deviantART- Muro

deviantART -Muro

The site deivantART is a popular place to present art work, along with view some amazing art from people all over the world. Similar to other social networking pages, a user has a profile and can use this to communicate with other users. The basics of the site, I would personally compare with Facebook with out all the silly little games. (Unless you wish to search for them).

Just within the past month they have release a new application for the us users to play with. This is deviantART Muro which alongs users to draw images within the web browser and directly upload them to their profile. The question that I have to ask is why didn’t they come up with this sooner. I’ve known since freshman year of High School about drawing websites one in particular referred to as Oekaki. From what I can remember of the “Oekaki” (that I have used in the past) was very basic but very little options on color, brushes, image size and even without options like layers. Most of the time the work finished in on a Oekaki board are pixelated which I personally have a distaste for. I am sure that within the past 7 years the technology has come along way. 

I find Muro’s interface for this site easy to use. It is very similar to that of the basics of Photoshop. This works because almost every member of the site has some experience in programs like photoshop or coral painter.

The brushes work well, although the drip brush I have to say is so unimpressive they should just remove that from the palette. But, all the brushes have opacity, effects, and size control. Without a membership you can not use all the brushes with unlike many of the other features that come with having a paid membership, now I sort of want to buy one. I’m happy with my free profile with no extras, but part of me wants to find out how the brushes are with an paid membership to the site. Muro works with Wacom which means that I can get all the features that I love about having a tablet like touch sensitive  pen stroke. If I want to draw with a darker or thicker stroke I just add more pressure on the tablet and it will be reflexed on Muro, the same as if would with Coral Painter or any drawing problem. The layers make it easy to make a complex work of art without messing up what I have done so far.

The only think that really annoyed me was I can’t save the image to work on another day, so if I can either save it as an unfinished work to my gallery or x out without saving.

Is Muro a good addition to the deviantART experience? No, it is a great addition to deviantART, it is a fun little application for enjoy who enjoys the site or wants to have someone to do when away from home. Any user can now express themselves from any place with good internet connections.