After Drawing With Pen Tips on My Apple Pencil, I’m NEVER Going Back

My family recently bought an iPad with one thing in mind: drawing.

Sure, we can also use it for watching videos, reading books or surfing the web, but in the couple of months we've had it, it's almost been used exclusively for its incredible Procreate drawing app with the help of the Apple Pencil.

Of course, it only took a couple of days for the Instagram algorithm to catch on to my new gadget, and immediately, I was served ad after ad for a brand called Pen Tips. Their soft silicone tips for the Apple Pencil are designed to make drawing more seamless, and instantly, I knew I needed them. I reached out to the company, who were kind enough not to just send me a set of their Classic Pen Tips but their full Artist Bundle, and I'm never going back to using the Apple Pencil without them.

The Brand

Pen Tips is a brand from the Netherlands that specializes in incredible accessories that improve the use of the Apple Pencil. Their most famous items, of course, are their titular Classic Pen Tips, which are small silicone nubs that go over the tip of your Apple Pencil. These come in 10 different colors and are designed not only to allow your Pencil to slide cleanly across the screen, but also to prevent damage to the screen, all without any loss of precision and accuracy in your drawing.

(via Pen Tips)

They also have a special silicone grip (available in four colors), which goes around the Apple Pencil, which makes for a more ergonomic hold and a Lycra glove that keeps any sweat off your tablet while preventing additional friction and unwanted screen presses. A set of five Pen Tips is available for $21.23 (or $35.38 if you want five different colors), or you can get all of the above in the Artist Bundle for $57.79.

(via Pen Tips)

 

The Accessories

As soon as my Pen Tips Artist Bundle arrived, I couldn't wait to get started with my first drawings. I asked for Pen Tips in white, grey, purple, pink and green. In use, they're all identical, but since my favorite color is green, I decided to start with that one. I simply had to press it over the nib of the Apple Pencil to get it on, and then slipped on the black grip, put on the glove, and started drawing.

(via Pen Tips)

In the time I'd used the Apple Pencil before Pen Tips, I'd gotten used to the weird friction and the constant clang of the hard tip against the glass screen. As soon as I started using Pen Tips, those things disappeared, and I wondered how I'd ever worked with them. Now, the Pencil is completely silent when I draw (which is great for late-night sketches and doodles) and the pencil moves without any unnecessary friction, making for cleaner and smoother results every time, and it only took minutes to get used to the difference. It actually makes me want to draw more on my iPad, and I'm getting better results than ever. Check out the funky Castlevania line art tracing I did below:

The other accessories work beautifully, too. The grip makes the Apple Pencil so much more comfortable to hold in my hand, while the glove makes my hand glide as smoothly on the screen as the pen does (without a ton of the errant lines I always seem to make without it). However, I don't always use the grip, and that's mainly because it doesn't fit conveniently in the iPad case I bought specifically to hold the Pencil. Most of the time, it's a matter of forgetting, but I always draw more comfortably when it's on.

(via Pen Tips)

And because the Pen Tips just slide over the tip of the Apple Pencil, I've also almost lost my first tip several times in my bed already. It hasn't happened just yet, but if and when it does, I can rest assured knowing that I have four replacements. Even if I do happen to lose them all, I'll be buying new ones pretty much as soon as possible.

 

Bottom Line

If you're someone who draws frequently on your iPad with an Apple Pencil, I can't recommend Pen Tips enough. While their grip and glove make drawing more convenient, I wouldn't consider them essential. However, the Classic Pen Tips themselves make drawing better in every way, from the texture on the iPad and how seamlessly they move to the fact that they prevent the annoying clacking of the Pencil against the iPad screen. In my opinion, they're more than worth the cost, and a worthy investment for any artist (even if you might be prone to losing them.)

(via Pen Tips)

 

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