Is Mischief 2.1 more than just an infinite canvas?

We review the latest version of The Foundry's budget art software, Mischief 2.1.

Our Verdict

With an infinite canvas and transparent layers, you are ready to sketch straight away. A great option for all creatives - it gets you generating ideas quickly and efficiently and has them looking great even before taking them into Photoshop.

For

  • Pins lets you save and quickly navigate to parts of your canvas
  • Manage and reorder up to 99 Pins
  • Export sequences of Pins as thumbnails
  • Infinite canvas
  • Feels like pixel-based brushes and has scalability of vectors
  • Easy to use
  • Export your viewable canvas to JPGs, PSDs and PNGs, choosing dimensions and resolution
  • Infinite zoom: range of 50 trillion to one
  • Make Mischief translucent to use, like tracing paper
  • New, streamlined interface

Against

  • Lacking lasso tools, so can't paint with selection
  • Suitable for start of workflow - not for finished images

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mischief gives you freedom

Mischief’s’ infinite canvas enables you to constantly generate ideas, because you’ll never run out of space!

Until now, Mischief's main selling point was its infinite zoom canvas. It's a canvas with no predetermined size or border you can zoom in or out of to your heart's content, thanks to its vector-based drawing engine.

It works very well. Mischief feels more like natural/raster drawing than using vectors. But you can't help but feel it's a bit gimmicky. Mischief was never going to compete with apps like Photoshop or Painter. Fortunately, Mischief doesn't have to. It's reinventing itself as an essential tool 
for brainstorming and ideation.

mischief pins

Easily navigate back to areas of your canvas by assigning ‘Pins’ to them and using the Pins panel.

The big addition to Mischief 2.1 is Pins. Pins adds a new way of taking advantage of the infinite canvas. You can add a Pin to any point on your canvas, enabling you to quickly navigate back to it later. You can manage and reorder up to 99 Pins, 
so you're free to continue drawing or writing ideas without worrying about organising your thoughts.

Mischief 2.1 features a streamlined interface with six basic brushes that include mild customisation options, but no textures. Mischief's appeal is getting started immediately and not getting bogged down with options.

mischief for ideas

Mischief 2.1 gets you generating ideas quickly and efficiently

You start on a transparent layer, so you're ready to get sketching straight away. Mischief supports multiple layer options and opacity. Its ability to infinitely zoom, and line smoothing options, make it a good choice for inking artworks. But It lacks lasso tools, so painting with selections isn't possible here.

mischief tablet

With its transparent layering, Mischief allows you to get sketching straight away

The best way to use Mischief is at the start of your workflow. Sketch ideas out, ink them and then export your visible canvas (with your choice of pixel dimensions/document size/resolution) as JPEG, PNG or PSD into Photoshop to paint.

Mischief 2.1 is a superb choice for all creatives. It gets you generating ideas quickly and efficiently and has them looking great even before taking them into Photoshop.

mischief

Use Mischief at the start of your workflow - Sketch out ideas and ink them before exporting your canvas

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The Verdict
8

out of 10

Mischief 2.1

With an infinite canvas and transparent layers, you are ready to sketch straight away. A great option for all creatives - it gets you generating ideas quickly and efficiently and has them looking great even before taking them into Photoshop.

The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of design fans, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of eight full-time members of staff: Editor Georgia Coggan, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Ecommerce Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Editor, Digital Art and 3D Ian Dean, Tech Reviews Editor Erlingur Einarsson and Ecommerce Writer Beth Nicholls and Staff Writer Natalie Fear, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The 3D World and ImagineFX magazine teams also pitch in, ensuring that content from 3D World and ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq.