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For those who may not know, I enjoy myself a bit of wet-on-wet technique oil painting. You know, the style popularized by the man himself, Bob Ross. I long enjoyed his shows as a relaxing time, and a little while ago was able to jump into actually doing it when my wife picked up some starter supplies for me. I enjoy it, but making time for the painting (and then the cleanup) can often stop me from heading to the workbench. With the new Adobe Fresco app, that could certainly be less of a hindrance.
Now, for me, this is really quite uncharted territory, as there’s no iPad in the house here that is new enough to be able to work with the Apple Pencil (or the apparently quite nice Logitech alternative). I’ve been tempted to go that route for the notetaking capabilities, and now, if I could do paintings? Well, that could be fun. It would be a great way to pass the time on the train, even work up some ideas before committing the oils to the canvas, or try out a new medium (it can do watercolor styles as well).
While you’ll still be painting with the Apple Pencil on a glass surface – which one presumes will have a learning curve, as the feeling of brush on canvas on paper is quite different – apparently Adobe has figured out how to replicate the physics of how brushes work on those traditional surfaces to allow for blending and such, relying on the pressure sensing. These are known as Live Brushes, and there are four specifically for watercolors, and seven for oils.
If, like me, you wish you had the skills (and a lot more time to practice) of the Zen oil master Bob Ross, then this new Adobe Fresco could be the key, provided you have the hardware to support it (An iPad Pro (all models), iPad Air (3rd generation), iPad (5th and 6th generation) or iPad mini (5th generation) running OS 12.4 or higher). For a more in-depth look at the app from someone who’s tried it out, check out this article over at Engadget. To sign up for the preview, head over to Adobe.
