A look at how tablets are changing the landscape of the art industry. Will they eventually replace sketchbooks and guitars? Will there be an era where a tablet would be all you need to create new art?
Think art in the form of sketches and paintings and brushes and pencils come to mind. Even 50 years ago, to think that something like a computer could be used to replicate our ideas into actual designs and paintings would have been thought impossible.
Enter 2013, and today the world is a different place. Digitally created Art is infiltrating our lives everywhere. Softwares like Adobe’s Photoshop have come to be the mainstay of the digital art industry. But with software, comes the need to specially suited hardware too. An ordinary mouse operated desktop system is too cumbersome for the free flow of ideas to be properly represented.
It is therefore no surprise, that Tablets today represent a unique opportunity for us to get back to the basics. Free flowing hand made sketches are now possible thanks to the touch sensitive screens. The use of fingers to create the simplest of curves. The use of a stylus pen to bring accuracy to our detail. Digital art could be on the cusp of a new wave of revolution. Thanks to tablets and smartphones that can be carried easily just about anywhere.
Not only do they allow us to use hands and fingers, but special drawing Apps available on Android and iOS platforms allow users to add different effects to suit their need. Gone are the days when one had to carry around a box full of colors and brushes. The Tablet screen is your canvas and a stylus pen or your finger the only brush you’ll ever need.
But not everything is so easy. Not every tablet has features that require today’s digital art to take its final shape. Industrial designers and Digital artists still rely on their photoshops and computer graphics softwares to give the final touches to their works. App makers and Tablet manufacturers are still in the process of fixing and improving Tablet and smartphone applications that will give greater freedom and detail to the artists.
However, like in this article on BBC News, some artists still question the very concept of using something digital like a tablet to create art. They believe that true art can only spring from traditional tools like pencils and brushes and something like a glass screen of tablet can never replace the feel of a canvas.
In the meantime, touch sensitive screens of Tablets and Smartphones have given people another reason to wonder at the ability of these devices to make our world so much easier. And with the rising number of Tablet and Smartphone users, the end of the brush as we know it might be very well near.
Here are a few cool Apps for Android and iOS users to try out their sketching skills. Some of these are free while for some you might have to shell out a few bucks. But they offer the best experience of sketching on your mobile device.
- Sketchbook Pro for Tablets (Android)
- Photoshop Touch (Android)
- Artrage (iOS)
- Infinite Design (Android)
- Paper (iOS)
- Procreate (iOS)
Here’s a look at a brilliant sketch created on the Samsung Galaxy Tab2 10.1. Also, check out Youtube for other such brilliant works uploaded by various artists to get you started on your own sketching on your Tablet.