So while the iPad may technically be a more inefficient tool, considering the more capabilities a laptop possesses, I believe the iPad is superior for artists.
Why iPad?
When I’m holding my iPad and I’m walking around my room, culling through photos, doodling, or making things in procreate, even doing research and multitasking, using the split view with ChatGPT and iA Writer open, I feel like I’m in the future. Even writing this blog, post, simply clicking the microphone on the keyboard, and speaking my thoughts out loud, while walking, is a much more efficient way to create than being hunched over at a laptop. Ultimately, the decision is perhaps a bit irrational, and has more to do with the user experience of holding this very thin, sleek, piece of tech in my hand, while walking around, the mobility, the beauty, and the nice, backlit screen, that is just aesthetically pleasing. I feel like this is what computing should be like, something simple, streamlined, lightweight, and easy to use.
iPad for Photographers
If you are a photographer, I can’t recommend the iPad enough. I find that by holding my photos in my hand with an iPad, I don’t even desire to make a print. This may seem a bit controversial, especially given the fact that most artists want to see the work physically, but I believe that holding the iPad, and viewing my photos this way, is the most aesthetically, pleasing and beautiful experience of viewing a photo in this modern world. Personally, I simply use the built-in Photos app, to import and pull through my photographs every day. Viewing the images on the Photos app is such a streamlined and simple approach, where I can drag things around, double tap, and favorite, pinch, and zoom, Create albums and folders, and even use the airdrop feature if I want to take the photo from my iPad to my phone or back up to my website. For my previous color work that I’ve made using raw files, I imported them to the Lightroom CC app and have them available on all of my devices. It’s quite a beautiful experience, too, have everything streamlined and accessible via the cloud, from the iPad, iPhone, and iMac.
Ultimately, I think we’re all going to need a computer of some sort, whether it’s a laptop or a desktop, because it makes website building and doing other tasks, much more easy, but if you are an artist, photographer, and simply want a beautiful experience with your work, I can’t recommend the iPad enough. I don’t usually tell people to buy things either, I’m just recommending this because I believe it will actually make your life as an artist 10x more fun and beautiful.
Recommended applications:
There’s probably a gazillion apps that you could explore and use on this device, but I stick to a few very simple things to help me creatively thrive.
- Procreate
- Zen Brush 2
- Lightroom CC
- iA Writer
- ChatGPT