apps – DIGITALGYOZA

In the age of instant access, limited patience and diminishing attention spans, “social” exchanges are commonly reduced to that of few words at a time. The likes of Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger and Line have enabled us to mindlessly chat away with each other at the press of a button, but what does that do to the quality and meaning of the content therein? How much thought goes into an emoji? Gone are the days when a thoughtful letter rich in content was the regular communicative method of choice for most people. Even if you have a pen pal or long distance acquaintance, an email can reach them in seconds. How much more time & effort would you make if it didn’t reach them for days, and took a week to get a response?

SLOWLY is a digital platform for a traditional pen pal experience.

Designed for people in search of meaningful conversations in the era of instant messaging, their aim is “to connect people around the world at a slower but better pace – one letter at a time.”

In a bid to better my drawing skills and sketching abilities, I recently picked up Portrait Drawing by Joanna Henly. It’s a fantastic and concise series of exercises and tips on how to draw people’s faces and features. The first set of exercises are to study and practice sketching the skull, to get a better appreciation of shape and form.

I decided to initially try this out using Autodesk Sketchbook on the Samsung S4 Tab with the S-pen. With palm rejection fully enabled within the apps, it is quite a joy to use. I’m seriously impressed with the responsiveness of the tablet & pen. Other Android devices I have owned have never been able to deliver a truly capable drawing experience, having to pair third-party styluses and often leaving unwanted lines and artifacts on the screen when the side of my hand rests on it. I plan to try out several other apps such as Infinite Painter, Medibang and Artflow, and then write up a brief comparison.