Live Brush

Live Brush is a fantastic new art application for creating some gorgeous looking pictures. This is done by using a brush tool and then selecting what styles you want to create. Also, when you are done w/ your picture you can: save, download, or share w/ others so they can add to your creation.

LB is fun to use but there is a learning curve involved. For Example, I was trying to add color to my pictures and kept changing the color of the whole background. I think users of Photoshop should feel right at home w/ this app, especially w/ all the layers involved.

Give Live Brush a try by clicking here.

My latest Apple logo...

Picjoke

Picjoke is a site I learned about from one of my new favorite blogs, Life Feast. This is a site where you can have fun w/ photos by uploading them into entertaining templates. There are many sites that do this, but Pickjoke is one of the better ones as they are always adding new effects daily.



Give Pickjoke a try by clicking here.

Aviary

Aviary is a site that has been around for awhile. It is an online image editor similar to Photoshop. I never really used it before, but decided to give it another shot after seeing it posted on Lifehacker.

I have to say Aviary, is a nice site for editing photos and fast. The tool bar is very similar to Microsoft Word's Draw such as: text, shapes, lines, etc. You also have the ability to rotate and crop which is nice.

Below is my quick example...



Give it a try by clicking here.

Image Lobe

Image Lobe is an application that I downloaded a while ago but really never looked at. However, after browsing around in my Application's folder, I decided to give it another glance and I'm glad that I did.

IL is a very easy program to use and can best be described as a photo effect tool. It's not as complicated as Photoshop or vast as Live Quartz or Acorn, but if you wanted to add some cool looking effects to a photo, this would be a good place to start.

Just upload a photo, click on the effect you want, and that's it. Photo Booth user's will feel right at home, and it does have a built in camera like PB if you want to take pictures straight from the application.

Below is a quick sample video I put together.



For more info click here.

Live Quartz

Live Quartz is a nice free image editing app/download for Leopard. I consider it to be a cross between Photoshop and Acorn, w/ a very user friendly appeal to it.

At first glance it looks like your typical photo/drawing app, w/ familiar buttons such as: crop, draw, shade, etc. but by digging deeper you'll notice there is so much more. There are a ton features similar to Photoshop that allows you to add layers, effects, filters and so on. View Pic for filter/effects list.

Below is a pic I made using the Edges Effect and Circle Splash Distortion Filter.



For more info click here.

Lovely Charts

There are plenty of online diagramming applications, but Lovely Charts is one of the better ones to come along in a long time.

The first thing you'll notice after signing up (free, but paid to unlock everything) is the polished look/feel to it. This is one of the nicer looking online applications. Also, it is very user friendly and simple to use. Anybody who has had experience w/ Inspiration will be able to pick this up in no time.

One of my favorite features of Lovely Charts are all the different styles of diagrams you have to choose from: Flowcharts, Sitemaps, Network Diagrams, Wireframes, etc. Plus, it's very easy to save/download. I highly recommend checking this out and see no reason why it can't be used in education. The paid version unlocks all the web 2.0/collaboration features.

For more info click here.

Below is an example of a Home Network Diagram...