Sketching, drawing, design concepts, animation storyboarding – basically any initial creative process steps or planning that occurs on paper – can now all be transferred into a digital format in real-time, thanks to Moleskine’s new smart pen; the latest addition to its existing Smart Writing Set.

There will be no need to scan, take photos or upload any sketches if you use the Pen + Ellipse smart pen, with Moleskine compatible paper, or tablet and the free Moleskine Notes app. Although using the pen effectively involves signing yourself up to the entire Moleskine system, it could be worthwhile for artists whose creative process always begins with an original sketch, of which is usually scanned into Photoshop before additional colouring, texturing and lighting.

All your sketching or storyboarding can be captured in real-time, stroke by stroke, and immediately transferred to your smartphone, tablet or other device with this new pen. You can then move the digital file into Photoshop and begin working on it. See how it works in the video below.

How it works

The Pen + Ellipse, released tomorrow, will recognise compatible paper formats and layouts, Moleskine Paper Tablets and even times and dates in Moleskine’s Smart diary (helpful if you’re a freelancer), for example. This is powered by Ncoded paper technology.

Once the content is captured, it can then be developed further on screen, shared or saved and stored for a later time when you’re back in the studio.

Design

The Pen + Ellipse pen shares the same shape of the Moleskine Classic Pen, with soft rounded edges much like most Moleskine products and notebooks. The pen’s cap has a handy clip too.

The smart pen comes with a USB cable for recharging, a ink refill and a Volant XS Starter Journal. You’ll also need to download the free Moleskine Notes app from the App Store, Google Play or Windows Store.

Pricing and Availability

The Pen + Ellipse will cost you US$179 from the Moleskine online store. Available from February 22.