Monday, April 5, 2021

PENUP artists finally have access to long-awaited Layers feature

Samsung’s S Pen-friendly app PENUP has just received one of its best updates yet. PENUP began as a simple doodling app with coloring book features, but over the years it slowly yet steadily grew to become a more complete app for aspiring artists. One key omission that’s been holding the app back all these years has now been addressed, as PENUP now officially supports layers.

PENUP version 3.6.00.15 brings two major changes to the user experience. Firstly, the coloring book catalogue can now be found in a dedicated Books tab within the Coloring section. Secondly and most importantly, the new update adds layer functionality to the drawing tool, i.e., the main mode that lets you paint on a blank canvas as opposed to offering a template, and arguably the only mode that’s relevant for any useful work.

Layers have made PENUP a much more competent drawing app

Layers are virtually mandatory in any app that claims to offer serious photo editing and / or digital drawing capabilities, so the option in PENUP couldn’t come soon enough. Using PENUP without signing in to the service allows you to use 2 layers at most, but logged in with your Samsung account or alternative gives you access to a maximum of 12 layers in a single drawing.

As to why they’re a big deal, layers generally allow for different blending options, masking, bolder editing and more. In PENUP, the Layer option that was introduced with the latest update doesn’t have advanced blending options, but each layer comes with an opacity slider, an option to import images from the Gallery or Camera apps, and a couple of options for merging.

This new addition to PENUP can drastically change the way you approach your digital art. Layers allow you to create edits to drawings without worrying about what’s underneath, and successful edits can then be gradually merged into a single, final layer.

The latest PENUP version is now available at the Play Store and the Galaxy Store. To download it, open the Galaxy Store app on your S Pen-enabled phone or tablet, tap the menu button and go to Updates.