mspaint7_a1 (phone art)

mspaint7_a1

Have been looking at the Phone Arts blog and decided to start a battle of the band(width)s with some "MSPaint Phone Art." This is the new Windows 7 MSPaint which allows you to (i) draw a phone outline, (ii) draw with a crayon, (iii) draw with a magic marker, (iv) paint with semi-transparent wash, etc. (The above was made on a PC.)

Phone Arts' mission statement has changed since I first wrote about them. Now it says they are "experimenting using only the mobile phone as the medium to create unique compositions" and that they "explore the boundaries of the phone to create graphic illustrations and designs." Previously it said their aim was to "create something on a mobile device with the intended purpose of designing graphic arts that are spontaneous and reactionary."

I quibbled about the word reactionary (it could mean conservative as well as "reacting to each other") but the rest of the statement was fine before. "Graphic arts" is better than "graphic illustrations and designs." Both illustration and design are usually done for a purpose and for a client, whereas these one-off compositions are made for no other purpose than to exist on your phone (or be downloaded for enjoyment, delectation, etc). Also, I see no "exploring the boundaries of the phone" going on there. Instead a handful of "factory setting" techniques are used over and over--various flat brush shapes, sprays, "3D" brushes, some CAD-like rendering, and remixing existing photos and designs. No one is throwing the phone off a building, painting underwater, or opening up the back of the phone and wiring it to respond to household appliances.