Simile - Paint Like a Master [iPhone]

With Simile's patent-pending process you can paint like a master. By applying the best painting techniques like the “Grid Method” and “Right Brain Drawing” with the benefits of gamification, a killer toolset, and advanced image processing, Simile turns painting a masterpiece into child’s play. Choose from the many built-in paintings covering still lifes, portraits, landscapes and more. Even better, you can paint your own photos and make them as simple or as complex as you want. Simile also makes painting a social activity. You, your family and your friends can collaborate on paintings. When you’re done you can share these masterpieces online, order high-quality prints and canvases right from within the app, or if a t-shirt is more your style, you can wear your art on your sleeve.

Grid Method:
Borrowing a technique first used in ancient Egypt and mastered by Leonardo Da Vinci, M. C. Escher, and Vincent van Gogh, Simile uses the Grid Method. It divides the painting into a grid and, as a result, changes a challenging painting into a series of smaller, easier paintings. The technique ensures that results are accurate and have proper proportions.

Right Brain Drawing:
A challenge for anyone learning to draw is to turn off the symbolic part of their brain, that part that tries to interpret the world around it. This makes it difficult to draw what is seen and not draw the “meaning” of what is seen. For example, when trying to draw a person, most beginners will draw something that resembles a stick figure. Simile only presents one small part of the entire image at a time, hiding the rest. The intent here is to make it unclear what part of the image you are drawing, which in turn, switches off the brain’s symbolic processing so that it won’t get in the way.

Gamification:
People often do better at a task when it’s made into a game. So why not apply that to painting. Simile scores your painting in real time as you work. By trying to maximize your score, you’ll be improving your painting. Simile’s arcade mode also adds timing to the mix; not only do you have to paint well, but you also have to do it fast. This challenge is surprisingly fun, and the results are far better than you might think. I’ve gotten much better the more I’ve played. I bet you will too.

Killer Tools:
Simile has the standard tools, like paintbrushes, a paint bucket, undo, and supports the Apple Pencil (types 1 and 2) on the iPad. It also has a False Color tool which makes it much easier to distinguish between two shades of the same color (with extra options for color blind people). Simile's Grid tool further extends the Grid Method to each tile, and if you’re really stuck, you can turn on outlines which shows you the boundaries of each color. Simile rounds out the toolset with a pipette to help pick the right color.

Advanced Image Processing:
Another challenge for beginning artists is to represent the real-world (which has an infinite variety of colors) with a finite set of paint colors. Simile’s advanced image processing simplifies images to keep things looking real, without being too hard.

Multiplayer:
Simile’s masterpiece mode supports up to 100 people collaborating on one painting. This feature is great for making a grandmother’s day present from her grandkids or for a group of friends that want to complete a painting together. No In-app purchases are required to use this feature, so the sky’s the limit on who you invite to join you. Also, because Simile uses iCloud for collaboration, there is no sign-in needed.

High-Quality Prints:
Simile has partnered with Kite.ly to help turn your virtual art into real-world art. You can order canvas prints, framed prints, posters, t-shirts, mugs, magnets, and phone cases of your artwork.

Music:
We’ve included background music made exclusively for Simile by Leonty Music. It's designed to subtly change as you touch the screen when painting. We also recommend painting to your favorite songs, books or podcasts.