iPad App review: Artrage and Art Authority

OK. So I have finally completed what I feel like is a reasonably share worthy piece via one of the aforementioned art apps called Artrage.

In all honesty, I am pretty happy with it despite the fact that I feel like it isn't all that great. I mean, well... it's definitely lacking in some places in terms of solid technique. Aside from that though, I wasn't looking to create a masterpiece and rather just do a quick study of my four year old daughter while she was sitting still and painting a birdhouse.

While I would have liked to have done this with the Sensu brush, I did it with the stylus part of the brush. *shrug* The medium I picked was chalk pastel so using the cushioned stylus end just worked better and felt much more natural and intuitive.

Here is an instragram of the cushioned rubber stylus end of the Sensu.

I tried doing it with brush end but it didn't work so well. I attribute this to the fact that I am still just trying to learn my way around the app itself. Pair this with the fact that I have very limited experience with the chalk pastel medium and what you get is what you see above.

My initial aim was to try and do the oil painting but it just wasn't working so I switched to chalk pastel. That's why you see such a heavy grain of the support itself. (I chose a canvas grain support gessoed in black.) I REALLY wanted to try and work with the Sensu but it just wasn't working out. I'll get there though. I feel like it was a good move for me to just think about familiarizing myself with the range of the app versus trying to turn out a masterpiece.

I *think* Artrage allows for the use of layers but I didn't do that. I am actually going to try not to (for all of the apps that I review) if I can can get away with it. Why? Because you really don't use digital layering in real artwork - I mean, the closest thing would be to let each layer dry before doing the next but I never do that. I like working wet into wet and since my goal is to use the apps to imitate the techniques I'm used to, I'm going to avoid using layers.

One other app I have discovered that I REALLY am liking is called Art Authority. Basically it's a very comprehensive art gallery (in virtual form) as much as you could ever imagine. I mean, every artist and their works are not in it but the big names and major movements in art history are there enough. I LOVE studying masterworks and this is app is making it really REALLY easy to do that. My goal is to use some of the masterworks to do mastercopying via some of the iPad apps.

So that's it for now. I would say on the whole I really like Artrage. I almost started doing the above in Artset but it didn't have quite the more specific adjustments (like adjusting pressure and color saturation, etc.) the way Artrage did so I switched from Artset to Artrage almost immediately.

Will continue to keep you all on the up and up of my experimenting with all of the apps. If you, too, have been trying out the apps, I would love to stay connected with you and trade thoughts, tricks, and inspirations via the comment section below. Thanks so much.