Penny Arcade made a comic with the iPad
Most people seem to agree the iPad is a pretty great device for reading (although perhaps not the best, eh Amazon?).
However, the debate still rages on about how suitable it is for making stuff. When it was first announced, there was plenty of snark from bloggers like Paul Thurrott, who wrote:
"When you go out and about with just an iPad, you're sending a message that you're not going to contribute. You're just there to consume."
Obviously, we beg to disagree, and not because we're a pro-Apple site. It's probably fair to say that, despite comprehensive tools like iWork, a variety of just-give-me-my-text editors like myTexts, and even folding portable keyboards, the list of people writing novels on the iPad is probably fairly small. But I use my iPad for making notes and drafting blog posts more often than I use any other single computer. It's small, neat, has great battery life, and does a superb job of not interrupting or distracting me.
But text entry, which is admittedly compromised by the iPad's touchscreen keyboard, is only part of the story. The iOS App Store sports a dizzying array of music apps, for example; there's even a complete multi-instrument, iPad-only recreation of "Eye of the Tiger." And there is a wide range of graphics apps too, which have been used to create things like these stunning pieces of artwork and a New Yorker cover that was made with an iPhone.
All of these things do have a slight proof of concept air about them, though; there's just a little whiff of "I made this with the iPad because I could." That's why I was impressed in a different way when I read yesterday's strip by popular gaming webcomic Penny Arcade and the accompanying text article by artist Mike Krahulik:
"So I am home sick today and that's why the strip looks a little strange. I was trying to figure out a way to draw the comic from home what with all my stuff being at the office. I remembered that I had downloaded the Sketchbook Pro app on my iPad. So today's comic was drawn entirely with my pointer finger. Kiko was kind enough to drop my finger paintings into the panels and add the text for me."
What impressed me was that this wasn't art made for the sake of making art with an iPad; this was the iPad being used more routinely to make art that wasn't, in any obvious way, different from the artist's usual style. This is iOS content creation becoming normal rather than extraordinary. And that feels really exciting to me.
