The traditional stereotype of an artistic soul is someone who spends hours and hours slaving away at their myriad masterpieces, holed up in their studio and rarely mixing with the hoi polloi. Well, new app BooDooArt means that whether you’re a talented loner or a simple sketcher looking to meet new people, you can get introduced to a creative crowd via the medium of your drawing skills.
The iPad app opens up to a blank piece of paper on which you can begin daubing your various ideas. You can choose from a variety of basic colours and brushes to start with, then unlock more adventurous shades and tools with BooDoo points that you can purchase as in-app upgrades. The painting element is very fun and I particularly like the in-depth tutorial that you receive before you begin drawing, which gives hints such as dragging the paper down with two fingers so that you never have to delete anything but just keep scrolling up and down. You can vary the width of the brush as well as the style, giving you a lot of control over your nib, so to speak.
What really caught my attention was the option for BooDooArt users to interact with one another; you can invite existing Facebook friends directly through the app or press the ‘Random Date’ button and be linked up with another user. Once you are painting together, the fun really begins.
There are a whole host of games, quests and psychological tests that you can play and a ‘chat’ function that you can use to talk to each other. However, as the app reminds us, it’s more fun to express ourselves with colours, so you can take turns in drawing each other’s profile photo or ask each other personal questions and receive the answers as a drawing.
As well as a unique way to meet new friends, it’s also a fun way to help maintain a long-distance friendship or relationship; it reminds me a little bit of ‘Draw Something’ in this facet.
Anyone who is looking for that tall, dark stranger no longer has to frequent art college bars and absinthe dives; just log on to BooDooArt and paint your perfect partner!
