On of the main reasons I purchased my iPad 2 was to use it as a creative tool. That means that a few the apps I would have on it would be drawing apps. A majority of the apps I have found have been sketching and painting apps that feature real brushes. Inkpad isn’t one of them. Inkpad is a vector drawing app from developer Taptrix. Inkpad is a professional vector illustration app designed from scratch for the iPad. It supports paths, compound paths, text, images, groups, masks, gradient fills, and an unlimited number of layers. It is very much like Adobe Illustrator, except that Inkpad is very easy to use and very easy to learn.

The first thing you notice about Inkpad is how simplistic the whole layout of Inkpad is, especially when compared to Illustrator. The tool bar only has maybe half the tools that Illustrator has, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s not a powerful app. Once you learn the basics of the app, you’ll be able to get into the more advanced aspects of the app. I’m still a rookie when it comes to vector art, but the things I’ve seen people create with Inkpad are amazing and many of them state that it really didn’t take them that long to create which is amazing. You can view a lot of their creations here on the Inkpad Flickr group page.

Working with Inkpad is simple. Just create a new drawing to get started. You can either start on a blank canvas or import a sketch or image as a basis for your project. After that, it’s left to your imagination. I won’t go to deep into the individual features but what I will tell you is that with the basic tools provided to you, even novices will be able to jump right in and create something wonderful. Taptrix has made it very easy to create drawings with the tools they provide, and yet at the same time, included a lot of advanced features that you can pick up as you go. Beginners will find Inkpad easy to jump into while advanced uers will love how powerful the app can be.

There is very little not to like about Inkpad. If you have any technical issues or have feature suggestions you think should be added, a quick email to the developer on the support site yields a quick response back. It’s really hard to believe that an app like this was developed by an indie developer since this is something you’d expect from a much larger development company. Be happy that it’s not though because you would not get the level of support that an indie developer will give you since they take their apps very personally and do just about anything to make sure you get the proper experience from their app.

I’ve always had a bit of trouble really getting into Adobe Illustrator. Working with vectors can be quite difficult for the novice and can be discouraging. Inkpad on the other had is a blessing. Not only is Inkpad the easiest vector illustration tool I’ve ever used, it’s the only one where I’ve been able to actually create finished projects in very little time. The tools are quite advanced despite their simplicity and Taptrix is constantly updating it with new features. There is even a rich Flickr community for Inkpad where users show off their creations and offer help to new users. The price is quite reasonable too at only $4.99. Considering other programs on the PC and mac costs loads more, Inkpad is worth every penny.

Inkpad is available now in the App Store for $4.99. It is compatible with iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later.

Description

From the creators of Brushes! Inkpad is a professional vector illustration app designed from scratch for the iPad. It supports paths, compound paths, text, images, groups, masks, gradient fills, and an unlimited number of layers. Inkpad was designed with performance in mind – it can easily handle drawings with hundreds to thousands of shapes without bogging down.

Features:

• Very high performance. Select, scale and rotate hundreds of objects with zero lag.
• Create arbitrary bezier paths with the Pen tool.
• Create compound paths, masks and groups.
• Create text objects.
• Place photos from your albums.
• Powerful scale and rotate tools.
• Gradient fills with interactive editing on canvas.
• Swatch library.
• Unlimited layers per drawing.
• Rename, rearrange, delete, hide and lock layers.
• Snap to grid, points, and path edges.
• Isolate the active layer for easy editing.
• Email drawings as SVG, PDF, PNG and JPEG.
• Send SVG, PDF, PNG, and JPEG directly to your Dropbox.

[via App Store]