Hong Kong Artist-Inventor Wants To Build a Sketching Stylus for iPad

Hong Kong artist and investor, Elton Leung, loves his iPad. So much so that he uses the iPad as a sketchbook to record his invention ideas. But the problem is, Apple doesn’t offer a professional stylus for artists like Elton.

There are of course unofficial alternatives. Elton told me that he tried 30 over different styluses but couldn’t settle for one. He explained to me that these styluses are built to point and tap, but not for sketching. They needed a constant pressure for the iPad to recognize the strokes and this isn’t at all ideal for sketching. The short or light strokes of a sketch, as he explained, always lost their first half or were completely ignored. Elton had to retouch every stroke made which was really kind of a hassle.

The artist side of Elton was disappointed but his inventive mind prompted him to build the perfect sketch stylus instead of just grumbling. Of course, it’s hard to raise money so Elton decided to ‘crowdfund’ the project using Indiegogo. He explained:

After months of prototyping and changing of design, I finally found the key to building a super responsive stylus. I want to share my stylus to all the iPad users but the cost of production is too high for me to absorb. So I started a crowdfunding project to gather production funding for my stylus — XStylus.

With 27 more days to go, Elton has already raised about $9,400 at the time of writing. He needs $40,000+ more to get this project going. Elton’s offers are pretty good too. By pledging $25 for the project, you get to receive a XStylus Touch if the project goes through. So far, there are more than 350 funders for his project. Catch Elton’s campaign videos below, including one where he showcases his stylus in action. It does look pretty neat, especially if you’re an artist like him.

XStylus Touch campaign video

XStylus artist demo