How I have been using iPad Pro and iPencil for design work and other tasks.

Do you have your very favorite art or design tools that you keep coming back to when you do your work?

I definitely do 🙂 For me they are Adobe Illustrator and my Wacom Intuos drawing tablet. They are my design sidekicks I can’t work without.

A while ago, I already shared them with you and many of my online course students are also loving them for their vector design work.

I do, however, like to test out new tools about once a year – or if the trusty old one breaks 😉

Well, last year for me those new test tools were an Apple iPad Pro and iPencil. I have to be honest, I was skeptical of them at first, but the verdict is in!

I like them a lot!

Tip 1: Drawing elements for vector patterns.

Here is a fabric design for an amazing client of mine Princess Awesome clothing brand featuring flying dinosaurs. I drew all of the elements on my iPad Pro using my iPencil. 

I used the free Adobe Draw app and after my little dino’s were done, I used “send to Adobe Illustrator” feature of this app to get my vector files open directly on my MacBook Pro. 

From there I copied all of my elements into one single Adobe Illustrator file and cleaned up anything that needed to be worked on a bit. The elements were pretty close to final by then. 

After that, I used my usual vector pattern creation process in Adobe Illustrator with my Wacom Intuos tablet to finalize the composition and to save all the files needed for my client.

I use Adobe Illustrator to create my vector designs as I need specific Adobe file formats which are industry standard to submit for sale online or to send to my 1-on-1 clients. 

Here is a personal pattern collection project that I used iPad Pro and iPencil to design the elements for:

 Tip 2: Free Evernote software to take notes and create mind maps. 

After trying a few different things, I now use my iPad Pro and iPencil for other super helpful things in my business besides drawing which saves me time and keeps me organized.

I found that the free note taking software Evernote can create really responsive sketches and handwritten notes!

So awesome!

I love creating mind maps whenever I am planning a new online course or a series of Youtube videos. Even if I am planning a trip or a Birthday party. 

Being a very visual person I can translate a mess of ideas in my head 

if you are interested in the full list of graphic tablets and other tools I use in my studio, please check out this blog post. 

Grow, love, and create!

Oksancia