I’m not affiliated with Apple. I’m not an Apple person. I’ve never been an Apple person. But a few months ago, I got an iPad and thought heck, I might as well get the stylus.

我不隶属于苹果公司。 我不是苹果人。 我从没当过苹果人。 但是几个月前，我有一台iPad，想了想，我还是会得到手写笔。

Except it’s not called a stylus. With Apple, it’s called a pencil. Oh, how fancy of them.

除非它不是手写笔。 对于苹果，它称为铅笔。 哦，他们多么奇特。

I’ve always had the impression that Apple products are overtly expensive, which gives the brand a general public perception of it being much more elite than other technological alternatives.

我一直给人以苹果产品过于昂贵的印象，这使该品牌得到了公众的普遍认可，认为它比其他技术替代品要精英得多。

Don’t get me wrong, but Microsoft has improved massively over the past decade, with other strong contenders like Samsung. In part, this is because a lot of them share the same, if not similar, hardware. Technology has become more a mix and match with a dash of marketing and software integrity kind of game.

不要误会我的意思， 但是在过去的十年中，微软与其他强大的竞争者(如三星)一起取得了长足的进步。 在某种程度上，这是因为它们中的许多共享相同的硬件(如果不是相似的话)。 技术已经变得与某种营销和软件完整性游戏混为一谈。

So what led me to finally buy into an Apple product?

那么，是什么促使我最终购买了Apple产品？

Well, it’s because I want to learn how to draw.

好吧，因为我想学习绘画。

别再找借口 (No more excuses)

Once upon a time, I had a creative streak in me that my teachers tried to nurture. But my mother, being the stereotypical Asian mom that she is, convinced me to do something safe like economics instead. She painted tales of starving artists and sign makers, struggling to make ends meet.

曾几何时，我心中充满创造力，我的老师们一直在努力培养自己。 但是我的母亲是她的刻板印象亚洲妈妈，却说服我做一些安全的事情，例如经济学。 她描绘了挨饿的艺术家和标志制作者的故事，努力使自己收支平衡。

Fast forward two decades later, my mother got it wrong. Those economics classes were duller than watching paint dry — no pun intended. While she may have had good intentions, I am somewhat a little under nurtured when it comes to my art skills. Looking back at my old stuff, I’d like to think I had potential as a kid.

二十年后的今天，我母亲错了。 那些经济学课比看着油漆干燥要迟钝-这不是双关语。 尽管她可能有好主意，但在我的艺术技能方面我还是有点受挫。 回顾我的旧事物，我想以为我小时候就有潜力。

As an adult with nowhere to offload my excuses, I decided to take charge of my personal growth and got an iPad. While I could have learned how to draw traditionally with pencil and real paper, I’ve got plans and I needed a way to bypass a step or two. There are things I want to do with this art and I haven’t got time to figure out how to shade a ball on paper (which I’m already pro at) and then replicate that in a digital format.

作为一个无处可放的借口的成年人，我决定负责我的个人成长并获得一台iPad。 虽然我本可以学习如何用铅笔和真实的纸画传统画法，但我已经有了计划，我需要一种绕过一两个步骤的方法。 我想用这种艺术做些事情，但我没有时间弄清楚如何在纸上遮盖一个球(我已经在制作)，然后以数字格式复制它。

I tried the digital art thing a while back but drawing with a mouse and screen just isn’t the same. The iPad and Apple pencil just seemed a much more intuitive approach than trying to go down the old-school digital art route.

我在一段时间前尝试过数字艺术，但是用鼠标和屏幕进行绘画并不相同。 iPad和Apple Pencil似乎比尝试沿袭传统的数字艺术路线要直观得多。

It was one of my secret reasons why I ended up with one of the original iPads back in 2010s. But back then, there was no such thing as an Apple pencil and the stylus were more like sponges attached to metal sticks.

这是我最终在2010年代购买一台原始iPad的秘密原因之一。 但是，那时还没有苹果铅笔之类的东西，手写笔更像是海绵，粘在金属棒上。

The Apple pencil is much more precise, with better control and a seamless charging experience.

Apple Pencil更加精确，具有更好的控制和无缝充电体验。

替代阵容 (The alternative line-up)

Before I made the decision to get an iPad, I did look at the other alternatives. Back at my old workplace, I managed to get my hands on a Surface. At first, I was hyped to use the pen, only to find it somewhat lackluster. My handwriting looked like a kid learning how to write. The responsiveness was a little bit off and holding your hand the wrong way could make your lines skip.

在决定购买iPad之前，我确实查看了其他选择。 回到我以前的工作场所，我设法接触了Surface。 起初，我被大肆宣传使用这支笔，却发现它有些乏味。 我的笔迹看起来像是一个学习如何写作的孩子。 响应能力有些差，以错误的方式握住您的手会使您的台词跳开。

But that was a few years ago, so the technology might be better now.

