There's a saying in the Dadaism art movement, and it goes like this: art doesn't exist. The meaning behind this saying may seem pretty nihilist, but it is actually a much more positive and optimistic one. Consider this: if art does not exist, then anyone can invent it.
Yes, anyone can be an artist. And nowadays, you don't even need charcoal, brushes, or a canvas. Using nothing but your cursor, you can make colorful paintings in a minimalist style. These websites down below have a beautifully designed, intuitive user interface and many features, guaranteeing you hours and hours of recreational fun.
This one has a matching iOS app for your iPhone or iPad. You can use it to create symmetrical drawings using a single brush that looks somewhat like silk or smoke. You can even mix your own colors! To start, simply click and drag. This will be your first brush stroke. If you'd like, you can turn off the symmetry function and go freestyle, or let the website do its own magic by turning on the "spiral towards center" or "mirror across center" functions.
The coolest thing about this website, though, is that even if you click and hold in place you'll create a magnificent effect since the brush in Silk is dynamic. This means it flickers on its own like silk moving in water. Cool huh?
A mandala is a complex abstract design that is usually circular in form. In eastern cultures, they represent the connection between our inner worlds and outer reality. On this website, you can mix and match different elements to create your own six-layer mandala.
The website is very user-friendly and will guide you through the steps. First, decide how many times each element repeats. Then you can rotate the elements in any direction and even determine the elements' size. You can either choose Staedtler's basic elements or pick an artist-designed element. Once you're done, you can print and color it in manually. The process of coloring a mandala is said to be calming and even therapeutic.
In Harmony, all your controls are at the top of the screen. On the left, two squares of color determine the color of your canvas and the color of your brush. Use the drop-down menu to select a brush and start experimenting! These brushes are quite fun and have a surprising twist to them: they're affected by the speed of your cursor.
Try each brush first with a slow cursor movement and then with a quick stroke and see which you prefer. Another cool effect of Harmony's brushes is that some of them interact between themselves. What does this mean? Try making overlapping lines with the same brush, or draw two close lines with the same brush. Hours of experimenting are guaranteed!
The thing that's special about Webchemy is that some of its brushes make splotches of color that look like a Rorschach inkblot. If you're unfamiliar, Rorschach inkblots are abstract shapes used in psychological tests. The patients have to decipher the shapes and tell the psychologist what they see in them. Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning.
Select a brush from the middle button in the controls bar at the top of the screen. What makes this website unique is the opacity panel- you can change it to create layers upon layers of color resulting in an illusion of depth! You can also add gradients to your inkblots or style their edges to be rough and textured. If you run into trouble, simply click the question mark button on the right. Enjoy!
Here is a simulator of what it's like to be Piet Mondrian. Mondrian was a Dutch painter and one of the founders of the modernist art movement. His most famous works are geometrical compositions and grids with primary colors.
When you go to this website, you start with a blank canvas. Anywhere you click on the screen, either a line or a block of color will appear to create an abstract painting similar to those of Mondrian's. To start new, refresh your browser.
