Adobe Illustrator for the iPad - First Impressions

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Adobe Illustrator has been in the works on the iPad for a while now and it was just released on the app store. Today I'm giving my first impressions and giving a bit of a tour of the app to show you what makes it fun and useful.
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[@reggied.8771]

yes, I'd love to see if you would do a Affinity Designer vs Adobe illustrator on the ipad

[@henriquem9830]

Agree

[@JoeFly5092]

Illustrator is probably the best made Adobe app, but it would still be Affinity wrecking Illustrator.

[@baderabdi990]

Affinity designer is just for 20 dollars, while this one has a monthly subscription with 9.99 dollars

[@CraftyKarin]

@@baderabdi990 illustrator subscription (one app, iPad & desktop) is $20.99 in the US (€24,19 in the Netherlands). One month is already more expensive than the one off price for Designer for iPad.... I’ll stick with the Affinity suite. Just a shame all graphic designer vacancies ask for Adobe suite expertise.

[@capeman29]

@@sunaivod this is the sad truth

[@Kimiko11111]

i dont even use adobe or have an iPad but i really enjoyed this video with my morning coffee lol

[@mac0_art586]

Haahahahah

[@udithawijeratne7361]

You got trapped to the KZbin algorithm xD

[@Redbearart]

You just showed more in 12 minutes than my instructors at art school showed in a class specifically for adobe illustrator

[@eltinant8120]

true

[@ikiiko4439]

same as here in indonesia. lol

[@lolz4825]

i paid for cc and thats too much...why do you need a school to teach for something that doesn`t need a degree??internet is better and free

[@Redbearart]

@@lolz4825 i went to art school to be an illustrator and that was one of the required courses (this was back in the days of CS4 being brand new)

[@eltinant8120]

@@lolz4825 ...but that's the joke. In design school you have to learn how to use the programs and tools on your own time because it's free info on the internet.

[@mwinner101]

Affinity Designer is hard to beat and it’s only $20. An absolute steal!

[@jkings16]

@Stay Up wrong, you can send vector files to anyone, whether they have it or not....

[@Drogenhunter]

@Stay Up you can export the files in Designer into the svg format. Illustrator can also open it

[@artbygabe]

@@Drogenhunter where is the drop mic icon when you need one. LOL

[@chadfreundesign]

The business model and features are nice but the UI could use a lot of refinement.

I got it for $10 during the quarantine discount phase.

[@mallorydurrick]

Just in time for Adobe Max. Seems all you creators are posting at the same time. This is awesome.

[@thebradcolbow]

haha, yep. They gave me an early preview version but I couldn't talk about it until today.

[@indesigntipstrickandtutori6292]

Brad Cowboy must have been hard, knowing about all the new features/app’s that are coming and not to talk about it 😀

[@user-vv9bw5mc5p]

You know what I *really* want to see on the ipad? Adobe animate.

[@oranmcclintock302]

This would be insane

[@thebradcolbow]

I would love that!

[@ponapple]

That would be so perfect for the iPad!

[@pandovian_]

Yup yup yup yup yup yup yup. But as a Fresco-like hand-drawn animation app, or as a totally reimagined motion graphics-focused After Effects for iPad?

[@jerrycargill5062]

You're telling me! I'm a high school art teacher teaching remote kids on iPads. Ordinarily they'd be in a lab with CC on iMacs. I'm using an open-source knockoff of Animate on our iPads right now. It's...okay. Anyhow, I'm happy to switch from Vectornator to Illustrator with my kids, starting tomorrow!

[@alainpierre]

I would love to see these features in desktop Illustrator... It'll speed up the creation process a lot.

[@yarrepups]

Apart from the options for an active object feature, what do you miss on the desktop version specifically ?

[@jonesygarcia21]

I don’t even use Adobe software, but I enjoy watching brad explain things.

[@nigelhopkins3655]

Non destructive pathfinder is also in the desktop version - just hold down alt when you click on unite or minus.

[@alecosaurusrex1266]

I feel like illustrator for iPad would have fared really well as a $12 one time purchase.

[@pinkrose5286]

I hate affinity designer but I feel like with the subscription model I have no choice. They need to make their iPad apps like fresco one-time purchase bc it’s not keeping with the rest of the market on the iPad ecosystem

[@pinkrose5286]

Kingpin Beast it’s a great program. It’s just because I learned on illustrator and had a set workflow and it’s kind of annoying to change around the workflow. I don’t hate it for what it is just for what it isn’t pretty much

[@falcy2889]

@@pinkrose5286 understandable have a nice day

[@none-sh2ub]

Hey can u tell me how to download adobe Illustrator on ipad and is it paid or free ? Or if paid then we have to pay monthly or yearly or one time purchase?

[@alecosaurusrex1266]

@@none-sh2ub to download it on the iPad you search up "adobe illustrator" and it should show up and It's paid either monthly or yearly

[@suntzu3797]

Great video Brad! Great content !

[@thebradcolbow]

Appreciate it!

[@roymorris4751]

Hey love your content . Ps: Why are you not reviewing Artisul or gamond pen desplays?

[@ZoeRanucci]

OMG thank you for this Brad! I had never been able to use Illustrator on my iPad Pro with sidecar or AstroPad with much success, both were always laggy even when directly connected to my desktop iMac - so excited to try this out. You covered so much in that short video. THANK YOU

[@dianafigueroa9152]

I never knew there was an Adobe Illustrator for the IPad. Great review, btw!

[@cliffto6]

It's new! :)

[@baderabdi990]

Today was its launch

[@kewaln8790]

Not jumping back n forth into the layers is such a blessing..💯

[@thebradcolbow]

That was my favorite part too. It's such a little thing but being able to do so many layer actions without opening the layer pallet is a big deal.

Great review. I'd love to see more about multiple artboards and how the iPad 8 performs

[@JesseJustice]

Illustrator IOS does allow for multiple artboards. Under the tool bar, Artboard tool, it will allow you to create a new artboard from a preset or freehand.

[@obvinpro]

7:53 is called freeform gradient

[@TheJohnRowley]

Brad, this was the nicest, most relaxed, well thought out presentation i think I’ve seen you do - and I’ve watched a lot of your videos. Really enjoyed it, beautiful video quality and very helpful content, thank you.

[@arbierizky]

It's shame that Surface doesn't have this update for Illustrator touch version...

[@qpadua1948]

Bought a Surface hoping to take advantage of portability and laptop combo only to find out there’s not even a simple touch “undo” (or am I missing something?)

[@RE_Claire]

I hope they will put Adobe Animation. it is my dream.

[@kyletwebster]

FYI - for Image Tracing, you can use the free Adobe app, Adobe Capture. It creates a variety of vector shapes from drawings, photos - whatever you want - and it does it in color or black and white.

[@OmFg69Cloudz]

Always love the art we get to see that’s used to help demonstrate the program. So wholesome and very representative of the artist.

[@jippalippa]

I really do believe Illustrator benefits the most from a touch approach. Most of the things I'm seeing are much quicker to perform than on desktop (and I have been using illustrator for 9 years)

[@GudieveNing]

I have been using desktop AI since it was introduced decades ago. iPad AI on my 2020 11" Pro is a delight to use. The UX is superb. (I mainly use it for icons (am a UX designer), diagrams, logos etc, not pure art. The only thing missing that even desktop AI took time to introduce is line end points, such as arrows. And am yet to work out how to save to Google Drive over Adobe's own cloud space.

[@happynow01]

Just loaded it last night and can’t stop using it! A lot to learn but well worth the time!

[@Lenniefinch]

I liked testing this app out. It has some great features and ui is a lot better than affinity designer. My only problem is the subscription but I get it that’s the way things are heading. Affinity designer was a great app, but felt like too much for an iPad. Vectornator is ok but some Boolean operations felt off to me. I used these apps on my iPad 7th generation just in case anyone thought they might be limited to pro models only.

[@PlusPassie]

Hi Brad, love all your tutorials and you showed the Ipad Illustrator on a nice different way then all the others. I love all the Adobe products. Started with Affinity and switched to Adobe and I find it worth every penny! All the things you can do more and so easy, the fonts. I also love the Ipad version. I love the sketching with the blob pencil and a lot more.

[@shirounurimba6898]

Could you review vectornator? I am interested to hear your thoughts on it.

