Help

How to paint in Pennello

The short version. The app's own hover help says what every tool does: rest the Pencil, or the pointer, over it.

The tools

Down the right (or along the bottom on a phone): brushes, knives and blenders, the pens, masking tape and fluid, stencils. Each has tips, round, flat, filbert, angled, fan and rigger, and a size. The palette holds the paints; tap one to pick it up, tap and hold to mix. Paint properties, thickness, how much the brush carries, how it streaks, are under the palette.

Mediums

Oil, acrylic, watercolour, gouache, impasto, oil glaze and ink set the paint's behaviour at once: how much it covers, how it drags, how fast it sets, how it soaks in. Choose one before a stroke. Watercolour and ink soak into the paper; the rest sit on it.

Wet and dry

Paint stays wet for a while, and a stroke through wet paint drags it. Dry now dries the whole canvas at once. Watercolour washes run into each other until they dry, and a clean wet brush into a damp wash makes a bloom.

Layers

A new layer paints over everything below without disturbing it; a wash on a layer glazes what's under it. The web and phone versions have three; the iPad has them all.

Light

Every painting is lit by a room. Change the room, or how strong its light is, under the palette. Move the light with the mouse, a finger, or by tilting the iPad.

Undo, and the strokes

Undo and redo as usual (two fingers tap to undo on a touch screen, three to redo). Every stroke is kept: step back through them on the timeline, choose one, and move it, bend it or repaint it with the palette.

Saving and the file

Paintings save themselves as you go. In the browser they live in this browser's storage: download the .pennello.json file from the library to keep it, or to open it on another device or in the iPad app. On the iPad they live on the iPad, and with your account they're backed up.

The Apple Pencil

Pressure loads the brush and widens the mark; tilt lays a brush on its side; roll (Pencil Pro) turns a flat; hovering shows the brush's footprint; double-tap opens the palette; a squeeze steps back through the strokes. Your palm never paints.

Something's wrong

Write to help@pennello.app with what you did and what happened, and the painting's file if you can.