ArtBoard or PicsArt Color?

ArtBoard is a fairly new painting app for Android. It has 30 adjustable brushes in two categories, Basic and Artistic. Most of the brushes don't blend until you click on the blend mode. There is a blend mode for each brush setting. There are also 19 textures that you can add for each brush and you can adjust the jitter, taper, smoothness, spacing, and opacity. The paint bucket tool acts as a regular paint bucket or it can add patterns and gradients. There is also a text stamp brush where you can type in your word using 7 different fonts and use it like a stamp. ArtBoard also has a symmetry tool with four settings and can have up to 15 layers with 25 layer blend modes and functions. This app also has an eraser tool, color picker, color mixer, and imports photos. You can also set the background color or add one of six background textures. An interesting feature of this app is that it records your drawing and you can export it as a video clip in 1080p or 720p or as a gif file. In one of the latest updates, I was directed to another version of this app called PicsArt Color which appears to have all the same functions with minor changes to the UI. Both apps are still getting updates. The developer for ArtBoard is listed as Photo and Video apps and the developer for PicsArt Color is listed as PicsArt. These apps are free with no in app purchases. 



Here is the project file screen. This screen comes up first when you open the app. You can work on an existing project or start a new one.

 

You can select your canvas size up to 2048x1536


Here is the UI for ArtBoard. The tool panel is on the left side and the symmetry tools, layers, and import/export menu are in the upper right hand corner. Save is triggered by hitting the back button.

Here is the project file screen for PicsArt Color. It seems to be just a different color than the ArtBoard UI.

Here is the UI in the Picsart Color app. The menus are arranged a little bit differently and the icons are different, but all the brushes and tools are the same.


The color picker has two modes HSB or RGB color. You can use the wheel or the sliders to pick your color.

   

There is also a color mixer. You use the color wheel to mix two colors together.
 

The brushes are in two different categories: Basic or Artistic. They don't have any names, but they seem to be bristle brushes, pastel or pencil, airbrushes, and texture brushes.

 

You can make a lot of adjustments to the brushes by changing jitter, opacity, spacing, size, taper, and add a texture to the brush.
 

When you click on the eraser mode, you can pick brush textures for it.

  

Most of the brushes don't automatically blend so you have to click on blend mode for each different brush.

 

The text tool acts like a stamp brush and you can pick different fonts.
 

The paint bucket tool includes gradients and patterns.
 

The symmetry tools include vertical and horizontal symmetry and 4 and 6 axis symmetry. 

This app can have up to 15 layers and it has several different blend modes. There is also a background function that can add color and texture.

   

This app automatically records your painting strokes and you can export the recording as a video or a gif file. You can even choose the frame rate and screen resolution.

'Fresh Ingredients'

by Ellie Taylor

I like this app quite a bit. I used it to create a still life painting of tomatoes and a pitcher of olive oil.The brushes blend nicely and you can get a good painterly look with them.  The brushes can be customized a lot and you can get a wide variety of brushstrokes. I did have a few problems trying to export the recording of the painting, but that could be because of all the new updates.