I adore my iPad Pro and the Smart keyboard, but I never use the pencil. I don't like the tapping sound it makes on the screen and I'm annoyed that there's no place to attach it to the iPad cover to keep it handy. Besides, the Pro's battery life is already pretty bad so having bluetooth enabled to use the pencil would only make the life shorter.

I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone comes up with a great app that would reinvigorate my desire to use the pencil.

I've already ordered the smaller Pro and keyboard as my iPad 2 died yesterday and I've found that the larger Pro is a bit big when traveling.

Fun, I wanted the pencil for sketching not for tapping on icons etc. i was surprised that in a program as basic as note there would be options for sketching. I like using the marker option as it makes broad strokes. it was fun to make a colorful design on my Pro.If I didn't have such cute DGC to use as my screen background I would design my own.

I have an iPad air that I use when I travel and a mini that I keep in my purse. I do think that I could get by with just my phone when I am out and about but I got the mini before the bigger screen iPhones came out.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who is tech obsessed. My DH used to kid me that I was probably the only woman on earth whose favorite store was Circuit City. Of course my second favorite was Talbots right next door to CC.

OT a bit, but I'm learning something similar -- a Wacom tablet attached to my laptop, using the pencil instead of a mouse as well as for drawing. It's taken a long while to get used to the pencil -- old dog, new tricks & all that -- but now I really like it. I use Corel's Painter Essentials & Paintshop Pro, plus some other apps for photo manipulation where a pencil works better than a mouse or touchpad.

Your post has inspired me to see what stylus/sketching stuff is available for my Android tablet, Holly-Kay.

" My DH used to kid me that I was probably the only woman on earth whose
favorite store was Circuit City. Of course my second favorite was
Talbots right next door to CC." LOL!

Holly-Kay, I did the same thing...bought a mini before the + phones were available. If only I had waited a few months, I wouldn't have bought the mini because the large format phone is all I need. One more day before my new small Pro is here! Unfortunately, I have to wait longer for the keyboard as it won't ship until April 7. I would rather have new tech than any other item.

awm03, I haven't checked out your link yet, but it looks like a good one. Thanks for posting it.

Awm, thanks so much for the link. When I bought my first iPad and bought Zen Brush I envisioned my DGC loving it but they were too young at the time to enjoy it but I had quite a bit of funning playing around with it.

I ordered an Ipad Pro to replace my Ipad Air 1. i am not planning to use it for drawing but to use it for taking notes during my multitude of meetings a day. I have found it difficult to type notes. In many scenarios, I am running the meeting, presenting content and also taking meeting notes. I love writing! I find that if I write something down, I remember it almost to the letter. I will use OneNote and Notability for the ability to capture and organize my notes. Notability will not perform transcriptions of my hand writing but there is another application that I am going to evaluate is Notes Plus that does perform transcription.

Good luck!

Oh my gosh, I just found the biggest time suck ever. When I was searching for sketch and art apps I found an adult coloring book app that was free with no in app purchases. I have a few and find that when I use my colored pencils my hands and fingers get achy because of using pressure, so I thought I'd give it a try.. When you select a color an tap with your pencil it fills that secession in. I thought, geesh this is stupid but since it was free I kept going. It is totally addictive. It's so much fun to see how one color affects another and the mandelas are intricate so a lot of fun. each hue has a huge variety of tints and tones to use. It is so easy to use but be warned that you will fall victim to time lapse. I couldn't believe when I looked at my watch and saw it was after one.

Awm, thank you so much for the link above. I downloaded art set and it's awesome. It is very easy to use and there are a lot of tools to use. I will use it on trips where my art supplies are too bulky to carry easily.

ETA: the coloring book app is "Mandala Coloring Book" by Irina Schens.

I just bought the iPad Pro and pencil. I downloaded a bunch of apps- procreate, sketches, Adobe, etc. for drawing. I started watching videos on how to use procreate. Sketches is very easy to use. I really want to learn how to paint, but I thought this would be a good substitute until then. I am amazed at the pencil and how well it works!

This is my firstipad. I've resisted because I haven't really needed one. Now that my MacBook Pro is at Apple getting repaired, I am glad I have the iPad to use as a backup. I bought the keyboard and I actually think it works really well. I also like watching movies on it. I heard that if you rotate the iPad, the speakers will rotate with it! Anyway, in my opinion it doesn't replace a laptop, but it is fun to have.

I love mine too. It is the forth iPad I've purchased for myself. They just keep getting better. I downloaded art set but you can't rest your hand on the screen like you would when sketching on a sketch pad because it increases or decreases the size of the drawing. I think the issue is within that specific app though. I love having the pro but it won't replace good old sketch pad and pencil for quite some time. It will take a lot of tweaking but it is so much fun to play around with it and be able to erase at the touch of a button. I downloaded a coloring book app and it is a blast seeing how colors change appearance when used with other colors. There is nothing artistic in the app skillwise but very fun for seeing how colors play off each other.

I sketch a lot and I'm buying art supplies right and left. I suppose I am still looking for the medium that I feel most comfortable with but so far sketch paper and a pencil is my fav.

Holly-okay -if you create a good drawing on the iPad, what will you do? Will you print it off to frame? Or use it as a blueprint for the real thing? I am trying to figure out how artists use the ipadpro.

There are tons of free coloring book apps for Android, I would think there's a lot for iPad too but I don't own any apple products. I enjoy the apps for a change from actual coloring. The color choices and manipulation are what I really like.