[@LogoartClubs]

Thank you so much for putting out this content you have inspired me alot to create my own channel thanks🥰

[@mufeedco]

Nice channel. Subscribed.

[@LogoartClubs]

@@mufeedco 😍

[@MaybSh]

Great Video Again.. Waiting when Adobe Animate joins the iPad Party.. Then I guess Adobe would be very strong as a suite compared to individual apps on iPad for blending workflows smoothly..

[@jerrycargill5062]

Yes!

[@thebradcolbow]

I would love to see Animate for the iPad. I doubt it will happen soon, I could see them porting over some version of After Effects before doing that. Animate is kind of a forgotten child in Adobe land.

[@MaybSh]

@@thebradcolbow If After Effects is in iPad Lineup than that's even better..It would be a game changer for artists.I don't know how filters & effects would perform here keeping in mind the amount of Ram required on Heavy Machines to scrub or render. Let's wait and watch.

[@MegaRadisic]

Still missing the most important thing that affinity designer has. That pixel integration which allows you to draw with various pixel brushes over the vectors.

[@FrozenSkyes1]

Thanks for this. I'm a a designer and now I know I need an ipad to have this on the go.

[@Executive_Essy]

Trust me... this iPad pro is more useful to designers than most people think. You can do a pretty good rough sketch on the go or even work out a final design on the iPad pro without even touching a computer

[@FrozenSkyes1]

@@Executive_Essy then its a must buy for me!

[@PasifikaUprising]

I have it from the Beta testing, but I've been waaaaaaiting for this video 🙌🏾

[@mun336ya]

We can’t swivel the artboard is a big problem for me. Which we got used in other apps.

[@armaanhussain4938]

Sir please make a review on xp pen deco 1 V2

[@armaanarmaan390]

Yea he should make

[@superhero7098]

Yea

[@fsgsgsgsghdhdhdhdh5835]

Yea

[@fudjfjdhhdhdhd2214]

Yes

[@jx6054]

Good morning Brad, I've been an avid viewer for most of the past year (most of my KZbin viewing life lol.. Yes, I'm late to the KZbin game). I am a middle aged adult who has recently enrolled within art school. I am changing careers, finally deciding to pursue a life long dream. As such, I am looking to purchase a computer /tablet for a number of digital media creations. My schooling explores both traditional and digital media creation techniques. Digitally I'll be instructed within 2D sketching techniques (Adobe Illustrator, Corel Painter, etc.), and 3D modelling and presentation techniques (using Revit, 3D modelling software.. Probably Maya or one of those softwares.. And probably a sculpting software.. And 3D Studio Max or something of the sort to create 3d mockups of interiors and exteriors of environments). We are taught using Windows computers. Since most major software products are now available for iPads (Adobe, etc) or something similar or compatible, I was wondering if it was best to purchase an iPad or iPad Pro for my situation. I already own an older Windows based machine, and have access to very powerful ones on campus. I also own a beginner Intuos drawing tablet. Am I better to buy a newer Dell XPS or HP Spectre x360 with pen enabled capabilities, or a basic iPad or iPad Air or iPad Pro (and export and/or convert as required). I'm looking for ease of use, and something that'll last the few years through school. Personally I'm not an Apple user, but I've been leaning that way since I know from your videos and tutorials that the iPads, especially the Pro versions, are very capable for content creators. Especially illustrators and modellers. I'm ok with a back and forth workflow (nothing is perfect, unless there is a Windows computer that you could recommend that is as capable of great on screen illustration and modelling.) What is your recommendation? IPad /iPad Air /iPad Pro with a Windows machine (my personal one /school machine) for the software only available on it, or strictly a Windows laptop that is as fantastic as the iPad for on screen illustrations? Thank you for your assistance.

[@yoRRnl]

I am trying this week to work full time with the ipad version. Stranded after 15 minutes because there is no line thickness control besides overall. I wish there was pressure on the pencil

[@MattHalpain]

7:42 I love the gradient features ability.

[@richietwinz6824]

That looks pretty cool. Haven’t used Illustrator for a while since I started using Designer on the desktop. Might have to get this when I finally get a new iPad!

[@codewaffle1138]

This isn't really related to this video but thanks for the quality content. Your videos have convinced me to buy an iPad. Can't wait to start using procreate instead of autodesk sketchbook.

