Attach The Keyboard, Draw and erase on an iPad; or Sony Xperia phone

Attaching The Keyboard
First I learned how to attach the iPad to the keyboard. I'd been trying to balance it in the nearest groove. Instead you attach it to the magnetic triple dot at the back of the keyboard concertina flap. Then you fold it back towards the keyboard.

You don't need to plug the keyboard in. The keyboard is now connected to the iPad using the three teeny pinhole sockets

I drew a quick caricature on the iPad as a test to see how to use the Apple pencil and features.

If you can't afford the iPad and pencil but want to try drawing,I had discovered that you can draw using many programmes on smart phones. For instance, on a Sony Xperia, I was able to draw people who sat nearby when I was sitting waiting in a queue.

Delete Triangle
If you wish to delete a hasty line, a wrong colour or a circle which is misshapen, you touch the reverse arrow at the top of the icons on the column on the left of the iPad in vertical mode. This deletes the whole of the last action.

Delete Eraser Symbol
If you wish to be more delicate, just cut out part of the last line you drew, you tap on the symbol for the rubber. To start drawing again, remember to tap once more on the pencil symbol.

When you have finished, you might want to save your drawing to another device such as a phone or laptop and then upload it to a website such as blogger.com, Instagram or Webpress.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, caricaturist, author and speaker.

Drawing Caricatures with an iPad: how? I learned: battery charging+drawing

Drawing caricatures with an iPad. I've tried it several times.

Battery Charging
The first thing you do is make sure your iPad battery is charged. You can link an iPad to a plugged in laptop but the iPad charges faster on a link to an electrical socket. If you see the almost empty battery the iPad is charging. (If you see the cable picture it is telling you that you need to connect a cable.)

It can take a while to get back to 100 per cent charged but you can start using the iPad whilst it is plugged in and charging. After two hours the iPad was 50 per cent charged.

Pencil Charging
If your pencil needs charging, you remove the cap and plug it into your iPad.

Drawing
You can choose the fineness of the line you want to draw by tapping on the picture of a fine line pencil or a broad paintbrush or something in between. Tap on black dot from the tiny palette.

Then tap on the circle of colour above the colour dots. Spin the circle clockwise to change the shade.

You can also lay the tip of your electronic pencil on it side - at a diagonal. Drag it along to create a wide shaded grey, like a watercolour wash.

I used it for fill in for face colour, and hair. The fine pencil was better for the edges of the lips, both the darker colour of the lips' outline and the skin edging the lips.


Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, caricaturist, illustrator, author and speaker.