10.24.2011

Our Current Favorite App & Stylus: Zen Brush & Nomad Brush

This is one damn cool stylus, this Nomad Brush Mini with its conductive bristles. We've been using it on Leo's iPad with a variety of drawing and writing apps for a couple of months now: Eazel, GlowColoring (Free), Procreate, Penultimate, and -- our favorite -- Zen Brush.


Every time we break this stylus out in public, folks first get perky over using a brush on an iPad, then ooh and aah when they actually use it -- it's fun and, well, soothing. Especially when used with a really excellent product like the spare, elegant ink brush drawing/painting/writing app Zen Brush.


Leo enjoys goofing around with his Nomad Brush in Zen Brush (above), and the combo makes practicing writing a little bit easier. He can practice his stylus/pen/pencil grip without having to hold a piece of paper in position, and while the stylus glides freely over the iPad's glass surface without any literal drag (video below).


The Zen Brush interface is simple: three ink colors (black, gray, light gray), two eraser colors (white, gray), and a slider for brush size. I've yet to come across a person who didn't get a kick out of using the Nomad Brush/Zen Brush combo -- and I've brought them to several iPad workshops and conferences. Plus, all drawings in Zen Brush look good!

My "is this thing on" experiment
Leo copying me writing "bread"
My eldest's Sugar Glider.
She's a bit obsessed with exotic pets.
Mali's Twin Houses. The girl does have
a keen sense of balance and composition.
LOVE character calligraphy, by an iPad workshop attendee
Self-portrait by Steve Silberman. Love it!

One caveat for each item:
  • The Nomad Brush Mini is tiny. Very tiny. If I don't track it and put it back exactly where it belongs, it vanishes (and in fact I'm in a bit of a panic as I type these words). 
  • Zen Brush has positioned their no-undo, page-clearing trash can icon in the lower right hand corner of the screen. This northpaw has accidentally tapped & deleted several masterpieces.
Other than that, have fun.

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Disclosure: I was given our Nomad Brush by a company rep, with no strings attached -- we really do like it that much. I purchased all cited apps.

1 comment:

  1. That Nomad Brush looks cooler than my Wacom tablet!

    Also, you asked me about copyediting on Twitter, but Twitter isn't letting me reply.

    ReplyDelete

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