Does anyone have experience or suggestions for tablets or Surface devices for doing digital art or design?
I’ve tried a bit of drawing with a stylus on an older iPad and it feels really good, so I might want to try an upgrade. (I know it can be pricey – this is more a “later in 2022” sorta idea.) I may just invest in a nicer trackpad for my Mac, which would be cheaper, but the touchscreen option is really appealing. Also, any experience using the iPad versions of Affinity Photo or Designer?
I also like the idea of using a tablet for visual aids when GMing live games, which I’ve never tried. Thanks in advance!
I don’t have any experience with the Affinity suite, I can recommend the iPad Pro with Apple Pencil 2 for digital art. Procreate is a fantastic program and the Apple Pen 2 is the best tablet pen out there. If you plan to do digital art, you’re going to want as much screen as you can get which is why I recommend going all the way and getting the iPad 2.
Look forward to seeing what you make!
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Procreate really is an incredible tool. I’m no artist, by any means, but I made some pretty nice looking stuff after digging into a tutorial.
An added benefit is that maps are really fun and easy to design using it. I can cut out rooms and portions and easily slot them in somewhere else. Much easier for me to think about them interchangeably that way than on paper. I had thought about using post-its to achieve the same affect but this is way better.
Got the idea from bandits keep YouTube videos. He uses procreate and an iPad for going over some map and adventure design.
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ooo! I’ve been away on this forum but here’s my 2c.
I’ve got experience in using it professionally and for gaming and I can say it’s a good investment.
The affinity apps work great on the iPad, though better if you can wirelessly connect a keyboard and mouse. Only issue I have is the file & font management being a little clunky, but as long as you can save through a cloud - it works wonders, since you can pick things backup on a windows/mac.
Procreate as mentioned is a great tool - it actually was the app that increased my illustration productivity 120% because of the nature portability. I’ve switched to Clip Studio Paint due to its cloud feature and a little more advance option/control.
You’ll be able to draw in Affinity designer as well, I did a illustrative logomark for a client purely on the iPad since you can switch to “vector mode”
As for gaming, depending on how you experiment with it, I’ve casted maps to a TV before and live revealing rooms etc. or projecting the npc/creature reveal via discord. Oh and the ability to add notes to PDFs and maps is such a great paper saver 
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