WordFoto and MobileMonet; fun for all

Some of my favorite apps are designed to create fun works of art. The two following apps are a blast to use to make creative and playful artistic creations.

WordFoto for iOS

One of my more recent finds, which I find extremely fun to use, is the WordFoto app for IOS.  This app allows you to create a photo which is completely composed of words (flickr gallery). It analyzes the photo for light and dark areas and applies words in different tones, different sizes and fonts to create an image which is reminiscent of the old ASCII-style artwork .  However, with many options to change the text font size, padding, and other settings this is a highly customizable way of creating thought-provoking art pieces.  Or, as others do, you can use this for making very fun photos of comedic moments.

You begin by selecting a stored photo or taking a photo from within the app.  Inside the app, you can crop the image to the dimensions that you desire. Then, choose the words that you’re going to use to make your piece of typo-photographic art.  You can choose from pre-loaded word sets, or you may create your own.  To create your own word set you click on the “words” icon at the bottom of screen.  You type your words into the box, and as you type each word it is placed into its own box. A new box is created when you hit return or space.  When you’re finished, simply click back and choose the word set that you just created and click “X” to return to the main editing screen.

Once you are back to your photo at the main screen, the next step is to change the style to your liking.  Select the style icon, which is second from the right, and a new dialog box opens.  You may choose from any of the preset styles or create your own custom styles.  Each of the presets are a good starting point for you to try so that you can see what looks most pleasing.  Some focus on highlights, others focus on shadows, and some focus on colors.  Some photos will only look good with one or two styles.  This is a good way to experiment.  If you would like a little more control, go to the custom styles tab, and click on one of the icons.  Each custom setting is preloaded and ready for you to edit.  When you find a setting that is closer to what you would like, tap it again to edit it.  Here you can edit the background, foreground, shadows, highlights, saturation, brightness, contrast and padding .  You may also select the fonts which the preset will use to create your image you.  You may select several, which the app will randomly use to change how space is used.  When you are done click “X”  to return to the previous screen.  Click “X”  again to bring it back to the main editing screen.

You can refine your image using fine-tuning icon at the bottom right hand corner of the screen.  Here you can change the edge, edge threshold, and color tolerance. Each of the settings will render a slightly different output.  Once you have found a setting that looks appealing, click “X” to take you back to main editing screen.  Once you have decided that you are pleased with your photo, you may save the image to your Image library, share on Facebook, or e-mail the photo.

I find this app to be a lot of fun, but it has some serious art potential as well.  If you’re clever you can use this app to create a comic statement or you can use it to create a serious piece of art.

Rating: ✭✭✭✭✭

WordFoto on the App Store

MobileMonet by East Coast Pixels

MobileMonet is an interesting little app that lets you strip a photo of all of its color, reduce it to line drawings, and then replace color in the image with the colors that you would like to emphasize.  The overall effect is a mixture of watercolor and comic book.  This can be used for making fun avatars, creating an artsy photo, fun portraits, or anything else you would like to give a drawn look.

To begin working on a photo in MobileMonet you can choose either from a camera image that you take from within the app or you can choose any photo from the device’s library.  As the image is imported into the app it is automatically converted into a simple line drawing or sketch.  Once the import is completed you will be viewing your image in black and white.

The software has several options for controlling line width, line intensity, the amount of gray, the amount of black, or you may choose to have the lines a single color of your choice.  I find that balancing the line intensity with grey is the key to making a more interesting image.

The coloring process is very simple and straightforward.  To apply color you simply paint the areas where you would like to see color with your finger. The paint brush works similarly to the spray paint tool in a photo editing application.  The more you paint over an area the more opaque the color becomes.  In this way you can draw attention to one part of your image and leave other areas less saturated or even pure black and white.

MobileMonet also has five options for controlling the coloring effect.  If you click on the the color palette icon, you may adjust the vibrancy of the colors you paint back in, the brightness of the colors, the amount of colors in the image, the softness of the colors, or you may remove colors and change it to a duotone or monotone image.

Once your masterpiece is complete, press “Save” and MobileMonet gives you four options: Save to Facebook, email, SMS, or the photo library. I would appreciate a few more sharing options, such as Twitter or Flickr.

Using the controls it’s very quick and very easy to make a fun little piece that is both appealing and interesting.  This app is in my opinion, mostly for fun.  However, with the right photo and the right treatment the results can be downright artistic.

MobileMonet HD is also available for the iPad.

Rating: ✭✭✭✭✰

MobileMonet on the App Store