Brushes
iPad Edition: One
of the first art apps in the App Store, Brushes showed that real drawing was
possible on a mobile phone. Expanding on the wealth of features already offered
by its iPhone sibling, Brushes for iPad provides 19 customisable brushes,
transparencies, layers, blending and many more features you’d expect to find on
vastly more expansive desktop art software. Of course, the big addition here is
the touch interface native to the iPad, further enhanced with the use of a
high-quality capacitive stylus such as Wacom’s Bamboo stylus. Brushes for iPad
is $10 on the App Store.
Brushes iPad Edition
iMovie
for iOS: You’ll
notice a trend toward tablet applications here because, put simply, it’s a
platform better suited to the editing side of the creativity process. iMovie
for iOS, for example, is impressive on the iPhone, but it really comes into its
own with the screen real-estate afforded to it by an iPad. If you’ve used
iMovie in its iLife version, then you’ll be quite familiar with its layout:
simple to use, arrange, cut, edit and even add music and voiceovers. Frankly,
with HD video, the end product is far better than you’d imagine getting from a
mobile device and more that impressive enough to show off to the family. For $5
it’s staggering value.
Qik: Very much a web 2.0 product, Qik
allows you to stream video directly from your mobile device for all the world
to see, as well as sharing it with the usual social media suspects. As impressive
as this is at the moment (Qik also does video calling cross platform plus other
video-related functions), it’s somewhat held back by the bandwidth of current
mobile networks. Seeing as watching streamed HD video has only just become a
reality, having that kind of speed for uploading HD streams is still some way
off. However, Qik shows a glimpse into the future, and we may well soon see
video of a major news event filmed live by a member of the public.
iPhone
Lenses: Much has
been made of the cameras in the iPhone 4 and 4S, with them gaining plaudits
from such luminaries as legendary snapper Annie Leibovitz and Korean film
auteur Park Chan-Wook. However, you can even take things a step further by
augmenting the iPhone with add-on lenses. Granted it’s not the most elegant
solution, because it’s basically a lens jammed onto a mobile phone, but it
alters the characteristics of the images, giving them a less ‘cameraphone’ type
of look with the addition of genuine glass optics. What’s more, some feature
optical zoom, allowing you to get in close to distant subjects without
resorting to the horrid digital zoom that would otherwise be needed. Prices
range from around $25 for a basic stick-on fixed lens to around $225 for the
mCAMLITE series, which incorporate a holder that gives it a more compact camera
look.
iPhone Lenses
Problems
For all the
innovation, it’s not all plain sailing. While it’s fun to make movies on the
move, the professional touches still need to be applied with traditional
powerful computers. Video editing on a tablet is very impressive, but it’s more
of a sketchbook for ideas than a complete editing suite. For the time being,
any professional work will ultimately end up being completed in the same way as
it has been before.
There’s
also the problem of overload: with more creators there’s more content, much of
which is of questionable quality. Take Instagram, for example: in the
beginning, the washed out and bleached look was an interesting take on
photography, giving a creative twist on photographs without the expensive
filters and time spent editing in Photoshop. Now it’s got to the point of
saturation, in danger of falling out of favour simply due to its ubiquity. It
could be argued that we’re approaching media overload and the interesting stuff
is being drowned out in the noise.
The
Future
Like its
social namesake, mobile creative media seems to be on an increasingly upward
trend with more powerful devices, more bandwidth and more creative outlets. Not
only can you create on the move, you can edit and publish too – something
unthinkable even a few years ago. It hasn’t gone unnoticed either, Facebook’s
billion dollar purchase of Instagram showing that some big shakers have faith
in this expanding new field. Soon we could be using devices that even begin to
take over those professional roles that ‘real’ computers still undertake - it’s
not inconceivable that a BBC reporter could film, edit and transmit a report
from a mobile device in the next couple of years.
There’s
that well-known saying that everybody has a book in them, and now we’re
entering the era where a person’s latent creativity can be explored, honed and
published all by themselves and on their own terms. We’re moving into an era
where power is not only knowledge but also creative expression, and you may
just find the tool you need to do so is already in your hand.
