Artist Review: Best iPad Stylus for Drawing

The search for the best stylus has been a frustrating one for me. Over the years, I've bought too many stylus, as you can see in the photo above.

Now that I have all these stylus, I can also tell you which one is the best.

Before you read further, there are some things to take note.

• Everyone's drawing preference is different. A stylus that I like might not be the one that you like.
• How well a stylus work also depends on the app support
• To prevent disappointment, check the list of styluses supported by the app you want to use
• Check to see if your iPad will support the stylus
• Many digital stylus have the slow wavvy diagonal lines problem. Some apps correct for that.

I've also reviewed some of the stylus in greater detail. Their links will be provided.

The best stylus for drawing is the Apple Pencil

The Apple Pencil is the best stylus but unfortunately it is currently only compatible with the iPad Pro.

Apple Pencil has nailed the implementation of pressure sensitivity in a stylus. You can use the softest of pressure while drawing and the iPad Pro will be able to pick up the line. In addition, Apple Pencil also supports tilt detection and that works flawlessly too. The design, look and feel also score top marks with me.

I'm not sure how Apple handles palm rejection on the iPad Pro but it is so much better than using third party styluses on smaller iPad.

Hopefully Apple will expand the compatibility to the iPad Air and iPad Mini.

The next best drawing stylus with pressure sensitivity

The Adonit Jot Touch with Pixelpoint and the Wacom Creative Stylus 2. I prefer Adonit Jot Touch simply because I'm starting to have connection problems with Wacom Creative Stylus 2.

Both stylus connect using Bluetooth, have hard tips and two shortcut buttons.

Pressure sensitivity works well and is almost comparable to the Apple Pencil. The small tip allows you to see what you're drawing.

You can see the listed of apps supported by these two styluses at
https://www.adonit.net/jot-ready-apps/
https://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/stylus/intuos-creative-stylus-2

The best drawing stylus without pressure sensitivity

Adonit Jot Pro Fine Point gets my vote. The transparent disc at the tip lets you see what you're drawing and this is easily the most accurate non-pressure sensitive stylus I've used. This is a good stylus for drawing but not as good for writing. This latest edition of the Jot Pro has a cap to protect the disc.

Adonit also has a variation with a built-in ballpoint pen called the Adonit Switch.

Adonit Mark is also a good stylus to consider. The tip is made of some mesh and is more durable than the common rubber tip. It's quite smooth when drawing on the glass surface but not to the extent that it's slippery. This stylus has a nice solid feel and weight.

This is the Wacom Bamboo stylus with rubber tip. I just don't like the feel of the rubber on glass. Get the Adonit Mark instead.

The stylus that's most fun to use

Pencil by FiftyThree is a rubber-tip stylus designed specially for use with the Paper drawing app.

It is only with the Paper app that you can get to use all the features of Pencil, such as the ability to use the side of the tip to create broad strokes, use the back of the stylus as an eraser, and also turn on palm rejection. Palm rejection implementation can be inconsistent with other drawing applications but here with the Paper app and Pencil, it's almost flawless.

If you're using Pencil with other drawing apps, it's no different from other rubber-tip stylus.

Best stylus for writing

I've never found the best stylus for writing actually, but if I really have to pick, I say go with Adonit Dash.

Adonit Dash is a battery powered stylus that somehow doesn't need to connect to Bluetooth in order to work with your iPad. Because of that, it can also work with other brands of tablets.

Highlight of this stylus is the fine hard tip. It's small so it doesn't block what you can see.

Downside is diagonal lines are more wavvy than other digital styluses.

The rest

This is the Wacom Fineline 2. It has pressure sensitivity but if there's already the Wacom Creative Stylus 2, why would you want to get this Fineline 2?

This is the Adonit Jot Script 2. It's a stylus designed for writing. If you can get Jot Dash at a cheaper price, why would you want to get the Jot Script 2?

Conclusion

If you have the iPad Pro, then getting the Apple Pencil is a no brainer.

If you're using a iPad that does not support Apple Pencil, I recommend Adonit Jot Touch with PixelPoint.