If you have the tools but fear you lack the talent, let technology be your teacher. Just make sure your choice works with your device. Inexpensive models use simple capacitive touch to interact with the screen, and pricier styluses have wireless connections and pressure-sensitive tips. If you want fine lines, you’ll need to ditch your fingertip for a stylus.

Here’s how to get started, even if you don’t know how to draw (yet). But if you’re serious about sketching in pixels as a way to relax, to focus and to express your creativity, a responsive art app with a suite of precision tools is a more fulfilling choice.

If you mainly doodle, your device’s notes app may suffice. Today’s artists - and wannabe artists - also have the option of easy-to-use digital gadgets. “Any one who can learn to write, can learn to draw,” John Gadsby Chapman wrote in his 19th-century instruction manual, “The American Drawing-Book.” This can-do sentiment dates back to an era when lead pencils and chalky pastels were standard.

Sketchbook express for ipad