[@thebradcolbow]

Glad I could help!

[@justineswindell8589]

I like it a lot, would love to see a tutorial on comparing the desktop use of the text tool with the ipad version and if there is a way to import fonts. I hope they eventually add more brush options in the future but am able to toggle between fresco and procreate for those options so not a deal breaker.

[@doodlefondue]

Update: i finally installed AI on my ipad and got 30 days trial. After trying out for just about 10 mins i was impressed and excited! Never have I been this excited about any vector app on ipad

[@hw.lds08]

Meet brad: The world's most feared cowboy in the wild wild west

[@thebradcolbow]

I always saw myself more as a friendly singing cowboy :D

[@warrenl84]

Brad is the high tech cowboy for outer space who reviews his alien tech

[@hw.lds08]

@@thebradcolbow Meet brad: the world's most loved friendly cowboy singer in the soft soft south

[@GaganDeep32469]

smartest cowboy smart in tech

[@loyaltheoristgirl1018]

@@thebradcolbow i always imagined you to be like that. The friendly Brad Cowboy!

[@nirmaljustin2530]

Considering the price, I think affinity designer is all you would need.

[@TheXboxSux]

Provided you don’t use image trace or the distort/warp features in illustrator, amongst many other tools, then yeah affinity is all you need. If you’re doing actual work however not so much.

[@eif6051]

the app works great and it's a big plus that you can instantly use all your adobe fonts. and if they can pull of some sort of live trace feature it would almost make the desktop version obsolete in my opinion.

[@silvawolfe9496]

Bruh, I didn't know Adobe released its own illustrator for the ipad until I saw your video thumbnail. Lol thanks for the heads up!

[@Artofizanagi]

The feeling is way better than Photoshop for sure.

[@xnajx]

I've been waiting for Illustrator on the iPad for a really long time!

[@aisustudio5135]

thank you, that was super informative and professional. also happy to see that Illustrator is on iPad finally, seems I have missed that in the quarantine tunnel.

[@GPAnimations7]

I’ve been beta testing it for the past week and overall, it seems pretty nice. Much better than iOS Photoshop v1.0.

[@fablewalls]

Have to give it to Adobe - the features on iPad are pretty good. There's still a lot of functions missing but what other App makers always lose out on is dynamic linking - Brad showed here how to work between iPad Apps like Fresco and Illustrator and that's always been one reason major studios still stick with the evil empire and its subscription purchase model. When the writers of apps like Procreate / Clip Studio / Affinity realise they need to support linking between other Indie Apps (with faithful colour / filters reproduction) they will finally be able to compete.

[@jerrycargill5062]

Thanks for putting this together so fast! I saw AI on my desktop this morning and was so stoked! Of course, not much out there right now in the way of tutorials, reviews and intros.

[@lukemcquillan]

Adobe Character Animator next please. It literally is crying out for an iPadOS version. And with both photoshop and illustrator now on the platform, all the pieces are there.

[@MnemonicKariboo]

The contextual controls under the selected objects are pretty rad. The rest is okay for a first version, but nowhere near affinity designer.

[@Nico-np9bh]

Very clear and structured explanation! Thanks! I’m gonna dive into it right now! 🤩

[@JulieEbersole]

OMG. I was so hoping you would do a video on this and was stalking you in anticipation. Well, not you, but your channel, LOL!!! Thank you so SO much for getting this up so fast!!! 😊👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@jacobharvey2946]

Interesting. I started a side project for fun back at the beginning of the lock down and I ended up with Affinity Designer. It allows for me to sync and work on the same file between my Mac and iPad/Pencil. The sync part isn’t perfect. But it’s amazing opening up a vector file and drawing with the Pencil. And then doing cleanup later on my computer where things like naming layers is easier with a keyboard. All on the same original file. Looks like I would have had a harder time deciding if Illustrator existed back then.

[@BarKeegan]

That ‘quick’ layering option is super handy

[@phillblake6829]

So far so good I’m actually enjoying it

[@TheKerrminator]

I’m so excited about this! I still run an old version of illustrator CS3 (had it from a dvd when they did those lol) that I use on my old laptop. The switch to subscription-based has been off-putting, but I might give this a go. Thanks for sharing your first impressions!

