Top 5 Posts of 2012....My Favorite iPad app...PAPER

Digital Sketch using PAPER. app on my new iPad

If you needed another reason to get an iPad here it is....My favorite new app PAPER. by 53. I had to rationalize buying a new iPad so I convinced myself I needed it for art. I imagined myself using it for doing quick sketches and making drawing a part of my daily routine. I bought two of the more popular art apps including Brushes and Sketchbook Pro. Both of these apps are full of features which are great but involved a small learning curve. I will work with them and get to know them better but I was impatient for some instant gratification. Then my son introduced me to the new app PAPER. I'm in love!

Screenshot of my Sketchbook on PAPER. for iPad

PAPER. is exactly what I wanted. It is described by it's designers as "The simplest, most beautiful way to create on the iPad." and I have to agree. PAPER. is a drawing app that gives you Moleskine-like sketchbooks and five simple tools. You can start as many sketchbooks as you want customizing them with your own titles and cover photos. You can also add pages to your sketchbooks.

Open your sketchbook to a blank page that fills your screen. No fussy buttons or tool trays to interfere. Just a clean space to create. You just need to swipe the screen up to access the 5 tools and swip down to hide them. Want to undo something? Just touch screen with two fingers and a rewind button appears. Want to throw out your sketch? Pinch the screen to access the trash button. Pinch to open and close sketchbook. It is so simple that I didn't know what to do at first. But once you know these few basics, creating is a dream!

PAPER. is currently a free app and it provides one of the 5 tools, the fountain pen. The other 4 tools are locked and are available for purchase for $1.99 each or $7.99 for all. You will want all of the tools and it is well worth it for the simple pleasure of creating with this app. Besides the fountain pen there is a free eraser, a soft lead pencil, a bold marker, a fine line pen and a watercolor brush with access to 7 colors plus black and white. You can use the colors for the pens as well and you can get creative with your watercolor washes to darken and mix colors.

I love that there is a limited choice of tools and colors. This lets me just concentrate on drawing rather than what brush size I should use. I found with the other drawing apps I spent way too much time fiddling with all of the settings. They have their place but for simple sketches this is the app to get. It is supposed to work just like your paper sketchbook, journal or moleskine and it sure does succeed for me!

Read more about PAPER. by 53 on their website HERE

Quick sketch of my cat Jennifur with PAPER. for iPad. Done with fountain pen and watercolor

If you need another reason to get an iPad you might like to read my blog post HERE