Real quick. This video is sponsored by me.
I just released my new ultimate procreate brush pack called ergo index.
It has 40 brushes, including the most up-to-date versions of my current brushes,
plus 15 new brushes that I've been using to grate my news paintings for the past
few months. So I have dedicated myself to working on my iPad only lately,
and I needed a faster way to paint and draw in procreate.
There are tons of tips to work faster with your art,
but there's only one that anyone can implement today, regardless of skill level.
And that's getting used to maximizing keyboard shortcuts.
I am very used to working super fast and clip studio paint and Photoshop with my
Razer Tartarus pro here.
But unfortunately it only works on PC since it needs a program called Razer
Synapse 3 to work. This software has not been updated for MAC OS.
So if you try to use it on the iPad, it will work. It will light up,
but it will only do its default layout. However,
what I have before me on the other sides are two solutions that work really well
for iPad artists. This first one is from a company called halo kite,
and the other is from a company called Azeron. Also to be very clear,
I am not sponsored in any way from either of these companies.
I purchased all of these with my very own hard earned money.
So what I'll do is I'll go ahead and go over the pros and cons for all of these,
particularly the iPad ones.
And I'll share my custom shortcuts for both iPad and PC,
and then some tips and tricks to help you avoid issues along the way and speed
up your process so that you can start working on your iPad at just as fast as
you do on PC.
The first device here is the Aoiktye keyboard and it only works for Procreate
because it is custom made to trigger the exact same default keyboard shortcuts
that are built into procreate on the iPad. The first pro is that it has a very,
very long battery life.
It's so long in fact that I haven't charged it since I first purchased it last
week and it still works. In addition,
it also uses bluetooth to connect to the iPad wirelessly,
and I've only had to connect it one time.
It's also cool because it has printed icons on each one of the keys to let you
know what each one does. Now,
the one con to this thing is that its build quality is pretty cheap,
which isn't too bad since you're not going to be doing too much with it.
It's just going to be sitting on your desk,
but it doesn't exactly look that greatness to the iPad,
especially this white version.
The keys are a little bit different color than the rest of the body.
And you can get a block and pink one, but sometimes they're available.
Sometimes they're not. Now this is still a little bit,
not that ergonomic as well.
It's better than using that full-size keyboard for sure,
but memorizing where these keys are and trying to use it without looking at your
hand every single time you want to use a key that year five fingers that we only
have aren't currently on is kind of annoying,
but I won't say it's impossible to get really good with this thing with enough
practice. Now,
one work around that I've seen is to put res stickers on different keys that you
use most frequently, like Neimy Kanani did in this image here. No,
let's go onto the thing that you all have been waiting for. This thing,
this gauntlet of a machine, this robotic arm looking thing,
the azeron keypad. Now this is the compact version.
They have another one on their website that has two towers for the index and
middle fingers here that give you two more buttons.
The absolute biggest pro to this thing and is why it's in this video here is
because it has onboard storage.
This means that even though the software to configure,
this is only available on PC.
I can save that configuration to the memory inside this device so that when I
plug it into whatever other device,
it acts the exact same way as how I programmed it on PC.
The software for this thing is also, even though it's in beta,
not as flashy looking,
it's super simple and easy to use when you actually press a button in the
software. It actually shows up in the program,
which doesn't happen with the razor tartar as,
and it's actually kind of annoying to use because sometimes if you're not
careful, it can forget your profile. So regardless of which one you ever pick,
always remember to back up your profiles, which are easily you,
something you can do with both of these devices.
Obviously you don't need to do that with the acolyte here because it's just
baked in. Now the second pro to this thing is that it is super,
super customizable. And I mean,
physically the regular version has almost the same amount of buttons as the
tartar is here and each finger can be adjusted or smaller or bigger hands or
wider or narrower grips. Unfortunately,
this also brings me to it's biggest con in that is that it takes quite a bit of
getting used to the buttons are clearly not standard.
And you're going to be having to spend some time to get used to these,
as well as tinkering with the screws on the back here,
you need to get these into the perfect setting for you when you first use it and
then kind of hope that they stay there because the screws are a little bit tiny
and don't necessarily stick that. Well, if you use a lot of force,
which is kind of another con, however,
this really only happens with this big thumb grip.
So what happens here is if you tend to like to use this joystick, that's fine,
but it also lets you click in. And if you press that, that force is pretty,
it's quite a lot.
And so what ends up happening is that every time I pressed it in,
it would move in a little bit.
