Since I first heard of the pen and saw the technical details of it (e.g. latency, tilt feature, palm detection) and general faith in Apple's ability to leapfrog innovate, I knew it'd be a huge deal.

I'm not an artist but when I tried it for the first time at the Apple store, I was blown away much more than I expected and had I been an artist, I would have probably had the same reaction as the author.