Apple highlights lettering artist Belinda Kou and the new iPad Air

What you need to know

Apple is highlighting lettering artist Belinda Kou in a new feature.
Kou runs a graphic design business off of her iPad.
Apple released the new iPad Air earlier this month.

The iPad Air enabled at least one artist to launch her own business.

Apple is highlighting lettering artist Belinda Kou and her work on the new iPad Air with M1 processor.

In a feature on the Apple Newsroom website, the company highlights Kou who went from Teach for America to launching her own graphic design business with the iPad Air.

“Drawing directly onscreen with Apple Pencil versus drawing on one device and having to look up at a different screen to see how it translates has really sped up my process,” she says.

“Once I got my iPad and Apple Pencil, I created faster than I’d been able to with pencil and paper, which helped me to share consistently on social media,” Kou explains. “Between that and honing my voice and style, I started to attract clients. Today, so many of my clients hire me for digital art. I don’t think I could run my business without iPad.”

Kou, who exclusively uses Procreate, also teaches people who to illustrate on their own iPads.

Tools like Apple Pencil and the new iPad Air have made graphic design more accessible than ever, she says, reducing the barriers to entry she encountered early on in her career: “The people I teach know how to use iPad, and now they’re ready to level up in Procreate. But the fact is that they were able to go straight in there and draw something, without a steep learning curve.”

Apple launched the new iPad Air with M1 processor earlier this month. The latest iPad Air also includes a new ultra-wide camera on the front to enable Center Stage. It also added 5G connectivity and a thunderbolt-enabled USB-C port.

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Bottom line: This s the best iPad for most people, offering fantastic performance thanks to the M1 chip, but also a great starting price. Whether you use an iPad for work, play, or a combination of the two, the iPad Air 5 will be able to handle anything you throw at it.

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