I don't share this side of me often, but on occasion I'm drawn to express through art I draw. I've been inspired by a coworker's art on Facebook by her drawings of dogs lately for a book she's working on to benefit the local Anna Animal rescue shelter. She's sketched over 25 rescue dogs and will publish her art soon in a collection.
I spent my forming years with pencil and paper drawing and moved on to Commercial Art school as a technical course in 10th -12th grade. I learned various art forms used commercially and enriched my latent talent. Our father also was adept at art and dabbled some with his art after retirement. I passed Commercial Art with a high B but prior to graduation, I became pregnant and was subsequently married.
I took on the role of Mom and although I've played with art since, on occasion, to the point of purchasing art supplies but they rest in some bag hidden in a closet forgotten.
Today I felt the old urge to create outside of words and searched for art apps for Android phones. I still love pencil and pen, but I'm not energetic enough to hunt down my supplies yet. Anyone with a smartphone or tablet can download pretty detailed art apps to try their hand at creating beautiful paintings and drawings.
After comparing several reviews, I settled on the app Medibang Paint in the Google Play store by Medibang Inc, last updated on my bithday June 11, 2019. The app has an impressive 4.7 review score with over 8.8k downloads. This is hailed as an excellent app with multiple tools and boasts several saving options.
You can add a couple more premium features for $6.49. Some reviews feel the perks are insignificant for the high cost to purchase. I haven't used it long enough to provide a definitive review and I doubt I'll purchase the app, although I do like it and most free features are impressive.
The stylus really makes a difference and given screen size of a phablet, is the only way I feel comfortable creating with.
I saw on the app example art of how to draw a cartoon eye, Japanese Manga art style.
I started with that and explored the pens, watercolor and settings. I mangled the eye, but explored some ways to personalize the strokes and blend and blur to add mystique and character. It's just my first attempt. I used my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 phone and stylus. I experimented with color, thickness and paint bucket styles of shading. I broke out the eraser and struggled with processes.
I enjoyed this experiment and may create more. Let me know your thoughts!
