Still, artists love the familiar feeling of gently bendingbristles. Nomad’s Compose Dual-Tip ($35) adds a second bristle tip that’smore of a soft, dabby bud — better for tapping, and gloriouslyfrictionless when drawing. But even bristles aren’t the wackiestyet. The oStylus ($37.50) is a long, thin metal tube.
Each has a lanyard with a tiny plastic plug that cansnap into a headphone jack. At least you won’t lose it. Kensington’s Virtuoso Mini ($16) has a minisleeve that plugs intothe iPhone/iPad charging connector. When you’re finished drawing,the stylus collapses, telescoping into a compact cylinder thatsnaps into that sleeve, where it will stay until you need it again– probably. PROBLEM: BOREDOM You want offbeat? The Cosmonaut ($25) resembles ahuge, fat, black, stubby Crayola.
PROBLEM: MUSHY RUBBER TIPS Most stylus tips are black, bulbous,mushy rubber bulbs, meant to mimic your fingertip. The choicesrange from the beautifully weighted Wacom Bamboo ($25), to theblasted-aluminum hexagonal heft of the AluPen ($15), to thebare-bones Amazon.com models labeled “Generic” — three for $1.18. For a little more money, you can get a nicer stylus with aretractable tip, like the penlike Kuel H12 ($20). Its barrel ismade of “Harmless Material Plated Brass.” (Whew!) The black rubber tips glide nicely across the glass, but they wearor tear over time. And they’re so fat,
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