Aimed at manga, comic artists, supports tablets

Software company Green and Slimy have introduced a new drawing-and-painting application for the Mac called Sketchoo that is aimed to help artists at all skill levels create distraction-free artwork using five basic tools: pencil, paintbrush, airbrush, calligraphy pen and an eraser. The program's full-screen interface allows artists to work without pallets, and it offers a "draw over" feature to create artwork based on a photo.

Sketchoo sports templates, two different sizes of grid patterns, zoom in/zoom out for detailing and templates to help artists get started. The program also features an autosave function and Wacom tablet support (including pressure sensitivity and backside eraser support for styluses) for those who prefer to use them.

The program manages drawing files automatically on a "shelf," so no saving actions are required, and retrieving an older drawing for further work is always accessible. The app also has sharing features where a selection or the entire drawing can be uploaded to Facebook, Flickr or e-mailed from within the program. Other features include unlimited undo and re-do, a "fast wipe" option to clean the canvas and the ability to duplicate images.

Sketchoo requires an Intel Mac running OS X 10.6 or later, and sells for $30. It is available through the Mac App Store.

by MacNN Staff