Freehand

I do lots of sketches — I like making sketches early in the design phase of a project, to explore possible solutions to a problem before I start working. I bought an iPad app, Penultimate, because I really like the way it renders pen strokes (it seems to vary the line width a bit based on the speed that the pen is moving, which makes the results seem slightly more organic), and I thought it might be fun to try using that for thumbnails and sketches and whatnot. I also bought a stylus, for more or less the same purpose.

It's a capacitive stylus, though, with a foam tip, a very big and round foam tip, one that doesn't offer a great deal of precision. My favorite writing and drawing pens are nice, new Sharpie markers (they're not as much fun when they're dull), and I'm accustomed to the cause-and-effect of writing and drawing with them. (The Ultra Fine Points are nice for detail, too.) Not so much so with a big round foam tip — I don't have the degree of control I want. I tried this afternoon, and the results were disappointing. (I gave up after about a half-hour, and used good ol' pen and paper, instead.)

I think I want a stylus with a more narrow tip, one that's more like the shape I'm comfortable with. There doesn't seem to be such a thing available, though, which might be a limitation of the technology.