Procreate - a powerful and intuitive digital illustration app available for iPad
If you're thinking about getting Procreate.. Do it!
I was initially unsure about making the switch from using my MacBook Pro with a Wacom tablet to using an iPad and Apple Pencil but it was definitely a worthwhile investment and switch.
These are my pros and cons:
Pros
- It's portable, I can easily take it with me places so I can work with it remotely. Although I can take my MacBook with me, it is a lot more effort and a lot heavier. As I have unlimited data, I can also hotspot my iPad if I need to get on the internet and not feel guilty about doing so. (Thank you sim only contract)
- The brush gallery is amazing. The original selection is pretty great and you can easily import brushes, allowing you to play around with so many different textures and styles.
- Now I don't know if you'll be purchasing an Apple Pencil to go with it, but if you are there is no lag or space between where you put the pen down and how the line comes out. It is pressure sensitive and very reactive, which was a welcome change from my Wacom tablet. Which I sometimes got frustrated with and ended up using my finger and trackpad which I felt gave me more control. With the Apple Pencil it is literally like putting pen to paper and I am completely in love.
- If you're thinking of creating time lapses of your work, or tutorials, you can record whilst you draw. I haven't yet utilized this tool but I may play around with it soon.
- You can very easily import fonts, colour palettes and imagery. It is so simple to create colour palettes and very to edit and rearrange them.
- It is £9.99. No monthly charges, no hidden costs (well you can get add ons i.e. brushes), but no unexpected surprises. And for a creative £9.99 one off is a pretty good deal and not one we get very often. I love the Adobe Suite, but it does slightly make my pockets cry. Especially when you can no longer claim that lovely student discount. Which I don't think I utilized as much as I could have.
Cons
- The quality, although the quality is pretty good. It doesn't have that crispness I get from Adobe Illustrator. And when you copy and paste a layer, if you then resize it, it blurs and loses its quality.
- The battery life, I use Procreate quite a lot and it does tend to drain my iPad battery quite a bit and the Apple Pencil. Which also isn't in the most practical place to charge.
All in all, Procreate is really great app to utilize if you're interested in digital drawing and want the freedom of being able to work anywhere. Like most things it's not perfect but I'm sure you'll enjoy it if you do decide to go down this route.
Sera Rae