Afternoon Apple, originally uploaded by purple0wl.
I took a photo of an apple with my iPhone 3GS. Displaying the photo on my computer screen, I finger painted it back onto the iphone in a paint app called Layers.
Layers created a stir among iphone artists a while ago, because for the first time it offered – guess what. Layers. Now other paint apps vying to be the best, including the old favourite Brushes and newer Sketchbook Mobile, also offer layers.
In this painting, layers allowed me to paint the wooden sill and window frame behind the apple without interfering with its outline.
Another tool absent in paint apps until quite recently was a blender.
A blender is really just an empty brush that allows you to smudge the paint and make a smooth transition between tones. In days of yore on your iphone or ipod Touch, you could make a reasonable transition by building up layers of transparent colour. Reasonable, maybe. Satisfactory? No, not really. For me the result was usually horribly streaky.
Than along came another paint app, Inspire, and for the first time, blending. Truly useful, even though Inspire, alas, did not allow you to import an existing image.
Since then, Inspire has opened its gates to images created in other paint apps. Meanwhile, Layers, not to be outdone, has added blending to its box of tools. Very useful for polishing apples.
Tags: apple, art, Art on the iPhone, creative, digital painting, iphone apps, iphone art apps, iphone camera, ipod, ipod touch, learn, learning
Bicycle Snake. Beware!, originally uploaded by purple0wl.
The Bicycle Snake has landed! The preferred diet of this rapacious reptile is fortunately bicycles, but it’s not a good idea to get in its way. It has a nasty bite.
Noting that my new app Magic Brush allows you to make a finger painting brush from any image, I stole a cycle or two from the bicycle shed at Oxford station. This serpent was the unfortunate result.
I photographed the cycle shed on my way home from the Oxford Internet Institute. There I had been mesmerised by a portrait painting session given by Jeremy Sutton. He uses Corel Painter, which of course gives a huge choice of brushes, and allows you to make your own. You can see the vast Painter 11 range in my samplers at http://owler.com.
The range of brushes and effects on offer for finger painting on the iPhone or iPod Touch is increasing daily. Handheld apps are unsurprisingly more limited than desktop leviathans like Corel Painter or Photoshop. Most iphone artists use several finger painting, drawing and photographic apps, but don’t despair! Once you’ve got your iPhone or iPod Touch, apps are cheap and most offer frequent free upgrades.
Tags: art, Art on the iPhone, brushes, creative, digital painting, iphone apps, iphone art apps, iphone camera, ipod touch, purple owl, reptile, snake, valerie beeby
The Woods. iPhone collage., originally uploaded by purple0wl.
I’ve been trying Juxtaposer, a handy art app that allows you to make collages on an iPhone or iPod Touch.
You work with two images. One picture acts as the background. The other is the foreground. The foreground’s the active picture. Crop it, size it, twist it, move it. Drop it where you like, as many times as you fancy.
Several art apps now have layers you can work with, including the classic Brushes, Layers as the name implies, and SketchBook Mobile. Yes, of course you can make a collage with layers, but Juxtaposer makes it easier.
Tags: art, Art on the iPhone, brushes, collage, digital painting, iphone apps, iphone art apps, Iphone Painting, ipod touch, photography, purple owl, tips, valerie beeby
iPhone Painting, originally uploaded by purple0wl.
I was just lounging in front of the TV watching someone talking about the news. I started to caricature him on my iphone in a new drawing app called Vellum …only to find he had disappeared and it was another face I was drawing.
Cut to an hour or two later and I found I was having a whale of a time exploring the new brushes in Autodesk Sketchbook Mobile and Brushes painting apps.
I resolved to do more of this.
Add the new Brushes brushes to the range of 20 in SketchBook Mobile, all of them editable, and you’ll find you have quite a wide choice of lines, strokes and textures to play with.
Uploaded by purple0wl on 30 Dec 09, 7.58PM GMT.
Tags: art, Art on the iPhone, autodesk, brushes, caricature, creative, digital painting, doodle, draw, drawing faces, drawing tablet, iphone apps, iphone art apps, ipod, ipod touch, purple owl, sketch, sketchbook mobile, valerie beeby
Christmas Card originally uploaded by purple0wl.
As you’ll see by the iPod Classic, these robins first saw the light a while ago.
They are taking the stage while I quietly panic behind the scenes, trying to think of what to draw or paint for this year’s card.
Bridge. iPhone painting after Andre Francois, originally uploaded by purple0wl.
This iPhone finger painting was created in the app Inspire, after a watercolour by Andre Francois.
Inspire was the app I chose for this finger painting, because of its excellent blending facility. Inspire lets you choose just how much pigment you put on your ‘brush’ – down to none at all, so you can blend and smear only the colour existing on your canvas.
The feel of blending paint is so realistic that I even found myself looking for a tissue to wipe my finger before picking up my coffee cup!
Drawing and painting apps for iPhone and iPod Touch have gone a long way since I started this blog, only a few months ago. Brushes app is still the favourite of many artists, though Colors and Layers are now fast being upstaged by Sketchbook Mobile.
Personally I don’t think any of them are as good at blending colours as Inspire, but then, each app has its advantages. Applications cost so little (provided you’ve got an iphone or ipod to put them on) – that the best answer to the finger artist’s prayer is to use several apps.
I copied the general scheme of the painting by Andre Francois in Inspire, then exported it to my iphone Photo Gallery. I adjusted the colour in Photo Studio, then added a few final touches in Brushes.
Tags: Art on the iPhone, bridges, brushes, cityscape, inspiration, iphone apps, iphone art apps, ipod touch, learn, purple owl, valerie beeby, watercolor, watercolour
Phoenix Awaits the Bonfires , originally uploaded by purple0wl.
Bonfire night is bonanza time for the phoenix! Here he prepares for the Fifth of November. Well, the 6th actually. He will have to wait for the ashes from which he can rise again.
The image of the phoenix too has gone through quite a few resurrections on my iphone!
I’m giving away quite a few secrets here but – sorry to disillusion you… The painting started as an iphone photo of a dodo-like bird I took at the Natural History Museum.
Freehand drawing gives, as its name implies, the most free and most personal results, but this time I traced just the outline of the bird before deleting the photo.
Then I launched out on my own.
I was using Sketchbook Mobile, a new iphone art app already quite popular with iPhone and iPod Touch artists. As well as a wide choice of brushes, Sketchbook Mobile offers layers. This makes it invaluable for working from a photo as well as for trying out details you can remove without harm to the rest of your artwork.
Art apps like Layers and Brushes also offer layers, but Sketchbook Mobile scores by allowing you to toggle layer visibility. This makes it even better for experimenting.
Yet more experimentation awaited my phoenix. I saved it to my iphone Photo Gallery, then added light and texture effects in 101 Photo Effects and Vihgo.
After that, a few more brush strokes in Sketchbook Mobile and the phoenix was ready to rise – if not from the ashes, at least from a dodo existence at the Natural History Museum.
Tags: 5th november, art, Art on the iPhone, bonfire night, creative, digital painting, drawing, iphone apps, iphone art apps, iphone camera, phoenix, photo, photography, purple owl, tips, valerie beeby
