MobileMonet
This photo-to-painting conversion app has a neat productivity trick up its sleeve
This photo-to-painting conversion app has a neat productivity trick up its sleeve. Plus it’s just become free.
Price Free Company East Coast Pixels Web www.eastcoastpixels.com
There are numerous iPhone apps that turn your photos into something resembling a painting – SuperPhoto Free is just one of them. So what’s so special about MobileMonet?
Well for a start, the app, which has been around since 2010, has now gone free. But more importantly, rather than just applying a filter over the whole photo, it enables you to apply paint-like colour across specific sections of it.
In practice, this means it’s easy to create original and eye-catching (albeit unrefined) visuals with just a few minutes of effort. You start by taking a photo with your iPhone, or importing one from your phone’s library. MobileMonet then renders it as a black and white line drawing, and you can use a spray-can tool to add paint-like effects to the image.
You can choose from preset settings or adjust the controls for factors such as Brush Size, Grain, Colour range and Line Intensity. There’s also a Sponge tool, and you can play around with Vibrancy, Brightness and Contrast. (Although given this app is all about doing something quick and easy, you’re probably won’t want to spend too much time on that.) As you’re editing, your creations are saved in a recent edit list. Then once you’re happy with your visual, you can print a highresolution version from the app, or share it on Instagram.
A nice app, then, that does one simple task well. But what use is it to a digital artist? Well, if you like to take photos for reference – and they spark new ideas for art as you take them – this might help you get those ideas down in memorable form while you’re still in the moment. Alternatively, if you wanted to convey an idea to a client, this could be a quick way to create a visual that’s a bit more relatable than a notebook sketch.