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Tracing A Zombie
I made (traced) this lovely little Popcap Zombie using ArtStudio on my iPad, with the help of the Pogo Sketch. The Sketch makes the whole experience way more fun than just using your finger.
The Pogo Sketch
I ordered a Pogo Sketch from the geniuses over at Ten One Design. It’s a pen sized stylus to use on a capacitive touch screen, like on your favorite iDevice.
Even though the Sketch’s existence predates the iPad, Ten One has done a nice job of parlaying its existence onto Apple’s new toy. With the iPad’s generous screen estate, not to mention the plethora of drawing programs already available, the two really seem ideal for one another.
I’ve spent the past couple of days playing around with the Sketch and I can say it does precisely what its tasked with. The nub on the end does a pretty satisfactory job of “gripping” the screen to simulate the required touch. You’ve still got to be concerned about accidentally touching the screen with your wrist while you draw, which makes using the Sketch for long periods of time a bit inconvenient. I don’t think anyone is going to be replacing their Wacom anytime soon with an iPad/Sketch combo. But for periodic use, this thing’s gorgeous.
My only real concern is that after a nice full day of use, the nub already seems to be a little bit smooshed, so I wonder how long this thing will ultimately last.
I’m not much of an artist, but I did use the Sketch to, well, sketch a bit in both ArtStudio and SketchBook. While I won’t share the pathetic attempts on this post, the handwriting sample below might help convey things a bit. Or not. My handwriting probably shouldn’t be used as an example of anything. What’s not coming through in this picture is that I took a fair bit more time writing my name with my finger than I did with the Sketch. I think the results for the Sketch are (unfortunately) closer to how my handwriting really looks. (I used ArtStudio, which also has some really wonderful brushes that provide a bit of a flourish, too.)
My favorite application of the Sketch? Flight Control HD. I never quite got hooked on Flight Control when it was just on the iPhone, but as an iPad game it really shines. The Sketch allows a greater degree of precision in drawing your flight paths now, which even in limited use has already translated into improved scores.
The best Sketch feature of all, however, is that since you’re not touching the iPad’s screen with your grubby fingers, you’re not leaving behind nasty fingerprints. The iPad does an unfortunately remarkable job of picking up every single fingerprint. In a day of heavy use, I easily have to wipe the screen down at least two or three times, which gets real old. The Sketch doesn’t leave finger prints, which makes it really ideal for loading up a video to watch, since you won’t need to wipe the screen down afterward.
