Bixelangelo Portable

With advancement in technology also giving birth to new activities that can be carried on a computer, art makes no exception. As such, with a powerful drawing application and preferably a touch-supported machine the only limits are your imagination, with Bixelangelo Portable being amongst the candidates for this task.

Can be used on the go

As the name suggests, you can store this edition of Bixelangelo on a USB Flash drive along with your work to use on the go and save some precious disk space. Not only this, but system registries remain intact, with little to no impact on performance. However, you do need to check whether or not the host computer is equipped with DirectX, but this shouldn't be an issue since it's a feature of latest Windows iterations.
A large, empty canvas welcomes you when launching the application. This might create a little confusion, with only the file menu around, pushing you to see whether or not you can interact with the workspace.

A different approach on drawing

Lines are left behind as you drag your mouse over the canvas, with an additional, shadow-like layer being created when releasing the mouse. It might take a little while to realize that this is not your ordinary drawing application. In fact, it's oriented towards ornamental design and you'll find little to no palettes you're familiar with from others of its kind.
What you do have control over are different sketch generators for branches, trees and forests. Luckily, the application comes with a decent amount of presets for each, just so you get an idea of what can be accomplished or use as templates.
Sadly, you need to decide what generator you want to work with, because once a different tool is launched all progress is automatically discarded, with no prompt to save, nor possibility to create backups.

Customizable generators and export options

Unless using the simple brush on an empty canvas, imagination has little influence over your drawings. This is because the output is based on specific patterns defined by custom variables. Up to five different elements can be enabled for each generator, with different sketch engines to choose from.
There's a built-in editor with which to fully customize patterns, with the possibility to save and use them later on. A little more variety is provided by the possibility to change display color, such as upper and lower background, as well as generated elements, but not individually, rather as a rule. What's more, manual drawing is limited to a single brush size and color, with any new changes resetting the canvas.
At this point you start to question the application's practicality, given the limited control over the canvas. For starters, it can make for an impressive, high-quality background to use and share with friends. On the other hand, export options generate different layers to use in specialized design applications, one of which is BluffTitler, importing your drawings as textures.

To sum it up

On an ending note, Bixelangelo Portable is an odd approach on drawing, replacing familiar color and brush palettes with generators based on different values that provide a different result each time. Giving it enough patience lets you create stunning, minimalistic backgrounds and ornamental images to use for gift cards, presentations, as well as textures for more ambitious projects.