And I recommend not using that because if you try to tighten it too much,
then unfortunately you risk stripping these little screws.
But the good thing is they're preassembled inside the device. When you get here,
you just need to loosen or tighten them as you get it.
And let's go ahead and be honest,
even though this thing really looks great and it feels great and you can get it
in different colors. It's expensive as hell. And that's a really,
because it's a very custom made niche device. That's assembled by hand,
by a dedicated team of Latvian and women. Now,
unfortunately like I mentioned before, you do need a PC to program this thing.
So if you only have an iPad and that's your sole desk set up and you want to use
this to kind of get even faster on it,
it's not really going to work for you because you need a PC to kind of set it up
first and then you can use it on your iPad.
Now what I'll do is I'll go ahead and share with you the custom shortcuts that I
use for the Tartarus and the azeron so that you guys get to get a good starting
point.
If you want to follow the same direction for the Tartarus I like to switch
between three profiles, which is the Adobe premiere software for editing videos,
Clip studio paint, and of course Photoshop as for the Azeron.
I have only one profile for Procreate,
even though you can have two profiles on board,
you just switched by pressing this button and the lights light up accordingly,
but you can have a lot more on the software on the PC end.
Now the last con to this thing is that, you know, it is 3d printed.
So I found one kind of glaring issue.
And that's with the quality control of this port, you have,
it is removable and you can plug this in because the other end is USB a,
it doesn't really go in that easily.
It can take a long time to get to get it into fit, right?
If the kind of opening for this, isn't cut up perfectly.
Now let's move on to some tips and tricks for the Azeron that will make it much
more handy along with one for the equal light. First off,
I don't know about you guys,
but my ring and pinky finger have much less mobility than my thumb index and
middle finger.
And every time I want to move one of my ringer index fingers or yeah,
ring or pinky fingers, they kind of move all the other fingers,
which can be a problem because what happens here is that you end up pressing
buttons that you don't want to. If you're not careful,
what I recommended to beginners to get around that is to just disable these two
keys, especially,
or maybe even these two keys on the back so that you only have to press it down.
And that makes it a lot easier and reduces a lot of the frustration. Also,
this is kind of a rant on Procreate,...
...I have mapped the quick menu to this button here on my Aoiktye. And if you use that,
make sure to customize those commands in the quick menu,
because then you can get even more commands right within your reach.
And if you go ahead and have the color menu popped out in Procreate,
you can go for hours without ever moving your pencil too far away from the
center of the screen, or really just what you're painting.
My last tip is to address something you might've already been worrying about
already. So the easiest way to charge your iPad while using the Azeron keypad,
or just have anything plugged into your iPad.
That's not charging it is to use a USB hub like this one from anchor.
I really recommend this brand. I'm not sponsored,
but I do use a lot of their products and they're really reliable.
I'll link this one, especially in the description,
because I think you should get one with a cable like this so that you can plug
it into your iPad,
especially if you want to use the sketch board pro and have all your cables out
of the way,
how the ultimate desk set up with raised surface to rest your hand on,
and you can have easy access to whatever keyboard you want.
Let me know in the comments,
if you want to see what that setup looks like for me.
And so basically I've been working with the setup for the past few live streams
on Twitch,
and it's been a breeze to paint since I paint for three to four hours like this
on end. If you want to know more about the sketch board pro in particular,
I made a video about it here, and you should check out paper-like.
It is made drawing on iPad, super easy for me. And it's really helped.
A lot of people transition from traditional to digital. I will, however,
remind you that this won't be necessarily before everyone, even the Aoiktye,
because the iPad in of itself is made to be super mobile.
But if you do use it for your desktop as your sole painting device,
it can be really, really good idea to check this out.
It's honestly been a great purchase for me,
especially since I plan to paint a lot more on Mac when they release a more
powerful M1 device that can support more screens because you guys know how
much I love screens at the end of the day,
make sure you get something like this when you're doing digital arts let's,
you can paint faster because all you need to do is spend a few weeks just to
maybe even just one week memorizing 10 to 20 shortcuts,
and that can completely transform your workflow.
And the brush pack is going to be super unique because again,
it's going to be constantly refreshed with new and updated brushes for anyone
who buys the current 1.0 version and beyond I plan to make two more brush packs
for clip studio in Photoshop later on that mirror,
that brushed back and do the same thing with them. So please subscribe.
If you enjoyed this video and I'll see you all in the next one, peace.