Working an iPad into my process
I have been playing around with an iPad Pro for a couple weeks and here is how it added a new direction to my style.
As vector illustrator I am mostly building compositions with geometric shapes. It depends on the subject matter to decide if squares and circles are sufficient in telling the story visually or if I feel the need to bring in a bit of hand drawn, organic elements. Working on a small scale – spot illustrations for instance – it makes sense to keep the shapes and lines as sharp and straight as possible, if only for printing arguments. Scaling it up and a big, perfectly circular head shape can look a bit too perfectly circular. Illustrating something involving technology and squares feel fitting. Putting together a jungle composition and copy-pasting the same leave or tree one time too often and your artwork looks cheap, or at least a bit too computerised.
I have added a human touch, an organic element, a bit of surprise in the past by printing out parts of my illustration on a small scale, scanning it back in and playing around with the levels to take the harshness from some of the vectors, giving the shapes a rough edge an a bit of grain. Lately however, I have been searching for ways to add freehand shapes to my style because sometimes a character needs more than a circle for a head. It was at this point that I started exploring pen-to-screen based hardware. The reason I went for an iPad was Astropad's app initially, promising me to mirror my Macbook's interface to my iPad screen, where I am able to use all my Macbook apps (and brain) with the touch of my Apple Pencil. It sounded like a more mobile version of a Wacom Cintiq (with the added benefit of apps like Duolingo, Skype and Transport Tycoon*, to name a few of my favourites)
Here's how far I've been finetuning a workable vector illustration process using my iPad Pro:
I start sketching out a composition in Adobe Sketch (1). I have also used ProCreate for sketching, and although ProCreate's brushes are nicer, I like the simplicity of Adobe Sketch. As I am also using Adobe Draw, it's nice to have the menus, layers and options in the same place. I am also quickly testing the colours in Sketch to decide which colour goes where. I take a screenshot of my sketch and bring it into Adobe Draw as an image layer (2). In Adobe Draw, I pick a colour palette to work with, in this case a three colour palette, a soft orange, a bright green and black.
I set my sketch layer to a very low opacity as a loose guide and start drawing in the shapes using the round tip pen tool. I don't like pressure dynamics for my style, so I turn that off (via the slides icon on the bottom of the sidebar) and set my brush size to 1 pt giving me sharp edges where I need them (3). I outline the shape (4) and fill it in by holding down my pencil in the shape (5).
As I am going, I decide whether to stay on the same layer for a couple shapes or to put one part in a separate layer. This is important when I need to change the objects' order, which, like Photoshop, is done per layer, as opposed to Illustrator where you can arrange each shape individually.
As a finishing touch I have developed a weird, blob shaped shading style to go over the final image. I have never done this in Adobe Illustrator but playing around on the iPad it seems to work (6).
Pro & Cons of the tested apps:
Astropad. As mentioned, when opening Astropad on both your Mac desktop and your iPad Pro, you're able to control your entire computer using your Apple Pencil on your iPad's screen.
+ All your familiar apps plus all the power you want
– Vector users probably won't get the most out of this. Makes more sense using Photoshop
Adobe Draw. Super stripped down app focused on drawing freehand.
+ Simple, fast, great synching options with your desktop
– No way to select and manipulate separate shapes, unless you draw every shape on its own layer. No way to rotate canvas or objects other than 90 degrees
Inkpad (by Envoza). Just one of the vector based apps I downloaded to see what it can do, Inkpad could very well become my Adobe Illustrator on the go. Not being able to use keyboard shortcuts on the iPad Pro, I have to rely on easy to control menus and navigation, and Inkpad managed to deliver just that.
+ Pretty much all the Adobe Illustrator ingredients I need on an iPad without crazy features I don't need while keeping it all workable in terms of navigation
– The freehand pen tool is too simplified, would definitely need more accuracy to use it
Procreate. Pixel based, very fleshed out set of brushes, pencils and paints. Barely needs introduction as this app is an industry standard. I likethe 6B pencil and the damp brush a lot.
+ As close as it gets stylistically to actually drawing on paper
– Heavy on the options making navigation a bit chaotic
Sketches. Pixel-based, which is why I haven't spend much time with it, but the interface looks really nice.
+ Great brushes, great interface
– ProCreate is hard to beat
Given the short time I've spend with my iPad Pro so far I can imagine I will write a follow up post in a couple months time. Would love to hear from you how you're using a tablet in your work process.
(* Just kidding, I'm afraid. My favourite pc game hasn't made it to iOS yet)
Wijtze Valkema is a commercial illustrator who believes in creating upbeat illustrations in a grey world. Connect with him at wijtze@gmail.com or on Twitter @wjitze