How do I draw on this old iPad?

August 1, 2023 8:57 PM

I would like to be able to draw using my iPad. It's an iPad Air 2 software version 13.2. What can I buy used, and what software should I download for this purpose?

Doesn't have to be super great. Just for making little drawings for my own entertainment. I want to buy used on Swappa or eBay or whatever.

Thanks!

posted by latkes to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Are you looking to buy a stylus? The iPad Air 2 does not have the ability to use the Apple Pencil. I don't see any other styluses on swappa. eBay has plenty of new stylus models for like $20-$30 that will state that they are compatible with the air 2.
posted by soelo at 9:15 PM on August 1, 2023

Response by poster: I guess so? I know zero about how this works. Can anyone recommend a brand of stylus that is fairly dependable? Do I have to download a particular app to draw?
posted by latkes at 10:22 PM on August 1, 2023

Procreate is the iOS app that artists keep talking about, though it may or may not be overkill for what you want; I'm sure there are more basic ones. You also don't actually have to use a stylus - I'd start out with fingers, get a sense of where you're at, and go from there.

(There are different screen/stylus technologies and (I think) the Pencil, when used on a display that can support it, gives you added features like pressure sensitivity, whereas cheap styli on older screens are basically like using your fingers but on stilts)
posted by trig at 2:36 AM on August 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

If you go back a little ways in my blog, you can see drawings I made using Sketchbook and a dollar-store stylus on a first-gen iPad Air I bought a decade ago.

I bought Sketchbook even before that, and now it looks like it's free with in-app purchases (I don't roll like that, so caveat emptor, I paid some sort of flat fee back in the day). I like Sketchpad; I'm not an artist (obviously) but with layers, pen styles and the Fill tool, I can make stuff that I think looks pretty decent from a deliberately-not-pro-artist perspective.
posted by Shepherd at 3:48 AM on August 2, 2023

(realizing post-edit-window that I didn't say that it still works -- it's been a while since I've published anything but was noodling around in it just the other day, so if it still works on a first-gen Air and you have an Air2, I wouldn't worry about compatibility etc.)
posted by Shepherd at 4:07 AM on August 2, 2023

You can draw in the standard Apple Notes app. It doesn't have as many features, tools, etc as a dedicated drawing app, but it works for simple things, in case that helps.
posted by fabius at 5:12 AM on August 2, 2023

Highly recommend Procreate. Easy to use and costs $10!
posted by sucre at 12:11 PM on August 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: So, with an older iPad, you have basically 2 options for stylus: a capacitive stylus or a BlueTooth one.

A capacitive stylus is very generic any of them will work on any device with a touch-screen -- as far as the iPad is concerned, it's basically just a fake finger that you can hold like a pencil. They're available in a variety of different sizes and shapes, both for the tip and the body, but will all be pretty close to equivalent in functionality. It's generally a basic pen shape with a little rubber dome on the end that you use to write/draw. A smaller tip will let you see the area around where you're drawing more accurately, but won't actually give you any more precision.

A BlueTooth stylus is going to be a little trickier to find and requires that app you're using supports your specific stylus. You can get greater precision and things like palm rejection, but it'll cost more and be much more finicky to set up. At this point, there are probably very few manufacturers and apps that are still producing/supporting this type of stylus.

As for apps to draw with, there are a huge number of them available at a lot of different price-points. Which ones work best will depend on what kind of drawing you want to do, but there are enough good free or freemium ones out there that you should be able to try out a variety and see what you like. A few specific recommendations:
- The build-in Notes is surprisingly good. There's a few different tools and it works great for a quick sketch or diagram
- Tayasui Sketches has some really nice tools and basic support for layers. I believe that the basic tools are free and you pay to unlock additional ones.
- Concepts is another free app with paid additional tools. It's designed more for architectural sketches and similar (great graph paper features) but can work well for other drawing too. It's one of my top apps for doodling.
- Procreate is the go-to for a more serious artist tool. It's a paid app and more complex/advanced than a lot of others. It's very nice, but a lot of what makes it a pro tool will be somewhat limited with a basic stylus.
- Linea Sketch is an intentionally minimalist drawing app with good UI
- There are some good apps from Adobe (Fresco is particularly fun to play with) but their pricing/signup/etc. is always confusing and always changing
- A lot of people like Autodesk Sketchbook but it never really clicked for me

One caveat with all of these recommendations is that it's been years since I used them without the Apple Pencil, so I can't really speak to how well they work without the pressure/tilt/etc. support that gives. But most of them are free downloads, so there's not much to lose!
posted by duien at 1:00 PM on August 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

If you’re intending to doodle and sketch, I heartily recommend Tayasui Sketches. I’ve been using the free version for several years and have never really needed more than the basic set of tools. It’s a lovely sketching app. Any capacitive stylus should work. FWIW, I quite often just use my fingers to sketch on my iPad Air.
posted by Thorzdad at 2:03 PM on August 2, 2023