This one’s something a little bit new. Specifically, it’s my first ever drawing using a remarkable piece of software: Alchemy.
I’ve been hearing about it for awhile now, and downloaded it earlier this evening. After running the install process (read: unzip and drop into a convenient program folder) I fired ‘er up and tried out every drawing tool I could find in the program.
There’s only one, though. So it didn’t take long to get through them all.
Then I drew today’s dragon. As an experiment. I’m pretty happy with it, considering both the time limit and the new software: total time with the program was about 44 minutes from clicking the program icon to finishing this sucker. I’ve also got a lot of respect for the team behind Alchemy. It’s remarkable, elegant, and really awesome.
Alchemy is remarkable not because of what it is, but because of what it is not.
It is not an attempt to duplicate real analog media. It is not an attempt to create a universal artistic toolkit. It is not meant for animation or web design. It is not intended to create photorealistic imagery.
In Alchemy you can’t undo or redo. You can’t open a saved file. So far as I can tell, you can’t pan or zoom or resize the canvas. You can’t rescale or make selections. You can’t create custom brushes. You can’t rearrange layers – there aren’t any. There is no ruler. There is no eraser tool.
There is one marking tool, with no name. You can choose from thin or thick line styles – they don’t behave the same way at all. You can set your marker to draw on top of or underneath the existing art. You can set the basic line weight. You can set the color. You can set the transparency. There are two tool menus (Create and Affect) and a Clear button that wipes the canvas clean.
The Create menu is a drop-down menu with fourteen options – a radio button is used to select which one is enabled – and whichever option is currently active determines how your marking tool…marks. Each option changes the shape of your brush and its behavior, and no two are quite alike. Each Create option provides up to five secondary tool controls based on the features of the Create option you’ve got selected. At least one Create option doesn’t have any secondary controls.
The Affect menu is another drop-down, this time with ten options. You can check the box next to more than one if you want to combine them. Each one alters the behavior of your marking tool in some way, and they’re intriguing but not something I have had much time with…yet.
Oh…and you can apparently record and play back your drawing session, no additional software required. I haven’t tried that feature out yet, either, but it’s interesting to say the least.
The reason I’m so impressed with Alchemy is that the designers have managed to take all the frills away from the digital drawing experience, ditching almost every possible distraction or nitpicky tool, leaving you with just the essential ability to make marks, and some control over how they look. You are not allowed to get precious with your drawings in Alchemy – they turn out how they turn out, and with no undo and limited ability to erase you’re really on your own.
Ironically, by giving the tool a little bit of a mind of it’s own, and by eliminating all the rich options of most digital art software, the Alchemy team has managed to make a really good art tool that is uniquely digital but somehow more real than I’d expected. It’s like drawing with ink or watercolor – once you put that mark down, you better be able to live with it.
Elegant minimalism at its best, and a tool that’s got real personality. I’m impressed.
The funny thing is that Alchemy points out something that has been a growing problem with professional graphics suites (I’m looking at you, Photoshop) in that they’ve been getting bloated. In the rush to make competitive “full-featured” software, manufacturers have lost sight of the idea that creative software should let you get creative, and all those features are nice but they can really get in the way.
Alchemy reminds us that creativity isn’t a program feature, and no number of fiddly tools and widgets can substitute for the ability to make good marks with what you’ve got available to you. For that matter, many artists report that they do better work when their options are restricted somehow. A narrower field of options can’t help but bring better focus.
Now, Alchemy is not a program for creating finished, painterly art. Sorry. But it is a really great app for sketching and early visualization, when brainstorming and playing with your work are more important than fine color control.
For what it is, Alchemy is a great tool for digital artists. And you can’t beat the price: free. Get it now.
Full disclosure: This is not a shameless plug, really. If you do digital art, you should try Alchemy out.