I continue experimenting with iPad art.