Inkwash
Creative
drawing app
SHOW HN2026
How HN took it
13 positive, 5 neutral or asking, 1 mixed, 3 critical, out of 22 comments about the project. Thread score +0.43.
Design: 5 for, 0 againstIdea: 4 for, 0 againstExecution: 1 for, 1 againstDocs: 2 for, 0 againstPerformance: 0 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Looks gorgeous and satisfying, with fluid blending
From 4 comments
As an amateur watercolour artist (shameless plug: https://www.instagram.com/p/DBlKG5cMPxa) I have to say the feeling your made with this wash is gorgeous. Back in the analogue…
armcat on HNIt is very fun and aesthetically pleasing also, great job.
the-mitr on HNthis is really gorgeous. I build ed tech apps for kids, which often includes whiteboard. I am always in search of inspiration to make it more tactile and less MS Paint, love this!
jbrecht on HNThis is so satisfying! I love how the blending looks and fluidly works. I've always admired watercolor animations (especially the ones in the video game Gris) and wanted to bring…
ahmd-sh on HN
Objections
Flow/vortices look unrealistic compared with real watercolor
From 3 comments
The examples display a degree of vorticity that I have never seen in real life watercoloring. They look great superficially, but they look super weird at reasonable inspection.
BugsJustFindMe on HNI agree, some of the examples look very nice, but some have small-scale vortices that really don't look realistic. That said though, lovely site and project!
lemming on HN> I'm not sure "realistic" is important here. Whatever may be important to you, the website clearly presents itself as trying to realistically represent watercolor. It's a…
BugsJustFindMe on HN
Flow strength is too high
From 1 comment
This is awesome! The strength of the flow/advection is a bit too high imo. Maybe increase some viscosity parameter?
esychology on HN
High GPU usage even when idle on the page
From 2 comments
Why is just having the web page loaded in a browser's (Firefox) tab ramping up the iGPU on my computer to 75%? The GPU load is consistently 75% whether I'm drawing or just have…
voidmain0001 on HNDid you read the article? Each demo canvas is interactive and running multiple shaders per frame. They could probably reduce power consumption by having a play button on each…
bschwindHN on HN
Requests
Make it installable as a PWA
From 1 comment
amazing idea and writeup! The only missing piece is to make it PWA (make it open as 'normal' app, especially on a tablet pc) it takes just adding icons, manifest, service worker…
sigman on HN
Export or replay the stroke process, or vector-style editable output
From 2 comments
This is really charming. The interactive demos make the technical explanation much more approachable. One feature that might be fun is replay/exporting the stroke process, since…
otterfactory on HNI'm not sure "realistic" is important here. It's just art, and watercolors aren't known for being hyper-photographic to begin with. Instead, this enables... while it shows some…
NoMoreNicksLeft on HN
Questions
Can the paper be fixed over a water container for a similar effect
From 1 comment
Could one fix the paper on the bottom of in a container with just enough water in it to get a similar effect?
customguy on HN
Alternatives named
Rebelle (Escape Motions)
From 1 comment
Nice visualizations - have you tried Rebelle? They have an online version that lets you play with the watercolor/brushes of the painting software so you can see the colors drying…
vunderba on HN
Expressii painting app
From 1 comment
I never got into rebelle, though this demo is pretty cool. I used to use expressii, and always thought it was one of the most under rated painting apps. Has a very natural feel…
cam_l on HN