Review: Gesture

Overview Contrary to what the developer may believe, Gesture is not a tool for creating “digital paintings from your photos.” What it does let you do is smudge and pointilize them… for $4.99. Overall, it's a simple app that is very overpriced.

Functionality

Gesture is flexible in the way that it allows you to smudge your photographs. Users can change the size of the “paint brush,” zoom in for detailed smudging and can even undo an unlimited amount of prior smudges (although there is no redo feature and pointilizations cannot be undone unless the “undo all” option is selected). To begin creating a masterpiece, users can load an image from their iPhone photo library, or can choose to snap a photo without leaving the app. I initially opted for the latter, framing up a prized Los Angeles Dodgers bobblehead doll for my first attempt.

There is also an option to “pointilize” your photo, in reference to a Photoshop effect that mimics Pointillism, a style of painting that involves small dots of primary colors. Another option allows users to darken everything except for what has been smudged. When finished, displays of your smudging creativity can be saved to your camera roll or shared in Gesture’s online gallery.

Review

After experimenting with various brush sizes and stroke techniques, I realized that perhaps I wasn’t much of a smudger and was unsure how I could create the “stunning works of art” that had been referenced on Gesture’s iTunes store page. Then, while aimlessly drawing squiggles and swirls, I discovered the pointilize feature, which was impressive and made even my lame bobblehead photo look artsy. But what good is a $4.99 app that simply transforms photos into pointilizations and smudges?

I mean, sure, smearing and pointilizing images can be enjoyable, but there isn’t much flexibility within this framework and end results are often comparable. Besides the fact that the pointilize feature cannot be adjusted for dot size or density, there is no kind of normal paintbrush or color selection option, or any other useful tools that one might associate with paintings and photographs. To be honest, this app is not very useful and is way too simple to warrant such a high price. Its description in the iTunes store is misleading and it really has no business selling for more than 99 cents, if that. If Gesture was free and if its description was more direct about its functionality, perhaps the pointilize feature would be pleasing enough to warrant space on your iPhone. As it is now, the app simply doesn't offer enough utility for the price.

Summary

While Gesture allows users to transform photos into collections of dots, it doesn’t offer much more than that and is very overpriced.

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