Stylish and sleek, Hard Candy's StylusPen suffers from a few design flaws, but its capacitive nib and ballpoint pen both work admirably, and the pen's weight provides a commendable virtual writing experience.

One of the most unique approaches to artistic touchscreen styluses I've seen, the ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ; $24) looks--by all outward appearances--like an ordinary watercolor paintbrush. The 7.5-inch stylus has a wood-and-plastic handle with a rubber grip for your index and middle fingers; the bristles themselves are a mix of natural and synthetic fibers.

Unbelievably, these bristles are conductive. Together, they fool the iPad into thinking a single finger is making contact with the screen (although if you splay them every which way, you can accidentally effect a multitouch gesture). Since the screen doesn't detect each bristle individually, you won't actually benefit digitally from the brush's construction, but it does wonders for your brain.

The experience of "painting" on a super-smooth screen takes some getting used to, but the NomadBrush feels very natural, and when using the right digital brush in your art program, the results are stunning.