Livebrush Editor's Review

Livebrush is a delightfully unique drawing program, which can be downloaded for free and will operate on pretty much any computer system. The software does require Adobe AIR for launch, but both packages can be downloaded and installed in a matter of moments.

On launch the Livebrush interface opens the six main elements of the program on the workspace. Centrally is the main drawing area, or “paper,” at the top of the screen you will find the traditional Tool Bar with the Project Bar set in a subsection just below. On the right are the main control panels for organizing Styles, Tool Settings and Layers.

This is a highly practical application and to learn how it works it is best to just dive straight in. In the styles menu you can select from a vast range of brush types and then you can begin your creation on the paper. The brushes will respond to the pace and motion of the strokes made with the mouse. For the keen artist the package is probably best used with a drawing pad like a Bamboo, but it will work equally well with a standard mouse or laptop mousepad.

When a drawing is created each stroke of the brush generates a new layer and these can be locked, turned on/off, or deleted. The colour of each panel can be adapted through the swatch panel in the toolbox. The effect of the strokes can be further adapted in the tool settings panel which will allow you to adjust the velocity and friction of the strokes.

The software comes with a range of useful drawing tools like the Deco Tool, which adds flourishes to lines as they are drawn. The Pen Tool can be used to create or modify different lines within the drawing. There is also a transform tool which can be used to scale or rotate elements with an image.

Pros: Free to Download, Easy to Use, Wide Range of Creative Features.

Cons: Not A Full Vector Application, Not as Many Features as Photoshop, or Illustrator.

Conclusion: This is a really clever, free, easy-to-use, piece of software and it is almost addictive once you get started. It is enjoyable to just play around with the tools and if you have an artistic nature it is possible to make some truly inspired creations. For someone who is not skilled with a paintbrush, but wishes they were, then this software offers a perfect solution.