Hi there, a few months ago, I switched fully to iPad Pro (11") from a dot grid sketchbook. I mostly sketch rough UI concepts, physical objects, mechanical behaviors and context-of-use snapshots. The Paper app has been my favorite so far, as it strikes a good balance between limitations and deep control that enables me to maintain a flow without getting bogged down in the tools.
Having a separate sketchbook for each project or direction makes it much easier to immediately find something and there is no cost to using-up pages liberally. If you don't like a sketch, just go to a new page and worry about collecting the good ones later if necessary; you can always reorganize or create a new sketchbook of just the winners and work from that in the next round.
Regarding messiness– I do sometimes undo and repeat until it is a bit cleaner than on physical paper; but it has enabled new workflows that end up saving a lot of time and make it easier to visualize what I want to draw. For instance, I'll often spend 2-3 times longer on the base-layer of a sketch, like the device, menubar or background environment of a scene, but will then duplicate that repeatedly and rapidly / messily sketch over it or modify only the variable elements. I've found that with this approach, my sketches are more shareable and intelligible than in the past too.
The feel of drawing on glass is different, but it didn't end up mattering that much to me– after a bit of acclimation, it doesn't even register anymore. Drawing on physical paper still feels more pleasant, but personally, that hasn't remotely outweighed the workflow and organizational benefits.
I found that the transition to this approach required a distinct shift in mindset to become comfortable and automatic, but after a couple weeks, it totally cemented for me at least; probably won't be going back to pen and paper for the most part. Now I just want a better replacement for the piles of sticky notes everywhere.
Good luck with it, hope the experience I've had might be helpful!
Hi there, a few months ago, I switched fully to iPad Pro (11") from a dot grid sketchbook. I mostly sketch rough UI concepts, physical objects, mechanical behaviors and context-of-use snapshots. The Paper app has been my favorite so far, as it strikes a good balance between limitations and deep control that enables me to maintain a flow without getting bogged down in the tools.
Having a separate sketchbook for each project or direction makes it much easier to immediately find something and there is no cost to using-up pages liberally. If you don't like a sketch, just go to a new page and worry about collecting the good ones later if necessary; you can always reorganize or create a new sketchbook of just the winners and work from that in the next round.
Regarding messiness– I do sometimes undo and repeat until it is a bit cleaner than on physical paper; but it has enabled new workflows that end up saving a lot of time and make it easier to visualize what I want to draw. For instance, I'll often spend 2-3 times longer on the base-layer of a sketch, like the device, menubar or background environment of a scene, but will then duplicate that repeatedly and rapidly / messily sketch over it or modify only the variable elements. I've found that with this approach, my sketches are more shareable and intelligible than in the past too.
The feel of drawing on glass is different, but it didn't end up mattering that much to me– after a bit of acclimation, it doesn't even register anymore. Drawing on physical paper still feels more pleasant, but personally, that hasn't remotely outweighed the workflow and organizational benefits.
I found that the transition to this approach required a distinct shift in mindset to become comfortable and automatic, but after a couple weeks, it totally cemented for me at least; probably won't be going back to pen and paper for the most part. Now I just want a better replacement for the piles of sticky notes everywhere.
Good luck with it, hope the experience I've had might be helpful!