As some of you may have noticed, over the last few months, I’ve been nonstop obsessed about the iPad Pro. I’ve made several videos on this.
“Obsessed” is such a good word for it. So much of my mind space has been dedicated to unpicking all of its advantages and disadvantages in the same way I would, say, a dip pen or walnut ink. I think it’s natural for artists to feel this way, as art tools often feel like superpowers. Except instead of this one giving you super-strength or invisibility or the ability to do useless somersaults, art tools can give you smooth gradients or steady lines or chunky textures, the ability to animate or letter like the pros.
And the iPad Pro has really come super far since its inception a decade ago as a “large iPhone”—now, paired with the Apple Pencil and the Magic Keyboard, it’s turning into what is, for me, the ideal mobile comics-makings studio.
Anyway, I go into it in more detail in the video below:
Spoilers: after much hullabaloo, I ended up returning the M1 iPad Pro. Why did I do that, after so much excitement? Well, because I can’t afford it. Or, more properly: given my limited financial resources, I don’t think it’s worth the money. And that came down to the way the iPad manages RAM, or rather limits it, so that programs that SHOULD be able to use 16 gigabytes are hampered by the operating system.
After publishing this video review, I thought the story was over, and I would merrily traipse into the sunset with my less-RAMmed but just-as-capable 2018 iPad. But then! Last night! I noticed 9to5mac published this article based on the latest developer beta of iPadOS 15:
“A newly documented entitlement will allow app developers to request privileged access to RAM on iOS and iPadOS,” writes 9to5mac.
What does this mean? Well, no doubt it means that, come the big September update, apps like Procreate and Clip Studio will be updating to take advantage of all that extra RAM and we’ll finally get all those sweet, sweet layers the iPad provides. It also means my video isn’t going to age very well. I’ll probably have to make a follow-up video correcting my assessment if things progress accordingly.
My hope is that when iPadOS updates this September, all the art apps I use follow suit. And THEN maybe I’ll think about buying the latest iPad Pro with 16GB RAM. Times like these, I am reminded of how patience is a virtue I often lack.
Anyway, while waiting for developers to work their magic, I decided to test out Clip Studio on the iPad today. I already own and like it on the PC but the iPad version is subscription-based, which has turned me off until now. My friend Luciano Vecchio does comics for Marvel using this program on the iPad, so I should have been testing it earlier, seeing as he gets such beautiful results out of it. Here’s my first doodle from this morning:
It’s been really promising. I’ve switched on the 3-month free trial and I’ll be putting it through its paces for an upcoming comic I’m working on. I still have to give it a project name. Maybe Project Inside? I dunno.
Wow, this blog post really turned into a bit of a babble today, huh? I’m not sure why I called it “The Studio In Your Head.” I guess it’s something to do with how we want our tools to align with how we envision ourselves using them? Get the real-world studio to match up with the one in your imagination; that kind of thing.
I hope you’re all having a good week. July is almost here, and we’re well into the heart of summer. Talk soon. 💭