Serenity Sketch turns disappearing water paintings into a mobile self-care ritual
Paint it, sit with it, and watch the whole thing vanish
- Paint with water on virtual stone
- Follow six guided Practices with narration
- Let your artwork disappear when finished
Serenity Sketch is filed under Health & Fitness on the App Store, which means it's sitting somewhere between a step counter and a sleep tracker rather than anywhere near the games. Copper Coin itself calls it a self-care app that plays like a game, and having looked at what's actually in it, that's just about right.
I wrote about this back in May when it was announced, and not much has changed. You paint with water on stone, a narrator talks you through it, and everything you make eventually evaporates. No undo, no save, nothing to look back at and pick apart. It's borrowed from dishu, the Chinese art of water calligraphy, and the whole point is that the thing disappearing is the good bit.
The launch version opens with the Path of Initiation, the first stretch of what Copper Coin calls the Journey of Letting Go. Six guided Practices with a voice walking you through each one, each closing on a handful of quiet questions.
One thing, though. Back in May, there was a longer list of Paths on the table, Imperfection, Resonance, Child's Play, Lineage and Cycles among them. Copper Coin has touted this as an early version of Serenity Sketch with eight Practices in total, so the rest of that is coming later rather than being here on day one.
Outside the guided stuff, there's the Home Sanctuary, freeform painting with every brush available and nobody telling you what to do. The settings include an ancient forest, an ocean bay, cliffs along a shore, each with its own soundscape.
Serenity Sketch lands on October 6th. The first two Practices are free, and unlocking the rest of the Path costs $4.99.
If you'd rather have something a bit more conventional in the meantime, our list of the best relaxing games on iOS has a few more options.
