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
To learn about iPhone (or iPod Touch) art, you can’t do better than join a group of like minded finger painters.
Even better if the group conspire to set a different subject every week for members to paint.
The Balloon Man was made for the Flickr group Fingerpaint THIS!
Not only does a set subject get you started drawing and painting. Excellent for creative block! You learn and gain inspiration from everyone else’s art work.
There’s yet another advantage to this way of learning. The Flickr group iPhone/iTouch Painting a Week on an Assigned Subject actually sets two themes to paint.
One is a general subject. (This week a Halloween monster!)
The other presents a challenge to paint in the style of a famous artist. (This week Paula Rego.) Believe me this teaches you a lot. More than many a long course in fine art classic or contemporary!
Tags: Art on the iPhone, balloon party, cartoons, digital painting, drawing, iphone art apps, ipod touch, learn, teaching, tips, tutorial, valerie beeby
Here is a finger painting I did with Brushes app on my iPhone 3GS.
I drew each ‘ring’ and nail on the hand
with the finger it is drawn on.
The finger painter Jorge Columbo has now produced his second New Yorker cover on his iPhone. I noticed in a video that he seemed to be moving his whole arm when drawing on his touch screen.
A few days later I learned that David Hockney maintains it is only the thumb that moves independently enough for finger painting. His many iphone paintings are apparently drawn with his thumb.
All very logical, so I rushed to do this test.
Sorry, it didn’t work for me. As you see in the picture, the ‘ring’ on the thumb is a sorry affair. I found, rather to my surprise, that the middle finger is the one I most often use for drawing.
If you draw on your iPhone or iPod Touch, which digit do you use? I’d be interested to know.
Tags: Art on the iPhone, digital painting, drawing, drawing tablet, iphone art apps, ipod touch, learn, purple owl, tips, valerie beeby