Photo Reference App

This app was born out of my own needs. I became interested in watercolor painting at the beginning of 2021 and needed an easy way to map real photographs to the various sizes of watercolor paper I was using to paint the image.

The photo used in these demo images is by Mathilde Langevin, sourced from Unsplash.

The app allows you to set the size and orientation of your watercolor paper and import the image you wish to paint. You can also stretch the image to fit the width and height of the watercolor paper or display the full image within the paper's container.

The image can be scaled up within the paper and dragged around to fit the desired frame.

The app allows you to add a grid over the top of the image to aid in the drawing process. The size of the grid squares can be adjusted to the desired specificity.

A second grid with separate sizing and color can be added to give even finer-grained drawing aid (the larger grid can be used for drawing more basic shapes, and the smaller grid can be used for drawing more detailed shapes, like the features of a face).

To further aid the artist, the app has a built-in color picker. Sometimes colors are not always what they seem to be, so it is convenient to isolate a specific color for reference. These colors can be named and categorized for viewing in the color palette.

Finally, the image can be downloaded from the app. This is intended for those who have a grid over the top of the image. This image can then be used on a tablet or printed on paper for reference while painting.