Barely a month old and the iPad is already home to some powerful painting and illustration software. Of course, these apps didn't appear over night, many of them have been nurtured and grown to full maturity on the iPhone and iPod Touch platforms. The same can also be said of the artistic talent that is congregating around Apple 'latest creation'. Many of the artists that have contributed work to the iPad Creative, Art and Design Flickr group have been honing their skills on Apple's miniature multi-touch platform for a year or more.

It's true to say that the larger form factor of the iPad has enabled these artists to expand their horizons, to try things that would have been extremely tricky on the iPhone. You'll be amazed at how expressive iPad painting can be, with the broad range of tools already available, the only real limitation is your imagination and self belief.

If you need a little help with either of these two limitations be sure to regularly check the iPad Creative, Art and Design group for inspiration and confirmation of just what the iPad can really do.

Just look at the colour, texture and detail of Bejamin's 'See Saw' (seen above), it's quite special and the equal of anything we've seen painted using a Wacom tablet or even physical media. These are good times to be an artist, the tools are cheaper and more powerful than ever before. If this is just the beginning, it's hard to imagine what awaits us a few years from now.

Further Reading:

Here's to the crazy ones...

The iPad, a revolution in the creative arts