[@starcitydesigns]

I have enjoyed the ai app. Ive been illustrator on my iMac for just over 10 years, and i love the portable aspect of the app version. Im waiting for adobe to add indesign on the ipad!!!! That would be amazing!!!

[@capeman29]

It’s surprisingly good! Much more complete and fleshed out than photoshop. If illustrator would just add the node tool from affinity and Corel (no idea why they don’t), and fix their selection tools (see affinity and Corel... again), I would probably use it as my daily driver, the lack of a proper node tool and not being able to select only within the bounding box are deal breakers for me though. They are too engrained in my daily habits to break at this point.

The interface seems really good and more comfortable than the alternatives! Pricing as usual is complicated... Would be nice to see a cheaper "iPad apps bundle" pricing maybe

[@sumaira3]

Wonderful overview ! Thank you I love the way you elaborate everything , i love all the features always wanted this software on the damn iPad ! Lol took so long adobe fresco is great but gave us limitation of the pen tool

[@chadfreundesign]

I like how intuitive interface of illustrator is on iPad. Still lacks some robust features compared to Affinity Designer. Both products could take notes from each other.

[@shrug_s8423]

i can't wait for you to review the iPad air it looks very fun also id like to say your art is very inspiring one day I hope to have as much experience as you do

[@brookethompson1133]

Hey, does anyone know if you can transfer your drawings/layers from ios illustrator back into the desktop version of illustrator?

[@yarrepups]

Just save it as a creative cloud file on your iPad, then open it from your creative cloud file folder on the desktop

[@stefangardh9240]

As an regular AI user since years bac this looks great! Must try soon! Thanks Brad!

[@wandrinsheep]

Somethings not mentioned by many: If you purchase through the App Store instead of adobes site you get photoshop, illustrator and fresco for the 10 subscription

[@DiogoExMarques]

Off to a much better start than Photoshop! Excited to try this out as it looks like it also makes Ai a lot more accessible for that chunk of digital artists that are put off by vector drawing.

[@1974ted]

Wow you can’t even buy this as an app!! You have to subscribe? I find adobes business model strange. I will never pay for a subscription for a program. I use an old version of illustrator for work but would never be able to afford to pay £30 + a month for it.

[@Toastcat890]

@@EthansUploads And it sucks if they have to shutdown for any reason you're screwed I'd rather pay up front to own the software they could charge $20-$40 and people would buy including me

[@fineartpottamus9020]

@@EthansUploads get a pirated copy

[@kevinhouse7143]

Nothing beats painting in the same app you're working in for a realtime feedback and workflow instead of importing, adjusting, reimporting, etc... it can change how you create your art. Affinity Designer isn't perfect and I think they could improve their iPad UI/UX but for that type of vector/pixel workflow, currently it's the one to beat.

[@KuttyJoe]

Wow, the live shapebuilder is next level.

[@AurelTristen]

PSA: Palm rejection is off by default. You'll probably want to go into the options (gear in upper right) and turn it on.

[@mxnjones]

I just downloaded this! Now to play with it...

[@adonismohtar]

Thank you for the introduction. Pretty cool

[@LZentertainments]

Cool, hope to see it someday on windows and android

[@dibujemaestro]

Great review! It seems nice for the first version!

[@RomanEmin]

Great video. Your previous Udemy tutorials are really good and easy to follow. I hope to see an iPad Illustrator tutorial soon. Thanks for your hard work.

[@jeffreypostma6832]

Blob brush and gradient options looking nice, but I am not tempted by the CC, so I guess I am out...

[@petardjokic]

Good job Brad! Tell me, am I the only one here who have a problem with clipping mask? It works the same as it does on desktop version (object on top creates a mask)

[@johnpaultabuzo6549]

Damn that's very superb!! TIME TO SAVE UP !! wait for me IPAD !!! Thanks Brad!!

[@toonworlduk]

I am really missing the live paint feature 🙁 but the rest looks great

[@adamholder]

Love it! I was struggling to find a use case for Fresco when there are more advanced apps out there, but this will change that.

[@anthonyazanon6160]

Use the affinity apps. They’re far more advanced.

[@adamholder]

@@anthonyazanon6160 I'd love to but designer doesn't render SVG files in a way that VideoScribe can animate.

