Mobile Art Academy

By Caroline Mustard | Co-Founder Mobile Art Academy |

“Picasso would have gone mad with this, so would Van Gogh. I don’t know an artist who wouldn’t, actually.” David Hockney speaking about iPad art

When asked about painting on a digital device (phone or tablet), David Hockney, one of the greatest living artists, commented that the greatest artists of the past would have loved it. Hockney himself pioneered the creation of artwork using his iPhone and iPad.

Now iOS and Android tablets and smartphones have been an increasingly medium for fine artists around the world.  And one of the places to see the best of the best in this art arena is the  Grand Opening of the 5th Annual Mobile Digital Art & Creativity (mDAC) Exhibition on Friday 11th August at 5.30 pm - 8:00 pm (admission is free.)  It all happens at the prestigious Pacific Art League's historic building in downtown Palo Alto, right in...

By Caroline Mustard | Co-Founder Mobile Art Academy |

Easy... in my case, the answer is being proud of the work of your students.

"This is not normal". Original iPad drawing by Paris Herzog using Procreate

I recently was wowed by a piece of art from my student Paris Herzog and have to blog about it a bit.  Not only is it an inspired piece of work, which I had the honor of following its progression from start to finish, it has some unique qualities, but more about that later.  Here the work in question which is called "This is not normal."  Paris used Procreate and I will describe her progress shortly.

Paris was inspired by something she saw on Google.  She took a photo of herself based on this inspiration and uploaded it into Procreate. She did a rough basic tracing as I have taught her to do, then she took the photo away and the rest is all her own original drawing using a Pencil.  It went through many iterations and this is the final work.  I was...

By Suzanne Munroe | Guest Blogger & Mobile Art Academy Student |

I was introduced to the Procreate app about a year ago when I took Ivy Newport’s Paint and Pixels online class. I had no idea you could draw using an iPad till then. I fell in love!  I could not believe all the talented digital artwork I found when searching the internet. I can’t tell you how excited I was to learn to draw on my iPad – of course, I had to have an iPad Pro with the Apple pencil. Lucky for me my birthday was that month! Ivy Newport posted on her Facebook page that she had entered a contest with Mobile Art Academy, and suggested to her followers to join in.  I have been following Mobile Art Academy since then, and I am just amazed at what everyone is creating digitally!

Suzanne Munroe, Portrait of My Nephew, Ben Milliken

I “liked” and “joined” as many online Facebook groups that I could find just so, I could learn from...

How to Transform your Mobile Device into a Digital Canvas or Sketchbook

By Caroline Mustard | Co-Founder Mobile Art Academy |

I’ve been teaching people how to use their iPads, iPhones and Android devices creatively since I fell in love with painting and drawing on my iPad 5 years ago.  And always the most asked question is “what are the best art apps to start with?"

In this article, I will be discussing different sketching and painting apps you can use to turn your iPad or Android tablet into a canvas or sketchbook and start creating up a storm.

I learned the hard way when my son handed me my first iPad as a birthday gift and downloaded a new painting app which had great reviews from Apple – Paper 53.

I remember how proud I was after slipping and sliding over the glass surface trying to control the brush, finally creating a drawing of a zebra! I rushed in to show my family what I had accomplished! But, in spite of the initial difficulty, I quickly became...