Sing N Sketch
Sing N Sketch is a touch screen application that allows an artist to combine simultaneous singing and drawing. The pitch of the voice input modifies properties of a virtual paint brush (color, size, pressure, etc). While singing or humming, the artist can paint with her finger, affecting the color and pressure of the stroke by varying the pitch and amplitude of her voice.
With Sing N Sketch, artists sing while they draw to create beautiful pieces of art. Here’s how it works: A tablet’s touchscreen is the canvas. The artist draws on the canvas using her finger. When she sings a note, the microphone detects the audio input and Sing N Sketch determines what note is being sung. The software maps the note to the color of the stroke and the volume of the note to the brush size.
A typical interaction might go like this: The artist sings a low tone and begins to sketch with her finger. The stroke on the screen is a deep red. As she sketches, she continues to sing in a higher pitch, resulting in a color change to blue. She proceeds to sketch a complex and colorful composition, all the while controlling aspects of the brush with her voice.
The mapping described above is just one possibility. Any audio property can be mapped to any visual property. Possible audio properties to be analyzed and mapped to brush qualities include pitch, amplitude, attack, decay and presence. These parameters can be set to affect brush qualities such as hue, value, saturation, pressure, size and shape.
This tool is useful to artists who want to explore new modes of expression. It could be used by two people at once - one sketching and one singing. An artist could use Sing N Sketch while playing recorded music to let the song played change the visual characteristics. It could be used by children as either a fun way to paint or as a learning tool to explore color and music concepts.