[@rupikasrivatsav8232]

Loved it!! Thanks for this video! Infomative

[@JoeHoddinott]

How does the text tool fare? For advanced typography, does it have envelope distort and warping?

[@thebradcolbow]

I don't believe it does. It has access to Adobe's fonts and all the kerning/linespacing options , type on path that you would expect but nothing really advanced.

[@shimshonnigrekar2906]

Great video. ❤️

[@thebradcolbow]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@JeneyM]

I have my own eco system on my Ipad, like Procreate and Affinity Des/Photo. works fine.

[@delulu6969]

The transform options are pretty lacking. Things like sheer, mirror, and value specific transform aren’t here yet. I might need to try grid-based approach for loose isometric drawing. Can’t get technical/schematic drawing done with this app yet.

[@mathguy3801]

How does this Adobe product compare to Affinity's Designer for the iPad?

[@thebradcolbow]

It's not as robust. Affinity designer puled over 90% of the desktop features this maybe 50%. But I think this is easier to learn than Affinity because of that.

[@luistigerfox]

@@thebradcolbow That's good to know. I think, myself, I'm going to keep to Affinity, as I feel a better value vs. Adobe, as when I had CC I didn't really use enough features of the cloud to justify. But it's always great to see more interesting professional tools making their way to the iPad, or mobile in general.

[@JulieEbersole]

@@thebradcolbow I feel the same way; really struggling to learn Affinity Designer (even with classes and watching tutorials). The UI on the Illustrator app seems so much more intuitive (am I imagining this or . . . ) BUT, I'm self-taught on Illustrator desktop version and have only mastered the specific things I really need to know. And, even tho I despise the Adobe subscription model (currently, I only subscribe to Illustrator), I'm thrilled to see that so far, everything I've ever wanted in a vector app for iPad seems to be available in Adobe's Illustrator. Heck, I got excited to see they brought along the Blob Tool! LOL!

[@camilleotrakji]

Adobe's hardware requirements page says 1) it runs on any ipad that supports the Apple pencil ... but it also says that 4GB RAm is required.This makes the 3GB RAM 8th or 9th gen iPad not usable ... did you try illustrator on the intro 8th gen iPad?

[@miguelito6031]

Bought Affinity Designer for $10 on iPad and $25 on the Mac so that’ll be a definite no for me. However, it’s great that Adobe is pushing harder so Affinity can improve even more

[@stevegroen8036]

Can you easily download your PC AI file from the CC to the iPad, draw with different brush strokes and update the file in the CC for more editing on the PC?

[@danielamena700]

Steve Groen if you save them as an .AI , you should be able to

[@shimeih2287]

Yes, please do a vs affinity designer

[@EdaliaDayCreative]

This is epic! i went down to single app for after effects but illustrator has been poking me saying "you'll need me sooner or later" the better I get, but to have it for just an extra 9.99 a month might be doable. Affinity is great but unfortunately doesn't have as good after effects workflow options.

[@tanvirrahman9655]

You should review Vectornator. I would like to see a comparison video of these two

[@shashanksharma4376]

Now adobe is one more reason for me to try ipad

[@JesseJustice]

Have not enjoyed the changes to the Pathfinder functions. Expand doesn't work like the Desktop and it's a lot of extra steps to get an Divided or Combined shape to expand to it's basic points and line segments. The clipping masks remain once you expand and get in the way as invisible objects. Creates a really messy artboard after a while. Intuitiveness is not translating in this area from the desktop to the iPad. Illustrator ios is missing a lot of a key features that would make it useable out of the gate (Object Warp? Envelope Distort? Type to path? Brushes?). Hoping they update soon. Fresco has become very good over the last year, I hope they put the same effort into Illustrator.

[@scribblingjoe]

At what point did you change your name? I didn't even notice until now.

[@MarcCardwell]

Ima download now!

[@jasonjames524]

I would have really liked if they had brought over the live paint bucket tool!

[@nacimfouadamirouche2366]

nice review, you changed my mind about Ai on iPad, i am a 8 hour/day Ai user :) I was thinking it is an Adobe Draw like experience :( (with the ALT key you can use Pathfinder in a non-destructive way)