Wizard-Like Brush Strokes

very good
key review info
application features
  • Retouch your painting or photo with a simple click
  • (9 more, see all...)

Wizardbrush

Discovering their artistic side can take a very long time for some people. In my case, the process was short and unsuccessful. I have no artistic side, so I gave up discovering it a long time ago and focused on what I am good at. However, learning about your artistic capabilities from a young age is a really big deal as this may be influential in defining your personality.

I had no computer when I was little and whenever my mother wanted to convince herself that I really can't paint as my two left hands refused to cooperate, she would provide me with all the necessary tools to paint something. The horror that came out of my hands cannot be described in words and the drawings as a little kid are still haunting my dreams. No need to say that everything around me was also painted in horrid colors, as I could not even mix them right without spilling it all over the place.

But with the technology nowadays you get to try your talents in a cleaner manner and you won't even have to befoul everything else around you. The softwares you can use in your attempt to contact your "soft" side are doing almost the entire job for you. All you need is an aesthetic vision about what you want to achieve.

Wizardbrush is a nifty tool especially designed to replace the paint and brushes as well as providing a clean way to mix your colors. From a first glance, one can easily see that it is aimed mainly at kids, but this does not mean that adults can't smear the canvas a little.

The sounds of the brush "walking" on the canvas as well as the police-car sound playing every time you undo an action will definitely make your kid enjoy working with the software. The interface is also happy-looking and every margin is rounded and marked with joyful colors.

Once launched, the software window will occupy the entire desktop and the only ways of returning to the background applications or viewing the taskbar is using the Alt+Tab keyboard combination or Windows+Tab if you're running Vista or simply minimizing it to get access to them.

One of the most non-conformist looking windows in the application is color palette which resembles very much a scanner of some sort. I had a little trouble trying to move it around as there is no visible "handle" anywhere. To spare you the effort of finding it yourselves place your mouse in the center of the color palette and drag it to the desired position. To set the color to be used in the drawing, move the little blue circles to the desired hue. Drawing with patterns is also possible and for that you have to access the drop down menu in the color palette.

The windows scattered around the main application window will definitely be helpful in your work because they are the instruments to complete and chisel the artwork. Also, if they are hindering the artistic process you can hide them all and make visible only the ones you need for the moment. The toolbar in the left hand side contains all sorts of brushes (simple brush, airbrush, oil paint brush, blur brush, marker brush, thick oil brush and watercolor brush), painting tools (marker, paint tube, paint bucket, eraser, pencil, clone pen) as well as some little "gadgets" to ease up your work (eydropper, magic wand, typer, move tool, chalk, fusian and anti-redeye).

Speaking of work made easier, Wizardbrush is flexible enough to provide layers. This way you can create an object for each layer, move them all around until the desired result is achieved and merge them all into the same picture. Unfortunately, in the demo version of the application you can't create more than two layers and this may break your crayons during testing.

Although the application seems to be designed for children, do not underestimate its powers as the list of filters available can compete with many similar softwares out there. Grayscale, Sharpen, Blur, Find Edge, Invert, Mozaic, Embose, Wind effect, Watercolor or Sketch will all give a professional artistic touch to your drawing. Some of them are preset but others can be configured according to the amount of filter to be applied.

La pi?ce de r?sistance in Wizardbrush are the drawing tutorials. These are professional pictures included in the application and can be played at different speeds so that you can copy the moves and select the right colors. Ranging from simple black and white flowers to complex colored images, these can be copied and modified by the users.

The drawing recording option is also available for the user. Wizardbrush can record all the brush strokes applied to the drawing area and then play them at different speeds defined by the user. Watching the movie of creating a drawing can be relaxing and it can also bring out flaws you missed so that you can correct them.

For some of you, listening to all those sounds as you advance in your work may be quite disturbing. No need to despair as Preferences menu can fix this issue. Additional choices in this menu include the desktop outlook and the display mode. The desktop outlook can even be configured to display an image stored on your computer.

The Good

The interface is really great and the developer's intention is definitely to make you focus only on your drawing as the application window will take all the desktop space.

Layers are a feature that adds more value to the program. The flexibility given by this option is well known and the little settings (opacity and blending mode options) make the application even more appealing.

The picture gallery is filled with images you can apply to your drawings. These are actually cartoons that can be resized to match all the elements of the drawing.

Let's not forget that the best work can be done by using pressure-sensitive tablets.

The Bad

An advanced user will notice from the first glance that the application is limited in features. There are free softwares that are more elaborate in the options they provide.

The Truth

If you are getting the application for your kid, the money is not much. However, if you are trying to use it as a professional image editor, then you are barking at the wrong tree.

The application is indeed quite eye candy and the special features it sports are fantastic (layer blend customization, brush strokes recording and playing) but put those aside and it is a bit more elaborate than Microsoft's Paint.

Of course, the support for pressure-sensitive tablet makes it more valuable than many image editors on the market and all the work can turn into a lot of fun.

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:

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user interface 5
features 4
ease of use 5
pricing / value 4


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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