20 Useful Web Applications for Creative People

The web has evolved in a rapid pace ever since 1960, when the Internet was invented. Nowadays, web developers are no longer limited to create only static user interfaces. In the last decade we have seen several creative and interactive web applications emerge. In this post we list 20 apps that should be interesting for creative people working with photography, computer graphics, video editing or music production!

Most of these applications are either made in Flash or written in Flex (which will also be rendered as Flash), but some are entirely made in JavaScript which is quite amazing. These apps requires you to have a modern browser. We recommend Chrome.

Drawing and Painting

We are going to begin by listing some sweet applications in which you can enhance your creative skills by either drawing or painting.

  • DeviantArt Muro

    Muro is the king of HTML5 canvas drawing apps. DeviantArt Muro is a fully functional drawing application that runs smoothly inside your browser. The support for layers, multiple brush types, pressure sensitivity (Wacom tablet is required), filters and everything in between makes this application one of the best apps available to date.

    Launch App!

  • Sumo Paint

    Sumo Paint is a massive app that mimics the GUI of Adobe Photoshop. Complete with an impressive set of filters and plenty of options for brush customizations. The app feels fully featured and stable, almost like a desktop application!

    Launch App!

  • Pixlr

    Pixlr is another attempt to take the Photoshop experience to the web. This application is easy to use, yet still very advanced. Good support for filters, layers and much much more.

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  • Splashup

    Splashup is much like Sumo Paint and Pixlr, but probably not as advanced. The application features the ability to post your photo to various sites on the web.

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  • Odosketch

    Odosketch is a cute application that focuses on replaying and embedding of sketching. The sketches you make in Odosketch can easily be shared with others, and you can browse several featured sketches to learn from the masters!

    Launch App!

  • Line Rider

    Line Rider is a drawing app (game) that lets you draw a slope for a little character. Once you press the play button he rocks the sled down the slope in killer speeds! If you do not think the creation of sled slopes can be creative, take a look at some of the amazing line rider videos at YouTube.

    Launch App!

  • CloudCanvas

    This is more of a vector drawing application, where all the strokes you draw becomes objects instead of pixels. This enables you to scale and rotate each object to achieve true perfection in your drawings. Moreover, this app lets you animate your drawings as well as importing ClipArt and other graphics without having to leave the application.

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  • Flame

    This one of a kind app can be used to draw fractal-like graphics by freehand. The app comes with a very easy to use GUI and you will be amazed with what this app is capable of. In this app anyone can be a true artist!

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  • Viscosity

    Viscosity lets you start off with a basic shape of pixilated gradient. You mission is to use the tools to manipulate this mass into abstract artwork. You can then move each point to fine-tune your art.

    Launch App!

Image Editing

We continue with some applications that lets you edit your images and photos online!

  • Photoshop Express

    Photoshop Express is a simple to use image editing application by the infamous Adobe, who also created Photoshop (obviously). Upload a file from your computer, edit it then download it or post to Twitter or Facebook. Very easy to use, with good tools to make you photos look better!

    Launch App!

  • Aviary Phoenix

    This advanced image editing application can be used to create amazing photo manipulations in no time. Thanks to all the blending modes and intuitive tools you will be able to turn any photo into real art work. The flexible user interface is easy to grip and you should be able to get a hang of it quite fast.

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  • Picnik

    A quite simple app with a cool Auto-fix feature that balance your photo with only one click. Another cool feature is the “Create”-feature, which lets you add seasonal clipart with ease.

    Launch App!

Video Editing

From still images to motion picture, let us move on with web applications that lets you edit your videos online!

  • JayCut

    JayCut is easy to use and features a very clever getting started project. You can add a soundtrack, clip videos and arrange them to later on add texts and things like that.

    Launch App!

  • YouTube Editor

    The YouTube Editor can be used to merge YouTube videos and adding soundtracks. You can select from several transitions and then save for YouTube. Everything is Drag & Drop, so the app is very easy to use.

    Launch App!

Music Creation

Video editing, drawing, painting and image editing… who would believe all that is possible in a web browser 10 years ago? Now, did you know you can also produce music online?

  • Aviary Roc

    Aviary Roc is a simple DAW that lets you create beats online. It consists of a pattern editor with 12 tracks and features several presets for you to use. Import and export features available as well.

    Launch App!

  • Indaba Music Mantis

    Indaba is a community for music producers where you will be able to remix great artists in various types of competitions. Indaba has provided their own tool “Mantis” for you to use. In Mantis you can cut and edit samples, arrange them and apply various types of effects.

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  • Skale Tracker

    Classic computer game music originates from what called trackers. Applications where you create music by placing notes and properties in a table-like fashion. The tracker then reads the table and outputs sounds. Skale Tracker is the only online tracker we were able to find, and it seems quite extensive!

    Launch App!

Color Scheming

Video editing, drawing, painting and image editing… who would believe all that is possible in a web browser 10 years ago? Now, did you know you can also produce music online?

  • Adobe Kuler

    Adobe Kuler is a Flex application with a simple to use GUI to create color palettes. You can choose from several different color rules that applies to the color picker. Good integration with the Adobe application suite and a huge community.

    Launch App!

  • Color Scheme Designer

    Much like Adobe Kuler, you can use color schemer’s nice GUI to come up with a sweet palette for your design project. This app is all JavaScript, so no additional plugins like Flash is required!

    Launch App!

  • PhotoCopa

    This cool application can be used to extract color information from any image. You can either upload your own, or search Flicker for images. The palette can then be saved and showcased for the vast community at ColourLovers.

    Launch App!

Continue reading here: Removing a head from an image for a great effect - Photoshop Tutorial

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Readers' Questions

  • Juho
    Who invented adobe photoshop?
    1 year ago
  • Adobe Photoshop was invented by Thomas and John Knoll in 1988.