Tayasui Sketch Pro for iOS: App Review
Intro
One of my main resolutions this year is to create a work of art, in any medium, as often as possible. Since 2017 began, I am now often found vigorously mixing my paints or practicing crafting lighter shades of blue. In addition to this, during my lunch break, I have been using an app called Tayasui Sketch Pro to recreate the feeling of dragging an apparatus across paper. But can a mobile interface really mimic this organic and personal experience for their users?
First impressions
Tayasui, a Japanese word translating into “easy” or “simple”, perfectly describes the aim of this app: to make it easy for anyone to create beautiful works of art using various multimedia. I received this app for free as an “App of the Week” on the App Store. I often download these apps just to get a feel for the experience, and they are free, so why not give it a shot? With my reasonably high expectations, frequently not met, the deleted app is often left to fester forever into the obscurity of my “purchased” list, a sizable graveyard. That being said, Tayasui Sketch Pro did not meet my expectations. Rather, it exceeded them with its nearly perfect reproduction of a multi-media sketchbook.
How it works
The app opens with a literal clean slate, akin to an empty sketchbook or open easel.
The app presents various multimedia apparatuses to create works of art, including a pencil, rotring, felt pen, pen brush, oil pastel, acrylic, watercolor, air brush, ink, eraser, and smudge. These tools also create different results dependent upon the amount of pressure placed on the screen, the orientation of the tool, and the speed in which the tool is utilized. These devices create a seamless experience for user, providing almost endless possibilities as to what they can create.
For the sake of this review, I created a multimedia tribute to my favorite horror manga, Tomie by Junji Ito. By providing a step-by-step guide into what went into my particular sketch, I hope to highlight the key features of the app and explain what is possible with the enhanced tools.
For my fan art, I first began with a sketch using the pencil tool. While doing so, I was stunned by how I was able to easily execute a sketch perfectly matching what was in my head, using only my finger.
Once the initial sketch was completed, I traced over the defining lines with the felt pen tool. Pausing here for a moment, this does bring me to an issue that I do have with the tools in general: their thickness. Most of the time, while completing this particular sketch, I faced difficulties getting the lines to be as thin as I wanted them to be. While the pencil tool does not have this issue, it was something that I struggled with using other devices, particularly the felt pen.
Having completed the facial features, I began contemplating the overall feel I wished to create for the piece. Tomie is a chilling, gory tale full of many unsolved mysteries. For this reason, I decided to create a deep fog which would shroud the truth of Tomie’s origins. I also wished to emphasize her blood splattered eyes, those of a girl who forces others to execute her murderous intent, as well as becoming a murder victim herself.
To create the fog, I used the watercolor tool. With the apparatus, I combined blues, reds, and blacks to create an otherworldly fog. Whenever the watercolor feature, is executed on the app, the user is prompted to create a layer. Layers are useful tools in this medium, allowing the various mixed-media facets of the work of art to remain separate, yet creating a cohesive whole when brought together. Using the eye feature found on each layer, the user is able to temporarily hide whichever layer they wish to at will, in order to create a clearer focus when editing a particular area. The user can also ignore this feature of the app, if they wish, but I found it to be a godsend if I ever made a mistake in my art.
That being said, if the user does make mistakes, the ease of this app presents undo and redo options at the top left of the screen as well as an eraser feature at the bottom center-right, next to your apparatus of choice.
After mixing together my fog, I proceeded with the blood splatters on a top layer. (I never would have dreamt that I would write that sentence. Holy cow.) I utilized the air brush to create a splatter effect across Tomie’s eyes, using the brightest, most obscene red possible.
Feeling like something was missing, I decided to write out the title of the manga, using the smudge tool for effect.
Closing thoughts
Tayasui Sketch Pro is a phenomenal experience, which any one can use to bring a little bit of creativity to their day. I feel that anybody from working artists to white collar workers, can find artistic merit in this app. Retailing at $4.99 on the App Store, I would highly recommend this app to anyone who likes to draw and feels satisfied being able to easily create beautiful sketches. If you have tried the app and would like to tell me your experience with it, please feel free to share it with me.
