iPad Proで絵を描く / Drawing with iPad Pro

Right before my business trip to Paris, I got an iPad Pro/12.9-inch.a

The release of new iPad Pro has been announced in WWDC, the conference of Apple for developers, middle of he night on June 6th (June 5th in local). I just ordered one on the official web site that day. And it arrived at LAB in Yanagibashi on June 15th, just before the departure.

I have iMac 27-inch on my desk, MacBook Air 13-inch for business trip, iMac 25-inch at home, and my mobile phone is iPhone. And also I have old iMac and iPad as well and I’m still using them, so it is not necessary to get additional ones. However, I needed to get the iPad Pro 12.9 no matter what.

I and Mr.Kitayama, the president of Tom&Design (also the designer of Bravura del t), have been talking about the wonderful quality for drawing of iPad while driking.

I'll talk about the apps for drawing later. First of all, it's just amazing that you don't need any papers, pencils, and erasers. A paper turns into be a screen and a pencil turn into be Apple Pencil. You would think that it's obvious there is no need to have papers and pencils because you are using a device, but actually this is actually even more fantastic than you expect.

You can keep drawing and if you don't like it you just delete it. Moreover, you don't need to clean up your desk when you are done. You can save your drawings as PDF files and share them via email. Basically you don't have to scan it. As a result, you can finish up everything while being seated. Plus, you can draw in details with your two fingers expanding the drawings. Also you can put colors in layers and put these various elements used with layer functions on the base of the drawing. If you want change the balance of the drawing, you can expand and contract as you wish. Since you can rotate it easily with your fingers, you don't need to move iPad Pro itself. Anyway, Apple Pencil is just awesome to use. It's very smooth and you can adjust brash pressure and line weight. It's just like you are using a real mechanical pencil. You feel like you've got a magic pen. For us, who have been drawing with a mechanical pencil on papers, every single action is innovative and overwhelming. Mr. Kitayama, who has bought iPad Pro earlier than me, showed me a lot of his drawings while drinking wine at the bar. He had just started using it but had already used to it by handling these functions that I have mentioned earlier. As I was looking at his demonstration, I thought, "I need one, too!" I knew the new model would be released at next WWDC, so I was so looking forward to June 6th of the release day to get one. I finally got the new model, iPad Pro/12.9-inch 512GB Wi-Fi Silver. The base price is 119800 JPY (around €970). And I added Apple pencil for drawing and Smart Keyboard, Apple Care, and a carved seal (KATSUYUKIKODAMA PARADIDLLE). The total is 171504 JPY (around €1400). I was like "It ended up pretty expensive!" Anyway it will be my good accompany for Paris and from now on, so it’s worth it. Finally, I will talk about ProCreate that Mr. Kitayama introduced to me. It's a very useful app for drawing and it costs only 720JPY (about €6), which is an amazing value for professional quality.

6月のパリ出張直前に新iPad Pro/12.9インチモデルを購入した。

6月6日(現地時間6月5日)の夜中にアップルの開発者カンファレンスWWDCで新iPad Proのリリースが発表され、その当日にアップルの公式サイトで注文。渡仏直前の6月15日に柳橋のLABに届いた。

僕のデスクには27インチのiMac、外出や出張用に13インチのMacBook Air、自宅には21.5インチのiMac、そして携帯はiPhoneで、古いiMacやiPadもまだまだ現役で使っている中、もうデバイスはいらないでしょって感じなんだけど、今の僕にはどうしても新iPad Pro/12.9インチモデルが必要だった。

ちょっと前からTom&Designの代表の北山さん(Bravura del tのデザイナー)とiPad Proで絵を描くことの凄さを呑みながら色々と話ししていた。

絵を描くためのアプリは後述するけど、その凄さって、まず第一に紙と鉛筆と消しゴムがいらないってこと。紙はiPadの画面、鉛筆は別売のApple Pencilにとって変わる。デバイス上に描くんだから紙と鉛筆と消しゴムがいらないのなんて当たり前じゃんと思うだろうけど、このことが想像以上に素晴らしい。

どんどん新しい絵を描いて、ピンと来なければ消して、捨てて、作業が終われば机の上を掃除する必要もない。完成した絵型はPDFにしてその場でメールで送って共有できるから、コピー機でスキャンしてPDFにする作業がいらない。机に座ったまま全ての作業が完結できる。

さらに、細かい部分は二本の指を使って絵を拡大して描ける。色もレイヤーでどんどん重ねて行けるし、このレイヤー機能を使ってたくさんの異なった部分パーツを土台となるベースの絵に乗っけていける。

描いた絵のバランスを変えたい時は、横や縦に自由自在に伸縮できるし、指で簡単に絵を回転させられるからiPad Proを動かす必要がない。

そもそもApple Pencilが描きやすくて仕方ない。滑りも良くて筆圧も太さも調整出来るからシャーペンと何ら変わらないどころか魔法のペンをゲットしたって感覚。

ずっとデザイン画を紙にシャーペンで描いてきた僕らにとって、ひとつひとつの行動すべてが画期的で驚愕の連続だ。

僕より先にiPad Proを購入してた北山さんは、絵をどんどん描いていってて、バルでワインを呑みながらその絵をたくさん見せてくれた。使い始めて間もないのに、直感的で且つものすごく操作が簡単で先述したすごいことが次々と出来ていた。

北山さんのデモンストレーションを見てると、僕にもiPad Proが絶対に必要だ！となり、どうせならWWDCで発表されるだろう新型を買おうってことで、6月6日の発表当日を首を長くして待った。

で、予想通り発表された新iPad Pro/12.9インチモデルの512GB、Wi-Fiのシルバーを購入。本体価格は119,800円。それに絵を描くApple pencilとSmart Keyboardに加えアップルケアと、ついでに刻印サービス(KATSUYUKIKODAMA PARADIDLLE)も追加して合計171,504円。

お〜〜〜、なかなかのいいお値段で落ち着いたなぁ！って感じたけど、間違いなく今回の渡仏の友。そしてこれからの相棒となること間違いなし。

最後に絵を描くアプリは北山さんに紹介してもらったProCreate。ものすごい便利でプロ仕様のアプリなんだけど、たったの720円(汗)。本当にありえない安さだ。