Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Calling Beta Testers


I'm excited to let you know that we're developing a new app called "The Living Sketchbook."



It's new technology that lets you experience one of my sketchbooks on your smart phone or tablet (Android or iOS).

You will be able to:
• Explore every single page in high resolution with pinch-to-zoom interactivity.
• Listen to voiceover describing the details of brushes, paints, and technique.
• Hear the actual sounds recorded while the paintings were completed.
• Watch videos of some of the images actually being painted.

We looked around, and there was no existing authoring software that could give us the tools we needed to create this app. So my son Dan Gurney wrote the app code from the ground up. We've created a custom multimedia experience that's unlike anything out there.

Right now we're looking for a very small number of beta testers. If you'd like to be considered as an app tester—EDIT: Sorry, we've already had far more than enough applications. Once this initial test phase is over, we'll release the app to everyone before the end of the month.




8 comments:

Sean said...

This is a great idea! I can't wait for the app to come out. I'll definitely be sharing this with my students and friends as we're always discussing the importance of keeping sketchbooks and drawing and painting from life. Thank James.

Tom Hart said...

This is a fantastic idea! Best of luck. The only drawback for me, personally, is that I'd apparently only be able to use it on my phone (not having a tablet), and the phone format is so small that I doubt I'd end up using it much. Is it ever likely to be available for use on a personal computer?

Robert Cosgrove said...

Or on an iPad?

James Gurney said...

Robert, yes, it works great on an iPad.

Tom, I was surprised how well it works on smart phones. Even though phones are small, they're only a little bit smaller than the sketchbook itself, and the cool thing is that you can expand the image greatly to see every teensy brushstroke.

Thanks, Sean. We're aiming the app for art students, but it should be equally appealing to any fan of art or sketching. It really conveys the feeling that the sketchbook is a window to the world beyond.

Tom Hart said...

Thanks James. I wasn't thinking that the sketch books are small format, not unlike the phone screen. I look forward to the app!

Garrett said...

This is so cool! Looking forward to checking this out.

Fred Shriver said...

Nice, I too am excited to see. It is fun as a developing artist (me), to see your works all in one place, as you were one of the artists I saw that motivated me to try my hand at it.

Matthieu B. said...

So, will it be similar to the two sketchbooks available on Google Open Gallery?