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| Livebrush 1.5 |
Livebrush is a delightfully unique drawing program, which can be
downloaded for free and will operate on pretty much any computer system. The
software does require Adobe AIR for launch, but both packages can be downloaded
and installed in a matter of moments.
On launch the Livebrush interface opens the
six main elements of the program on the workspace. Centrally is the main
drawing area, or “paper,” at the top of the screen you will find the
traditional Tool Bar with the Project Bar set in a subsection just below. On
the right are the main control panels for organizing Styles, Tool Settings and
Layers.
This is a highly practical application and to
learn how it works it is best to just dive straight in. In the styles menu you
can select from a vast range of brush types and then you can begin your
creation on the paper. The brushes will respond to the pace and motion of the
strokes made with the mouse. For the keen artist the package is probably best
used with a drawing pad like a Bamboo, but it will work equally well with a
standard mouse or laptop mousepad.
When a drawing is created each stroke of the
brush generates a new layer and these can be locked, turned on/off, or deleted.
The colour of each panel can be adapted through the swatch panel in the
toolbox. The effect of the strokes can be further adapted in the tool settings
panel which will allow you to adjust the velocity and friction of the strokes.
The software comes with a range of useful
drawing tools like the Deco Tool, which adds flourishes to lines as they are
drawn. The Pen Tool can be used to create or modify different lines within the
drawing. There is also a transform tool which can be used to scale or rotate
elements with an image.
Pros: Free to Download, Easy to Use, Wide Range of Creative Features.
Cons: Not A Full Vector Application, Not as Many Features as Photoshop,
or Illustrator.
