Learning to use applications on iOS

More art applications on my iPad

Yesterday I spent a lot of time working with various iOS drawing and painting applications. I bought a couple of new ones and I quite like them. I got one called Glaze which gives some very interesting effects that look quite painterly. I’m still trying to work out how to use the application. With some of the effects available I think it’s better to make some adjustments to the photo beforehand to boost the colours as the effects can make the picture go quite muddy looking. It’s quite a complicated interface and I need to have a look at the help system built into the application to find out how to make it work. It does this auto thing where it is scrolling through various styles and I’m finding it’s possible to swipe through the history. I do like to have an application that gives me layers I can work with, so I can put one effect across the top of another. I don’t seem to have layers with this Glaze, but what I can do is to save out an image and put into Procreate or Art Studio. So then I’ll be able to do any blending of images I need to do. There is a masking system which would be more useful if it was possible to change the size of the brush. I like the way that in Procreate it’s possible to get a marker on the screen showing the shape of the brush which makes it easier to do the painting, whether it is a mask, paint or an eraser.

Learning to use applications on iOS

The conventions we use for working with a touchscreen are still evolving. Designers of applications are working out what works and what doesn’t work in terms of touching the screen. There are some things like the pinch to zoom using two fingers that are now baked into the vocabulary of working with the touchscreen. There are other things that are new and untested and when you pick up a new application on the iPad you might have to read the user guide to find out how to use it. In this application Glaze there are five zones at top of screen and you can drag images into the zones. When you have one of these selected, you touch and hold on your main image. It is then possible to drag and adjust the region displayed in the saved styles. I still haven’t fully worked out exactly how this works, but I suppose if I spend more time with the application I will work it out eventually.

A strange application called Glitché

I found the Glitché application mentioned in a tutorial on a website all about creating mobile artwork. It really does have some extremely weird visual effects. The application is even more strange with some of the effects being three-dimensional in nature. After the effect is applied you can touch the screen and move the image around in 3-D space. Even when you’re not using it, it kind of moves around by itself. The effect called Scene with the Glass setting is like looking at a photo through constantly moving molten glass. When you click on Done at the top of the screen you can then go to a share screen to send to the usual social networks or to save to your device. The application is quite impressive in a funny sort of way.

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