Apple launched their Mac Store today. The new store is the iTunes App Store equivalent for your Mac software. I’m assuming over time a lot of the iPhone, iPad apps will be ported over. I love my ArtRage app on my iPad – so I went looking to see what’s available in the new Mac Store that would be of interest to a cartoonists?
The short answer is… not much. Adobe is missing, but they’re the 900lb gorilla of digital editing and with Apple taking 30% of each sale, I really doubt Adobe will ever be in the store.
But, there are other options.
Sketchbook Pro
Sketch ($49.99) – is a vector editing app. Both
Sketchbook Express (free) and Sketchbook Pro ($29.99) are available. Both apps are very popular on the iPhone and iPad to capture sketches and ideas. Like I mentioned above, I frequently use ArtRage – having a nice sketch app is handy for those strokes of creativity.
Having said those things, which would be better as a day-to-day sketcher? I for one find Photoshop to be super-heavy for simple sketching, but I have it on my PC. I have GIMP on my Mac. I haven’t tried Artrage yet, but it looks pretty good.
I also need a new tablet, because I gave my Wacom to my art-school daughter? 🙂 Oops. Didn’t realize how much you miss it, until you start living without one.
Thanks,
Phil
Hmm.. the thing is Photoshop is probably something you already have.. sort of an essential thing nowadays… to figure out how to set your brushes so they can sketch just as well as Alias sketchbook is a 2 minute process and will save you money in the long run..besides CS 5 has awesome new painting capabilities .. a huge improvement.. CS4 was not a huge step up from CS3.. they have to stop updating these things every year.. it’s obnoxious.
This article, along with others, were mentioned in the latest Webcomic Beacon newscast with some discussion. http://webcomicbeacon.com/episode-154/
A new iPad app has just been launched that deals with cartooning. It’s called 1-2-3 Draw, and is a spinoff of Peel Productions’ popular art instruction books. It’s a very basic, easy-to-use art program that includes cartooning lessons I created, as well as more illustrative lessons from author Freddie Levin. We’re hoping that it will help introduce children (and adults) to the world of digital art, and to cartooning. It’s extremely affordable ($3.99) and additional lesson bundles are only 99 cents each.
Kids can follow the lessons or create their own art in the “Free Art Zone”, then immediately post them on Facebook, their own webpage or e-mail them to friends and family. It’s a pretty cool little app, if I do say so myself. Hopefully, it will play a small role in inspiring the next generation of cartoonists.
has everyone thrown out their pencils?
I haven’t thrown out my pencils (or pens). I still love creating cartoons “the old fashioned way”. But, most freelance markets I sell to now require digital submissions. Kids who are growing up today will need to have computer skills if they want to become cartoonists and survive in a highly competitive business. Most book publishers are rapidly embracing digital technology, and seem to prefer to work with cartoonists and illustrators who can provide art that is already in a digital format when they receive it.
I have a Cintiq (it’s a Wacom made pressure sensitive to 1024 levels monitor you sketch directly on it) but I STILL draw with pens and pencils and markers on PAPER for all my art – I do color everything digitally these days for speed and convenience, hence the Cintiq…
By the way, cartoonists do NOT need a scanner – just use a DSLR camera and you’ll find it much much simpler and much much faster than scanning…
Steve – your art is marvelous! Congratulations on your iPad app – I’ll be recommending it to my students when I start teaching cartooning this year!
Thanks, Dave. Development took a LONG time, and we tried to make it as user-friendly to budding artists as we could. I hope some of your students get a chance to use it, and I’d love to hear their feedback.