Portrait of Tetsuko - 2017

My first drawing of 2017.

What makes this drawing special is that it's also the first art I've done on my new iPad Pro, with an Apple Pencil, in Clip Studio Paint. Now, there's no iOS-compatible version of CSP... but thnks to an amazing app called Astropad, I can use my iPad to control CSP on my desktop Mac.

This is finally the implementation of drawing on an iPad that I've been looking for ever since the iPad was introduced. Previous versions have been unsatisfactory, due to factors such as lack of pressure sensitivity and plam rejection (trying to lay your hand on the iPad's surface while drawing with a stylus triggers unwanted lines and/or actions that interfere with my drawing). The iPad Pro/Apple Pencil combo addresses the pressure sensitivity and palm rejection issues very nicely, and Astropad lets me use an app (CSP) that I'm already familiar with and enjoy using.

This drawing was a quickie piece I wanted to try out the iPad Pro/Apple Pencil/Astropad/CSP combination, so there are quite a few improvements and corrections I'd make were I looking for a more polished piece. For one thing, her neck is too long; also her nose looks a little wonky (it may need to be moved a little more forward on her face). But as a "tryout" piece, it's not bad, and it shows me that the iPad Pro can be a legitimate replacement for my current desktop Wacom tablet. I think I get better line quality now, because my lines appear directy under the point of my stylus, the way they would if I were using pencil on paper. With the tablet I'm using on my Mac now, making a stroke on the tablet "down here" and having it appear on a monitor "up there" is still a little disorienting, and I think it hinders the quality of my digital drawings. With more time and practice, I think I can produce better drawings with the iPad Pro setup.

I'll have to try this out when I'm away from home to see if I can use this to make my time away from home more productive.