Sad Girl

This was doodled on a Nintendo DS Lite, a handheld video game system, using a free homebrew program called Colors. Colors is fairly basic as far as paint programs go, but it's a lot of fun to draw with. I'm not sure why but it seems like the simpler a tool is, the more fun it is to draw with. (The Palm z22 and Fisher-Price Magna Doodle mentioned in earlier posts are good examples. I also like drawing in the sand with a stick.) Having said that, Colors is also a way more sophisticated program than I would have expected to see on a kid's toy: it supports full 24 bit color, features pressure sensitivy for brush size and paint opacity, and it has a history playback mode which you can use to get unlimited 'undos'. There is even a Java applet you can run on your computer to re-render your Colors image brushstroke-by-brushstroke at higher resolutions (up to 2048 pixels wide!)

To run Colors, you need a Nintendo DS Lite and an adapter cartridge like the R4 which lets you install and run homebrew software from a Micro SD card (it's tiny!) The Colors software is free; just download it to your computer and then drag it to the Micro SD card.

Using the DS Lite for sketching has been very interesting. It's like having a miniature Cintiq that I can carry in my pocket anywhere. Needless to say, I'm enjoying it very much!

I'll be posting more Colors doodles in upcoming posts.