If you're getting started with digital art, you can't beat the iPad Pro with Apple pencil and Procreate drawing app. It's liberating to be able to sketch anywhere -  from a coffee shop (people watching & drawing from life) to stretching out on the sofa to draw. If you can afford it, the magic keyboard is neat and elegant for when you wanna convert the iPad into something you can comfortably type with.

Procreate blows my mind because you can create countless layers, design your own brushes, use complex masks and make all-round awesome art with an interface that is deeply intuitive to use. If you make a mistake there's no Cmd + X. You just tap two fingers on the screen. Double tap for redo. Want to fill a shape with colour? Literally just drag the colour onto the canvas. And for all that power and simplicity, it's still dirt cheap and a one-off payment - no subscription.

The Pencil on iPad sensation is smooth, accurate and controlled. I've never needed any of those plastic, protective layers that're supposed to make the screen feel like paper. It's already a great experience.

I prefer the 12.9 inch iPad because it's not far off an A4 page size, so you never feel cramped. Although, all it takes is an un-pinch gesture with two fingers and you're zoomed in!

The Cintiq is frickin heavy  though. And it takes up space on your desk! So I've hooked mine up with this mechanical arm you can get that lets you flip the screen face up, and swivel it out of the road (in case you need your desk space back for other projects). It's also nice to be able to fidget with the angle of the screen so you can get comfy for drawing. Or even flip the whole thing perpendicular so you can draw portrait.

The only thing that annoys me about these two softwares is the lack of alignment features. If you want that 'good design feel' where edges line up beautifully, you have to whip out a grid overlay and line stuff up by eye. Which I guess makes sense for a drawing software. But when I want clean edges that snap together with precision elegance, I tend to open up Affinity programs. They have a Photo, Design and Publishing app for desktop only. If I'm looking for alignment features (or I just want to edit photos/logos/brochures) Affinity products are a great option. Also, you guessed it: No subs. One-off payment. Because that's how I roll.

There's something satisfying about building up, as you can afford it, a collection of excellent software tools you can rely on for a long time (without monthly payments).