Mobile Digital Art: Using the iPad and iPhone as Creative Tools

by David Leibowitz

Learn how to create beautiful artwork on your iPad or iPhone. Over 65 expert artists from around the world will show you how they created their original art, from inspiration and conceptualization, to the creation of the final image. Using step-by-step examples and easy-to-follow tutorials, you'll learn how to create stunning images on your iPad or iPhone. Learn more about using the apps you already have, like Brushes, and discover new apps that will enhance your art creation like Sketchbook Mobile, Layers, Collage, Juxtaposer, Hiptamatic, and PhotoFX. Whether you are taking you first steps into digital art, or are an accomplished artist looking to broaden your skill set, Mobile Digital Art covers it all - how to turn photographs into oil paintings, design cartoons from scratch and create beautiful landscape vistas - all on your iPad or iPhone.

350 pages, Paperback

First published December 27, 2012

Reviews

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a book that managed to impress and depress. Through this hefty book you get to learn about creating artwork on your iPad or iPhone and over 65 expert artists give you a step-by-step run-through as to how they made their images.

So you cannot fail to be impressed by the skill shown, yet you might be depressed like this reviewer when you consider your own pitiful attempts and the sheer gap between what should be achievable and what might be achieved. For their creations the artists used fairly common, popular apps such as Sketchbook, Collage and Hiptamatic. This book, however, shouldn't just be viewed as a help aid for those who like to compose artwork digitally. Those who like holding a (traditional) pen or brush might still learn many "analogue" techniques at the same time.

The explanations given are relatively short but to the point. It doesn't spend a lot of time teaching you how to use the featured applications but focusses more on the actual techniques, specific tools and an approximate workflow. Yet the art-gifted user might enjoy having a go and honing their skills as they try and follow in the footsteps of the masters.

It is possible that this reviewer has overly fat fingers, is just talentless at art or both as it is truly amazing to consider that somebody could finger paint a delicate looking sports car on a tablet. Looking at many of these pieces of art, if framed and on a wall, you might be hard pressed to know how they were made. This is one of those books that, should you have a need for it, then it would be a jolly good buy. The casual but curious art lover might stand to gain a fair bit too, yet the price tag could be a little off-putting for a casual read.

Mobile Digital Art, written by David Scott Leibowitz and published by Taylor & Francis Group/Focal Press. ISBN 9780240825021, 360 pages. Typical price: USD34.95. YYYY.

[Georganne · Rating 3 out of 5]

First let me say, this is not a 'how to' book for beginners. It brings together different artists using their favorite iOS apps to create art using the iPhone or iPad, and all the work in this book is amazingly creative and fun to look at. However, almost all of it is not something I'd be interested in doing, as it's not to my personal taste nor is it commensurate with my skill level as a digital artist. If you enjoy art dealing with themes centering around the fantastical, the surreal, the grotesque, and the abstract, you will find lots of it here. Not so much the usual themes; portraits, landscapes, still lifes, etc. The overall tone used for most of the work is dark using muted and grayed down colors. Finished works are displayed framed on a black page making them appear even darker. Again, not to my taste. The book says 'easy-to-follow' tutorials, but just reading through a few, they seem to range from maybe doable to very complex. This is especially true if you first have to familiarize yourself with the apps that the artist used before even trying his/her tutorial. Every artist featured uses their own preferred app or apps. There are over 150 different apps listed as being used to create the works (done by 70 individual artists). Artists often use multiple apps to complete one painting. I have apps that I like to create art with on my iPhone and iPad. However, to immerse myself in the tutorials offered in this book would require a very steep learning curve. I think I'm happy where I am. Still, it's an interesting book. If you or someone you know is considering becoming a professional artist working in digital mobile app art, this book would be a good first look.