Yep, there’s an app for that too. The upscale literary magazine the New Yorker made an interesting announcement about this week’s issue — the cover art was created on an iPhone using a finger paint application called Brushes. You can see some other cool images created using Brushes here.

Given that New Yorker covers are famous for their design, creativity and punch, it’s quite something to think someone could finger their way to a worthy piece on a phone. The image was done by Jorge Columbo whose drawings first appeared in the New Yorker back in 1994.

He’s been using an iPhone since February, according to a story at the New Yorker’s Web site, and discovered it has some unique advantages over a sketch pad. For one thing, it gives him the ability to draw when traveling. “Before, unless I had a flashlight or a miner’s hat, I could not draw in the dark,” said Columbo. He also noted he can draw without being noticed because most pedestrians assume he’s checking his e-mail.

iPhone as publishing platform?

Tony Bove, who created the first magazine about desktop publishing back in the ’80s after the release of the first Macintosh, sees publishing potential the iPhone.

“That New Yorker thing is very cool,” he said. “There are a lot of authors looking to do ebooks on the iPhone.”

Bove, who is an iPhone developer, concedes the small screen limits how much you can create and view, but is encouraged by reports Apple has an iPhone tablet in the works that might even be unveiled at next month’s WWDC (Apple’s developer conference).

“I don’t want a laptop, I want that,” he said. “The small touch screen becomes a limiting factor. But with a larger screen, even nine inches, you can do page layout.

“I think the combination of using a camera and these painting apps introduce a new art form. You can snap a picture and start messing with it. Apple wants to encourage this playfulness with images.”