Bit behind the iPad curve, but am in the process of buying a new desktop tablet to use for sketching, illustration and photo work, when it occurred to me that using an iPad with a pencil tool might actually be a better alternative.

I use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, among other tools, which are all available in iPad (in a limited format – any major work would still be done on a Mac) – anyone got any real world experience they’d be happy to share?

Or, would a Surface be a viable option (bearing in mind everything I have used ever is Mac)?

I can’t draw never used mine for that but other people can.

[video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bJjlPdbhpqk[/video]

Get thee to the nearest Apple store where you can demo an iPad Pro with Pencil (assuming this is what you are talking about; regular iPad with a stylus would be a poor alternative IMO). Would be especially helpful if you could use one of the dedicated sketching apps like Autodesk Sketchbook to see just how good it is.

Illustrator & Photoshop are available in a limited format on iOS (not full apps). You can use an app such as Duet Display to mirror your regular display to your iPad or use the iPad as an additional monitor whilst plugged into your Mac which works really well, plus the Pro version lets you use the pressure sensitivity of the Pencil (on Photoshop, I don’t think it works correctly on Illustrator due to the way it demands drivers before it lets you use a pressure-sensitive brush which is a shame).

I’m looking forward to trying the Father Outlaw’s next month, but the articles I’ve read have been positive on the whole.
Example , but artist uses procreate rather than the apps you list.

^^^ I have the Procreate app mentioned in that link, it really is amazing but taken to another level with the Pencil. Only just scratched the surface though personally (not much of an artist myself!)

I’ve been using an iPad Pro with the Pencil and Procreate. I’ve also played around a bit with Adobe Draw and Autodesk SketchBook. The only real limit to the iPad/Pencil is my ability and imagination. I sketch a lot for design work, so feel very comfortable with a pencil and pad, and was concerned that it would just feel too distant writing on a tablet; but the Pencil is so precise that it was actually slightly unnerving to see my sketches/annotations appear. It’s very, very natural and extremely sensitive to weight/pressure applied. I also invested in Astropad (£23), which allows me to use the iPad like a Wacom, protecting the working area of the MacBook screen into the iPad. I’ve not done much yet in Illustrator, but I’m not hugely experienced there anyway so wouldn’t be best placed to comment. Check this guy out though:

http://community.astropad.com/t/what-is-your-experience-using-astropad-with-adobe-illustrator-cc/659

The iPad/Pencil It’s just brilliant and once I climb the working curve a bit and use the best apps, my workflow is going to get much, much quicker. I don’t often get excited about technology stuff, but this has massive potential.

Surface here. Best of both worlds – don’t have to give anything up when in laptop mode, it runs all software. But in tablet mode, it’s a tablet and you still get full Windows apps.

Not used Illustrator but I think Adobe are into the tablet enabled concept. In LR you get a tablet mode when the device is in tablet mode but you can switch back whenever you want.

I also invested in Astropad (£23)

interesting, I will definitely give that a go as it seems to offer some options that Duet (£15, plus £15/year subscription to use Pro features) does not.

Some good stuff here – thanks all. I’ll have a bit more of a dig.

The Surface also sounds very good too, but not sure I can justify switching to a PC… 😉