For the past few weeks, all the sketches I've been posting here have been drawn with real pens and pencils on real paper. With all the technical advances that I also use on a daily basis, it's still my favorite way to work.
Currently, I draw all my storyboards on a Cintiq tablet, but there's a new development I'm keeping a close eye on: drawing storyboards on an iPad.
I just got one and it seems to be working out. I'm still learning the software right now, and haven't actually used it in any production yet. But hopefully, it will be a good tool.
Currently, I am using Autodesk's Sketchbook Pro for the iPad. It's a little different than the PC version, but still pretty easy to navigate. I've attached a drawing I did last night. I am using a Griffin stylus ($20 at Target).
So far, here are the technical drawbacks:
- Resolution. I haven't been able to create an image over 72dpi. Most studios want 300dpi. So I plan to rough out a first pass on the iPad, then import the panels to my Mac Pro to increase the resolution and clean them up.
- Panel ratio. Again, Sketchbook has a default document size that's approximately 3:4. I'll just have to create a script in Photoshop to crop and resize all my panels.
- The iPad doesn't store documents in the same way as a PC. They have to be stored in the photo album (or Sketchbook Pro gallery). Not a huge deal, but it affects my standard pipeline of delivering art to a client. Just means a couple of extra steps.
Even with these drawbacks, I am enjoying it. It has freed me from my computer desk, which is nice when I need a change of environment. Especially when I want to just do some thumbnails or doodle some ideas. I can draw in the den, or at Starbuck's or on my back porch.
Plus, this is much cheaper than a Cintiq.... though there are limitations.
I still prefer drawing on paper, but this is getting very close to that!
If any of you have gotten an iPad, I'd like to hear your feedback, too!
3 comments:
thanks Tim. Nice to hear about your experience with the iPad. I'm thinking about buying something like this, hopefully soon... but I'm more interested in the tablet PC, some of them run win 7 natively and seem to be pretty decent machines. you can also get a win 7 running on an iPad (not sure how fast and stable), and that might fix your 72dpi and so on problems.
I'd love to be able to do 3D work on a tablet :D now that would be truly awesome and liberating.
Thanks for the iPad review. I use a tablet PC - Motion Computing. It is too heavy - most of the time. I really like SketchBook, but I wish it had a masking tool.
You drawings are extremely entertaining!
Dan
I like Sketchbook on my Mac, so it was easy to get used to on the iPad. It isn't a full version, but it'll do. It doesn't have the ruler or ellipse tool, and like I mentioned in the post, it has resolution limitations. Maybe by iPad4 or 5, that'll improve.
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