Rocky, last evening was the first time I attempted anything more in depth than sketching or doodling. At this point I'm trying to sharpen techniques and practicing skill sets. I was very surprised at how much like a watercolor painting I was able to create by using Art Set oil pastels, the blending tortillon, and rag. I can't imagine that I will print from it as it is just a practicing tool for me at this point. I have watercolors, oil pastels, colored pencils, Prismacolor markers, different hardness graphite pencils etc.

Raven, aren't the coloring books fun? I am disappointed though in how obtrusive the ads are and how quickly a review request pops up. You can't proceed without rating and items are locked after the initial first eight or so. I would rather pay twenty or thirty dollars and have access to the fun without the pita hoops the app creator puts you through. I don't expect them to not make money but I wish it was in a more up front manner.

I often watch Mark Crilley on youtube and MaryDoodles is absolutely adorable. I've only had my Pro for a week but I plan on using it for following along with some of Mark's videos as the erase function is so much quicker on the iPad.

I received the smaller iPad pro keyboard today. I was unsure if I would like the smaller keyboard, but it's great! I experimented before I received it and found that the large keyboard will work with the smaller iPad Pro if you remove any back cover, so you can make the large keyboard do double duty if you want.

Fun, thanks for the update. Let me know what you think of it in comparison to the original size after you've used it for a bit. Are you using the Smart keyboard as the only cover or did you get a back cover also? One of the things that surprised me is the smaller Pro has a better camera. I wonder why that is? I think the smart keyboard is fantastic, I honestly think the Pro could replace my MacBook Air.

I am getting ready to retire my iPad2 and maybe my mini. If I do, that will leave me with an iPad Air and the large iPadPro. If I find I want more I may go with the smaller Pro too but I swear this house is inundated with laptops. I have 3 Windows based laptops and DH has two. I only use one of them and it's dedicated for my Quickbooks for our businesses. The other two are just hanging out but both of them are about 6 years old so outdated. My normal laptop is a MacBook Air.

I'm not sure what to do with the ones I want to retire. I bought both of my older grandsons their own iPads and my other grandchildren are two y.o. and 6 months. The two year old has a Kindle Fire that I got him for Christmas.

Thanks for the info on sketching. I bought the keyboard last week for the large iPad Pro. I am amazed at how well it works. I use it as a cover, but I am thinking of getting a separate cover. What do you all do? Anyone else have a problem with finger prints on their iPad Pro? LOL When my parrot walks across it, he leaves little bird footprints.

Holly-Kay, have you ever tried painting on photos? That's where you import a photo into your app, layer a transparency over the top of it, then paint on the transparency to emulate the photo beneath in a painterly way. I think that sounds like fun, but haven't the skills to do it well (...not yet, maybe in 15 years!). It's the reason I got Corel Painter Essentials -- it does transparency layers. Also, being a pie-in-the-sky optimist, I have hope that I can learn to draw this way :)

I sure admire you for having sketching & drawing skills. What a wonderful gift, to see the world with an enhanced sense of line and color and light & shadow, and to be able to put it on paper (or screen).

Holly-Kay, I ended up buying the back cover (what a ripoff) because it gives you something easier to grip when holding the iPad without the keyboard, for instance when you are sketching. The keyboard can be folded in a different way to use the iPad for viewing videos which is nice. My biggest frustration is when I'm trying to use an app that only works in portrait mode. I generally remove the iPad from the keyboard, but then there's no way to prop it up so I've been using my cookbook holder.

Rockybird, I added a glass screen protector which is easily cleaned and resists fingerprints. There are tons of choices on Amazon.

Rockybird, I am using the smart keyboard as my only cover. It is so similar to the covers that I have for my other iPads so it works quite well. I have fingerprints on all of them not matter what I do. They are fingerprint magnets. I do have the screen protectors but I don't really notice that it makes the screen less prone to finger or bird prints (HaHa). It would be great if your bird's prints would show up on one of the sketching apps, what a fun screen saver that would be!

Awm, I haven't tried that but it sounds like fun. You really can and will learn to sketch. I am pulling for you. A few tips. Get yourself a spiral bound sketch book and pencils. My favorite sketch pad is Strathmore drawing paper in the 6 x 8 size. Stick with the smaller size as it isn't as intimidating having a small area to cover when you are starting to sketch. My favorite pencils are Faber-Castell 9000 jumbo pencils. They come in a five pack and includes HB ( I use this one the most), 2B, 4B, 6B, and 8B. Also a very good eraser. Watch some how to draw videos on youtube and invest in some drawing how to books. You really don't necessarily even need to invest in books at first and the few items that I suggested won't run more than thirty dollars or so on Amazon. Tablet sketching is great but you should practice some skills with real paper and pencil. Drawing is really more about seeing than anything. Really look at what it is that you are drawing and think about what shape something is rather than what it actually is. Practice every day and date each drawing so that you can go back and see how you are progressing. Believe me, if you practice and put time into it you can draw! If you decide to pursue books the two I recommend is Drawing on The Right Side of The Brain by Betty Edwards and Keys to Drawing by Bert Dodson. The huge advantage though to any type of e tablet is you can trash a page without wasting paper and it's great because you don't have a big investment in paints, canvases, and supplies until you are ready to move on. If you have any questions at all with anything sketching related you can pm me and I will be glad to help!

Fun, I think I will skip the back cover then. I am wondering how much better an iPad can get. I am so amazed at how far we've come in regards to technology. Our first computer was an IBM with a dos operating system that DH used when he wanted to connect with the company he worked for. The connection was via modem. Remember the horrible noise that used to make? It also amazes me at how little really wonderful apps cost. I remember Adobe Illustrator being hugely expensive. Way too much to spend on just one program.

Thanks so much for the tips & encouragement, H-K. "Drawing is really more about seeing than anything." Which is why I think drawing would benefit my photography.