Why this NoMa artist adopted iPad painting

Not that it’s the same, but NoMa-based artist Ariel Klein has found that iPad painting can be more nimble than the real thing.
For one thing, it’s more portable, offering a full palette of colors that he can use in an airplane, while hiking or even at the circus, like he did in 2013 at the Cavalia “Odysseo” show.
Since then, he’s been all about ArtRage and Procreate — two iPad apps he uses to create digital paintings.

The tablet is particularly handy for sketches. He places it on an easel, makes a digital painting, prints it and then repaints it in analog. Through that process, “you can save hundreds of drawings,” said Klein. “You can copy and paste and enlarge,” he added. If “you draw a word … you can flip it backwards.”
He acknowledges that “it was a little awkward at first” and that some things don’t translate perfectly — at least not yet. “There’s no pressure on the iPad,” he said. “When you push down on a pencil it gets darker.”
The iPad’s flat brushstroke also changes the look of the final painting. “The iPad has a certain look, a digital quality to it,” he said. “The painting sort of takes those qualities.”
Klein believes that as the technology develops, iPads will allow artists to create digital images that look more and more like traditional paintings. He envisions himself and other artists using the tablet more often to create paintings. “As the quality of the programs improve,” he said, “the quality of painting improves,” too.
Already, artists like David Hockney are gaining notoriety for their iPad pieces, while traditional paintings are being replicated with more and more precision with 3D printers. Check out this mechanical reproduction of “The Jewish Bride” by Rembrandt: