Overheard a pro artist say they ditched their Wacom for an iPad Pro and it made me think

I was at a coffee shop near my studio in Austin last Tuesday and two illustrators were talking about how they switched from traditional tablets to iPads because the screen latency was way lower. One said they cut their workflow time by about 30% after the change. It hit me that I have been using my old Cintiq for 5 years and never questioned if there was something better out there. Has anyone else made that switch and noticed a big difference in their speed or quality?

3 comments

3 Comments

zarab2415d ago

Oh boy, another gadget upgrade that promises to save the world. I've been hearing this same kind of talk for years, first it was the Cintiq, then the Surface, now the iPad. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the latency is nice and all, but 30% faster? That sounds like someone trying to justify a big purchase to themselves. I've seen artists crank out amazing work on a ten year old Wacom with a scratched up screen. A faster tool doesn't make you faster, it just makes the tool feel nicer for a while. Maybe I'm just old fashioned, but I'd rather spend time learning to draw better than chasing the next hardware upgrade.

the_lucas15d ago

Yeah I bought a new iPad Pro last year thinking it would turn me into some kind of speed demon. Now I just draw slow with better resolution. My old setup had a screen that flickered anytime I pressed too hard so at least now I know what my lines actually look like. I swear half the time what I thought was a style choice was just my hardware being broken. Probably should get back to learning anatomy instead of staring at latency numbers though.

loganthompson15d ago

Used to roll my eyes at iPad artists but then I tried one and totally changed my mind.