This App Turns the City Into a Photoshop File

Imagine if you could take Photoshop out into the streets and use it to change the world around you. Shrub, Linked by Air’s drawing app for iOS, lets you do precisely that, or at least part of that. The city (or landscape) becomes the material for a clone-stamp-like brush that grabs your surroundings and lets you draw with them.

Shrub captures the intricacies of both the built and natural environment, urban, rural, or somewhere in between. Any pattern or scene can be layered into your drawing. It is ideal for “painting-and-traveling,” or using yourself as an art brush from Adobe.

Image courtesy Linked By Air

If you want to make your phone into a real-life Illustrator Machine, download the app here. Your artwork can be sent by text message with a few swipes. The social component is as much of the fun as the drawing.

Image courtesy Linked By Air

Linked By Air adds a few pro tips, “For the best drawings, pinch with your fingers to change the brush size. Twist with your fingers to change the brush softness. And of course, tap with one finger to show and hide the viewfinder.”

For more examples, click here.