但是那是几年前的事，所以现在的技术可能会更好。

I also looked the Surface Pro, but I didn’t need another computer — especially when I’ve just bought a new laptop for programming work about six months prior.

我也查看了Surface Pro，但不需要其他计算机，尤其是在六个月前刚购买一台新笔记本电脑进行编程工作时。

The Samsung Galaxy Tab series was another option but there’s been reviews pointing out the lack of tilt function support.

三星Galaxy Tab系列是另一个选择，但是有评论指出缺少倾斜功能支持。

By the time I made my way around to the iPad and iPad Pro series, I’ve already become researched fatigued.

到我接触iPad和iPad Pro系列时，我已经变得疲倦了。

软件也很重要 (Software matters too)

One of the major things that got me to buy an iPad was the long term cost. The thing with Android and PC based apps and software is that they often run on subscriptions. There’s something about apps with Apple that you just buy it once and call it a day.

促使我购买iPad的主要因素之一是长期成本。 基于Android和PC的应用程序和软件的问题是它们通常在订阅上运行。 关于Apple的应用程序，您只需要购买一次，然后每天调用它。

The cost of owning an iPad suddenly seemed more appealing. The issue with subscription software is that it does get expensive over time. At some point, the cost of the subscription will outstrip the cost of the device.

拥有iPad的成本突然变得更具吸引力。 订阅软件的问题在于，随着时间的推移，它的确会变得昂贵。 在某些时候，订阅的费用将超过设备的费用。

While Adobe is good, the long term cost of it just didn’t work for me. Last year, I’ve forked out about $600 for just the subscription to Adobe. I’m not that pro yet and haven’t figured out how to monetize digital art.

尽管Adobe很好，但它的长期成本对我来说却行不通。 去年，我仅花了600美元就订阅了Adobe。 我还不是那个专业人士，也没有想出如何通过数字艺术货币化。

When I was doing my research, ProCreate was an app that kept coming up in tutorials and reviews. The major appeal with ProCreate is that you only have to pay the once-off fee to buy the app and it won’t cost you the price of your kidneys. ProCreate is an Apple exclusive piece of software only so that instantly reduced whatever brownie points non-Apple products got during the decision making process.

当我进行研究时，ProCreate是一个不断出现在教程和评论中的应用程序。 ProCreate的主要吸引力在于，您只需支付一次性费用即可购买该应用程序，并且不会花您的肾脏价格。 ProCreate仅是Apple专有的软件，因此可以立即减少决策过程中非Apple产品获得的布朗尼值。

苹果铅笔值得黄金吗？ (Is the Apple pencil worth its weight in gold?)

When I first started using the Apple pencil, my art didn’t look instantly great. In part, it’s because there is always a learning phase when it comes to figuring out the nuances of hardware and technology.

当我第一次开始使用Apple Pencil时，我的作品看起来并没有立刻变得很棒。 在某种程度上，这是因为要弄清硬件和技术的细微差别，总是有一个学习阶段。

ProCreate was easy to figure out and the Apple pencil itself did was I was expecting it to do. The only downside is trying to draw on glass. The tip just glides over the surface, resulting in weird slips here and there. I ended up getting Paperlike after a few days and when it did eventually arrive due to postal delays, the process of drawing with the Apple pencil is similar to drawing on real paper.

ProCreate很容易弄清楚，Apple Pencil本身确实是我所期望的。 唯一的缺点是试图在玻璃上画画。 尖端只是在表面上滑动，导致在此处和此处出现奇怪的滑移。 几天后，我最终得到了Paperlike，由于邮递延误最终到达时，用Apple Pencil进行绘图的过程类似于在实际纸张上进行绘图。

Learning to draw and shade digitally with an Apple pencil is much easier than trying to get things pixel perfect with a mouse. I’m not saying it’s impossible, especially when there’s ton of other artists doing it.

学习使用Apple铅笔进行数字绘图和着色要比尝试用鼠标使像素完美要容易得多。 我并不是说这是不可能的，尤其是当有很多其他艺术家这样做时。

Personally, I’m a tactile kind of person and the Apple pencil does make the creation and learning process much easier.

就我个人而言，我是一个有触觉的人，Apple Pencil确实使创建和学习过程变得更加容易。

There are probably annoying parts but I haven’t quite discovered it yet. Rather than an issue with the pen itself, it’s more to do with my proficiency towards the ability to use an Apple product. So far, it’s been a positive growth process and most of it has to do with the task of learning how ProCreate works. The tilt and pressure support also makes it easier to deal with the layering of colors and thicknesses of lines.

可能有一些令人讨厌的部分，但是我还没有发现。 与其说笔本身没有问题，不如说是与我对使用苹果产品的能力的熟练程度有关。 到目前为止，这是一个积极的增长过程，其中大部分与学习ProCreate的工作原理有关。 倾斜和压力支撑还使处理颜色分层和线条粗化变得更加容易。

But was it worth its weight in gold?

但是，它值得它的重量在黄金吗？

For now, yes.

现在，是的。