This one is a great project for the homeschoolers and also great fun for all kids and young-at-heart adults who love drawing cartoons or anything for that matter! Sketching is one of the things I love to do in my free time and now with one of the wonderful Apps Apple brought us, called “Paper by 53”, it has become so much easier and quicker to create a work of art on the fly. All your palettes, pencils and erasers are right there in one place so it doesn’t take so much time to set up and pack away a whole art set.
“Paper by 53 provides a natural drawing experience that closely resembles traditional tools like pencil and paper.” – Chris du Toit
So I made a video tutorial with Chris du Toit and he gave us some awesome tips on drawing on the iPad. Chris studied BA Languages & Culture at Stellenbosh University, South Africa and then taught English for Pre-school and Primary School (Elementary School) children for 7 years in Tai Pei, Taiwan but one of his heartfelt passions is sketching.
The thing that grabs me the most about him is his raw, unique talent… Chris can draw a bunny with just a few lines and you’ll know exactly what that bunny is thinking! Most of his drawings are also accompanied by some kind of phrase that comes from the heart, from music, or whatever inspired him to draw that day, depicting the nostalgia he exhibits in his work.
Here’s a few examples to tickle your fancy…
Photo credit: Chris du Toit 
Have a look on http://dreamerpieces.tumblr.com to see more of his work and if you downloaded Paper by 53 on your iPad you can also see his work on their community site, Mix. This site is focused on collaboration and sharing… find him there at https://mix.fiftythree.com/41460-Chris.
One of the things that I loved from watching Chris work is getting tips on coloring and shading. It simply does not come natural to everyone (including me) so this tutorial really helps to give us some guidelines on where to put shading and accents etc. It also shows just how easy it is to draw on the iPad and I love that you can rewind and forward on this App even though it’s a bit more restricted in the sense that it does not have layers. Enjoy folks!
