5 Comments

I often use a Neo smartpen. It isn’t exactly suitable for your workflow, but it records keystrokes and saves pages as PDFs or JPEGs. https://shop.neosmartpen.com

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At first glance it reminds me of Wacom's Bamboo Folio series

https://www.wacom.com/zh-hk/products/bamboo-slate-and-bamboo-folio

because it uses a special ball point pen and gridded paper note pad. But I read that you use a special smart paper while Wacom uses conventional paper atop a tracking surface. I don't think the Wacom series caught on like intended, but I still should make better use of it. Time is tight, Leigh, and a drawer full of underutilized Blackwing pencils call to me first.

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The major benefit of Neo pens is that the phone app will record audio and link it to your writing. This is especially useful for students and journalists — although in some situations, there could be legal issues regarding consent of parties unaware they’re being recorded.

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I have a first gen Apple Pencil and I love it. A guy on my old team bought it for me when I escaped the grind. I got procreate to go with it; alas I am still no artist

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Procreate is a wonderful program! Sometimes I envy the iPad artists because their setup is so lightweight compared to my Wacom MobileStudio Pro. The big difference is that the Wacom tablet is a fully operational Windows computer and that adds weight.

As for being an artist, just keep plugging and have fun. Good things happen with repetition and even just doodling.

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