An active pen includes a pen chassis including a pen tip and a pressure sensitive gripping element that is accessible on at least a portion of an outer surface of the pen chassis. The pen chassis houses a communication system, a processor, and a memory that includes instructions that, when executed by the processing system, causes the processing system to provide a pressure input engine that is configured to capture first force data and first location data generated by a first user interaction with the pressure sensitive gripping element at a first time. The pressure input engine then uses the first force data and first location data to provide an input to a graphical user interface provided on a display screen of a computer device.