I bought a new toy for my iPad last night, and had way too much fun playing with it. I first read about the app on a Sketchbook Challenge blog post by Sue Bleiweiss. She was creating some colorful patterns on her iPad. A couple of days ago, the latest issue of Quilting Arts magazine arrived in my mailbox, and in it was an article about drawing and painting on an iPad. I couldn't find the author's favorite app, Brushes, but I was able to find the one Sue mentioned in her blog post, Paper by 53.
The app itself is free, but if you want all of the drawing and painting tools, you have to pay $6.99. Once you have them, you can create with a calligraphy pen, ball point pen, pencil, marker, and watercolor brush in a limited variety of colors. This drawing is one of the first I did. I e-mailed it to myself so that I could get it off of my iPad and share it with you.
That was just the beginning, however.
Carla Sonheim is promoting her new book, Imaginary Animals, over on her blog. I've been fascinated to read about her artistic processes, and have been looking forward to pulling out some watercolor paper and paints for a bit of play time. Carla has been featuring on her blog some of the artists whose work is included in her book. A few days ago, the artist was Dar Hosta, creator of Cranky Birds. I really encourage you to check out her work - it's wonderful and hilarious. Carla included a tutorial by Dar on her blog, and I was inspired to try it out with my new iPad toy. I haven't had so much fun in quite a long time.
I've moved on to doing some fish, too, but haven't been able to e-mail them to myself yet. I'll share when I get a chance.
While creating on the iPad will never take the place of paint and paper, it sure is entertaining. I foresee keeping my iPad closer to hand every day to take advantage of play time.
If you know of any other great creative apps, please let me know. I'd also love it if you shared with me anything you create. Have fun!
