New Obsession: iPad Art
March 31, 2015
You guys! I have a brand new obsession: making art on my iPad. It's actually creating a little bit of a problem for me. I've mostly been doing it on the subway and I totally lose track of time, which is great, but not so great. An hour-long ride goes by super duper fast, but I've also almost missed my stop a few different times. Seriously. So, I might have a heart attack, but I'm having fun on my iPad in the meantime. ;)
As you know (because I shared my handy dandy iPad Oilcloth Pouch), I recently bought myself a new iPad. Based on some web research I also purchased 3 other things:
The first item is a stylus.
The reviews said that it was the stylus that felt the most natural to the most number of people and it's only $30! Not bad.
The second and third items are apps.
Procreate is a drawing app. It's $5.99 in the app store. This is a screenshot I pulled from their website:
You can choose from lots of different brushes and tools. You can export your creation in multiple formats including psd (which is great because it preserves the layers), jpg, or png. There's an undo button, an eraser, a full color palette, opacity changes, layer styles, and so much more! However, the absolute coolest, coolest, coolest, COOLEST thing about the app is that with the touch of a button you can export a fast forward video of the process of any of your drawings.
Here's a compilation of those videos from me:
I've only run into two negatives of the app thus far:
- You can't rearrange the order of the layers.
- Doing small fussy details, like dots, is a little bit tough. The app doesn't like that gesture and tends to take it as a command to change colors rather than leave a dot.
Art Studio is also a drawing app. It cost $4.99 in the app store. Here is a screenshot I found on the Creative Bloq, along with a review of the 2012 version.
To me, Art Studio feels a lot like Photoshop. If you're familiar with how Photoshop works, Art Studio will feel very natural. Art Studio has most of the same features of Procreate. You can export as a .psd, .jpg, or .png, work with layers, lots of brush styles, plenty of layer styles, and on and on.
Here are some pieces I created in Art Studio:
As for negative and positive, I'm still struggling a bit in navigating their palette of brushes. I can't quite find one that feels "right" to me. That said, I love the symmetry mode (I used in on the first drawing), which allows you to create a perfectly symmetrical image. Also the ability to change the order of the layers is super duper key to making me happy.
Mostly, I'm have a blast making art in what would otherwise be completely lost time on the subway!
Are you an iPad art enthusiast?
Thanks for stopping by!
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P.S. The winner of the Snow Branch and Geo Explosion stencils is...
Congratulations, Tina! E-mail me with your mailing address to claim your prize!