There is no contest. The ipad provides the best apps, books, (there is a kindle reader for iPad so it is a kindle too) and the best operating system by far. When I hear schools discussing the choice staffrooms, the same argument comes up, “Well, iPads are so expensive, and we can get so many more android tablets for our money.”
So you can, and with them you buy so many more headaches down the line. Android is the new Windows. A loose operating system that is changed and mucked about with at the whim of Google and the manufacturers of the hardware. One Android tablet is not like another. Each machine has it’s own quirks. They all have different capabilities and idiosyncrasies, just like windows pcs.
An ipad is an iPad is an iPad. They just work, and Apple make sure the apps that go on them work too. As with all technology, both iPad and Android tablets will have their off moments and frustrations, but you will have far fewer moments and lesser frustrations with iPad.
When it comes to illustrated children’s ebooks, iPad is the only game in town. I don’t mean singing and dancing animated app books, I mean books where the text stays still on the page waiting to be read. You can’t learn to read when the text is dancing up and down and reading itself to you – that’s entertainment.
eBooks for children with pictures in the right place, with video and interactive elements for learning are only readily available on the iPad.
If you want to get on and do stuff, get an iPad. If you want to spend your time asking for help from IT support staff, get Android. If you want to save time and money down the line and have the best apps available to you, iPad is your choice every time.
It has always amazed me that those who don’t use Apple products wonder why Apple users are so fanatical about their support for Apple products. Those who use Apple products are the kind of people who try other systems and are always amazed that anyone would want to use anything else.
The Olympics are well and truly over, but their legacy continues, most noticeable by the number of lycra clad bicycle riders that now clog up the roads of Britain!
My legacy is that I learned to draw feet a little better than before. While researching for my Olympia books, I looked at a lot of drawings on ancient Greek pots. The drawings were a revelation. I’d never really looked at them closely before. The style and often the drawings themselves were drawn again and again and passed down from father to son or master to apprentice. All the time the style was refined so that graceful athletes could be portrayed in a very few stokes of the pen or inscribed with a stylus.
I find I often go to the Old Greek Masters for inspiration and understanding of how to draw simply as well as how to understand the world in general. The old philosophers had it pretty well sorted!
If you were thinking of getting one or two, It really helps support this website and my drawing videos if you use the Amazon Links below. Thanks.
I went to Brussels in Belgium on the Eurostar Train this week and I took my sketchbook with me. I thought it was a great way to share the experience with you as it is a record of my thoughts and things that catch my eye as I go along.
I was visiting the British International School in Brussels, which is in a wonderful old house full of Art Nouveau and Art Deco details. I had a great time there meeting the children, who come from all over the world, telling them stories and showing them how to draw stuff!
Thanks to everyone at the school for arranging the trip and making it both possible and memorable.
Last week I was giving cartoon drawing lessons at the wonderful Pencil Museum in Keswick in the beautiful Lake District in the UK.
We were using Pentel Aquash Brushes and Derwent Aquatone watercolour crayons, which were great fun and so easy to use. The paper I used was Derwent watercolour paper which is very smooth and heavy so it takes water well without crinkling. I’m not sure that’s avail;able outside the UK
I spent three days there and drew non-stop, showing kids, and the grown-ps too, how to draw anything from a Dalek to a wizard or a ninja or a fairy. We had a lot of fun. I hope I’ll be asked back again, so I might see you there next time!
If you would like me to do drawing or cartoon workshops at your school or library, feel free to get in touch. click here
Here are US & UK Amazon links. If you want buy and to try out these products please follow the links and help support my videos – thanks.
Millie and Bombassa are on the iTunes Store.
This video is about How to draw Bombassa the loveable rhino that is the hero of my Millie and Bombassa books. You Can watch me tell a Millie and Bombassa story here:
Meet World Famous Illustrator Alex Brychta, who has illustrated over 500 books in the Oxford Reading Tree!
If you are under 30 you probably learned to read with Alex!
I had the pleasure of visiting Alex at home last week and talking to him in his studio about his amazing career in which he has illustrated over 500 books for the Oxford Reading Tree.
I first saw his work back in 1986 when I first went to Oxford University Press and a green and innocent young illustrator. While I was there, they saw my Lydia books, which were made up into dummies, and said they thought they’d fit in with the ORT. They showed me the first ORT books, which hadn’t yet come out, so I was sworn to secrecy!
Alex has been drawing Biff, Chip, Kipper and Floppy ever since and is now helped by his father and and old friend who has learned Alex’s style so they can keep up with the schedules.
There will be more next week when Alex shows us some of his techniques
What’s on the show today? Magic Drawing! News about a ShooRaynerDrawing channel meetup, A great book review, What’s in the Mail, How to keep it clean and a chat about self-esteem.
Yes, If you live in London, or can get there on Thursday the 13th (next week) I will be at the British Museum at 2pm by the Big Lion in the Great Court. You are welcome to come drawing with me! I have 40 free Rotring Tikky Graphic pens to give away thanks to the great people at Rotring Pens! Many thanks. The first three people to say “hello! I love the shooraynerdawing Channel” will get an exclusive Shoo Rayner sketchbook!
Here are the links to the books and the burin shown in the video
I had a Fabulous review for euclid yesterday, from Ginny Steele, a teacher in Ontario, I just had to share it with you! You can get the ipad version here or you can get the paper book version here
Intro to geometry for primary kids
I was so impressed with the sample pages I bought this book immediately and whizzed through it. This book helps refresh those of us who did geometry a LONG time ago, and puts everything simply enough that you can use it to help your kids learn it too.
The videos are superb instruction in how to construct shapes using a pencil, compass and ruler and bisect lines and angles. All of which is coming for your child in school, so it helps if YOU know how to do it. The great thing about the videos is that your child can select the chapter relevant to their current topic of study, use the video to follow step by step, pause, play and go again as necessary.
The jokes are enjoyably cheesy, perfect for a primary school audience, the comic-book character illustrations and simple animations attractively add to the text and I enjoyed the overall look of the book, which does NOT feel at all ‘textbookish’, but instead manages to get across all the important stuff in a fun story style. At the end of each short chapter is a 3-question quiz designed to point children to the right answers, and if they get it wrong, they can keep checking till they find the right answer. It feels very low pressure and I think children will enjoy it.
Cleverly done, and thank you for creating this book, Mr Rayner.
I highly recommend this book
I showed you how to draw the Spider yesterday, so here is the web. Its’ quite simple but not as simple as it might appear as you need to think about the tension in the silk of the web and how gravity pulls it down – or makes it sag. Watch and all will make sense – happy Halloween!
I love it when a plan comes together! I’ve been working like crazy to get my Euclid project up and running by the end of the month – why? Well I’m debuting Euclid at the Wigtown Book Festival in Scotland (why not come along?). This will be my third visit to the festival and the organisers now feel like old friends. Because of that I feel safe trying something new with them, and they are being kind in letting me try!
There is nothing like a deadline to get you moving though! I think I made the decision while working on the iPad version of Euclid. I thought it would be great to do book version too, so I looked at the calendar, worked backwards and decided it was do-able.
I’m a week ahead of schedule. The books have arrived, my banner is magnificent, postcards and posters are printed and I’m ready to go – just waiting for the Tee-shirt!
If you would like a signed copy of the book the head over to eBay 
where I have them for sale. Buy one and you will also receive a Free A3 Poster!
Meanwhile, the ebook for iPad, which contains extra video tutorials, is riding high at number 2 on the Us Science Charts on iTunes – how amazing is that? You can download a preview for free here.
If you would like me to come and visit your school for a Euclid Geometry day full of story and drawing and constructing angles, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
