Tuesday, May 18, 2010

iPad'in

Catwoman, done by Jim Lee on an iPad using SketchBookPro.
Just got an iPad today, and it's groovy. Here's an interesting bit on Jim Lee of DC breaking his in as a drawing tool.
One of the most exciting things about the iPad is that the SketchBookPro software cost . . . $7.99
That's a difference-maker right there. Compare the costs of the following digital art start-up kits:

bottom-end iPad ($500-800) + SketchBookPro ($7.99) + some kind of stylus ($20.00-30.00) = $527.99

bottom-end Macbook Pro ($1199) + Photoshop (academic vers $200.00) + Wacom Intuos $309) = $1708

The iPad is not a ready replacement for laptop/wacom set up yet. Intuos pressure sensitive, high res, etc. . . But. . . it's looking real interesting, especially because. . .

I think the iPad is a bona fide publishing platform with significant advantages over olde-fashioned books. It's extra-spiffy. The comic-viewing capabilities are down-right spectacular.  The main difference I felt was that the contemporary full-blast digital coloring techniques in today's comics look loads better on the screen (where they were created!) than they do in print! I wasn't expecting that, but it blew me away. The mac Book reader also comes with a sweet free ebook of Winnie the Pooh. It's splendid, though I still imagine good old kids BOOKS are here to stay. Anyhow, I will bring this new robot girlfriend in to class on Wednesday for y'all to check out. I think it'll be a major development in the way comics n' picture books are "consumed" and created in "the future."

2 comments:

Audrey Sayle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Audrey Sayle said...

thank ye for the privilege of meeting said robot girlfriend, I went home and told lustily of the high tech finger painting :)