A sketch of Leonardo da Vinci with his iPad
I have often wondered what the great masters would have thought about the digital age… Would they dismiss it with a wave of the hand, would they fascinate us with their creations or would they ignore it and take their place in the ever growing queue of purists who have not embraced this creative arena?
Wacom have a series of digital tablets that have improved dramatically over the years. The pads that sit on the desktop in front of you, take some getting used to. The top of the range, the Cintiq uses touch-screen technology that opens up an infinite range of creative possibilities.
The Cintiq 21UX model has breathtaking response and can even detect 2048 levels of pressure; not forgetting that it senses the tilt of a users pen – and it doubles as a precision LCD monitor!
Enter, the iPad. My excitement knew no bounds until I discovered that the iPad uses touch-screen technology that can only be operated by a finger. Somehow, I’m told, this is cutting edge.
I sketch a lot and, although using my finger is a novel thought, it conjures up images of cave men decorating the walls of their primitive dwellings. I need to see the area where pencil meets paper or, in this case, the stylus meets the digital surface. For the life of me, I cannot understand that Apple seems to have missed such an important function in which the iPad could excel.