Sketching on Screens

I spend a lot of time on my iPad and since I’ve got into charcoal sketching it seemed to make sense to give sketching on the iPad a try.

First thing to note; it isn’t easy. At all. In fact the lack of accuracy and control, plus the occasional misunderstanding or misuse of the tools makes it extremely hard to get the result you want. However, it is super convenient and once you get into a flow, really good fun.

I’ve been using SketchbookPro which is a pretty powerful tool and as it’s been out for a long time has developed into a really fully featured drawing program with multiple layers, huge numbers of brushes and a reasonable undo function, which you will discover is vitally important!

Working with layers makes all the difference, the lack of an infinite number of undos means that you have to be careful how many new marks you make each time you start drawing. You can only undo about ten strokes, so be careful! Working on layers means you can delete a whole layer of you need to, so try and keep key elements on one layer and then shading or colour etc on another. Work the same way with applying blocks or grads in the background and layer on top.

So far in my real world sketching I’ve only used black and white, on SketchbookPro you can play around with a huge colour palette, again by using layers you can just experiment without fear of wasted paint/charcoal. It’s liberating and gives you the ability to try things you might otherwise be afraid to.

So, give it a go! In short, it’s tough, but fun!