As always, when you try to find a good app for your tablet or phone so you can draw hands-free, you run into problems. Sometimes it’s inconvenient to use the app, or you can’t save or send a sketch. This article presents the best apps for artists that have gone through thousands of audiences scattered all over the world.
Paper for iPad
Paper makes it easy to create sketchbooks, notes, and projects and share them promptly online. The app is free, but there is an option to buy additional drawing tools. The app is great for the tablet and adapted for use on the phone. Here it is already a question of usability.
Fresko Paint Light and Pro for Android
One of the best apps. Here you can not only sketch, but also edit photos. The program contains everything you need to create a digital picture. There are two versions of the application: Fresco Pro and Fresco Lite. Fresco Lite is the free version and Fresco Pro has more features: up to four layers, 21 filters and a dozen of brushes. Also, it’s possible to export to Photoshop format. What a paradise for an artist who uses mobile applications.
SketchBook for iPad and Android
There are also two versions of the program: free and paid. In the free version there are tools for working with layers, brushes, functions “undo” and “redo” and, importantly, you can save the result of the work in the gallery or publish to social networks. The paid version, it’s not hard to guess, has more features. If you’re just starting to use mobile drawing software, do not rush to buy the paid version, first test the free version.
Adobe Ideas for iPad
A great app for artists, illustrators and designers. The advantage of this application is that you can create vector graphics of professional quality. The program contains a large number of customizable brushes that are sensitive to pressure. In addition, the program is able to synchronize your data on the Adobe Creative Cloud hosting and transfer any projects you are currently working on directly to your mobile device.
ArtFlow
ArtFlow is a canvas with over 70 tools. Here you can find working with numerous layers, working with PSD files, PNG files and more. Even the regular version is a powerful tool for artists with many features. The paid version offers more advanced options.
Infinite Design and Painter for Android
Infinite Design is a paid app for designers and artists. Here you can draw sketches and more working versions of images. The canvas can be enlarged or reduced, rotated in any direction – there are no restrictions. Your drawing is saved while you work, and the finished drawing can be saved in JPG, PNG or SVG formats.
Infinite Painter is the second Infinite app for designers and artists that has more powerful features. For example, the “Pen only” function will help you avoid accidental strokes from touching your fingers and palms. Work calmly with layers. The program pays special attention to color, its depth and saturation.
Brushes 3
The ultimate tool for sketching. Large selection of brushes, easy to use. It is very difficult to convey your vision of the situation to your conversation partner, but with this app, you can quickly visualize your thoughts and send them by mail or any other way you want.
Pixels Free
You don’t have to painstakingly redraw your sketches on paper to refine them. This app offers a large selection of brushes to suit any style of performance (watercolor, pencil sketch, oil, etc.).
Sketchbook Express
Another popular Android app for designers is Sketchbook Express. The app allows you to create quick sketches and simulates the process of drawing with paints. It is the best choice for those who can’t live a day without creativity and love to embody their ideas with sketches. The toolkit includes 15 preset brushes and an advanced color wheel. Features such as brush pressure effect and shape smoothing open up great possibilities for designers. Other features include multi-touch navigation, multiple drawing styles, transparency control, and layer state switching.
Adobe Illustrator Draw
The Illustrator Draw app is an Illustrator app that comes from Adobe and runs on the Android mobile operating system. The app is an easy-to-use tool for creating complex vector illustrations. The editor has an intuitive interface with handy touch controls. The app has 5 built-in brushes that can be used to create quick sketches. In addition, Illustrator Draw supports the most advanced drawing tools such as Adonit Jot Touch, Adobe Ink, Apple Pencil, etc.
Tayasui Sketches
A professional sketching application for drawing sketches – quick, undetailed illustrations. There are variable tool options here. To get more out of them, like increasing the layer limit or using a pattern fill, you have to pay. But if you don’t have ultra-requests, you can live just fine without them.
The app is great for experienced artists: you can adjust layer blending modes, apply texture, draw some shape and fill with color, but the settings (brush size and transparency) are simple.
Procreate
This application is big and serious. It tries to take on the role of an editor to create similarly serious and large works. At the end of September, the fourth version was released.
Adobe Photoshop Sketch
This application doesn’t even try to copy its big sister, the desktop Photoshop program. Instead of editing photos, the developers of Photoshop Sketch decided to focus on drawing. The program uses the full potential of touch displays and styluses, especially feeling great on the iPad. At the same time, it conveys an enduring feeling of drawing on paper.
The app’s rich arsenal includes a virtual pencil, ballpoint pen, various brushes, blending tools and tools for working with perspective.
MediBang Paint
A Japanese application imbued with the aesthetics of anime and manga. It is for these genres that the program is best suited. In it you will find special fonts, shapes and frames that are used in comics. In addition, MediBang Paint has all the usual tools like brushes and rulers, as well as a system of working on layers. To the latter, you can apply styles, just like in Photoshop.
Autodesk SketchBook
Autodesk SketchBook is equipped with a very rich set of brushes, pencils, markers and other tools that you can easily customize for your needs. It supports layers, blending modes, and symmetry. You can connect to the DropBox or iCloud app and store your masterpieces in the cloud.
PicsArt Color Paint
The app offers a full set of drawing tools that are suitable for both beginners and professionals. Among them – fully customizable brushes, color palette with their basic combinations, texture fills and full work with layers.
The app’s interface is intuitive, so you’ll be able to focus specifically on drawing rather than looking for any tools to do so.
With this simple app, you’ll be able to finish your selfies with some extra details, paint sketches of any complexity, and even create fantasy worlds from scratch – from a sketch to a detailed illustration.
CREATE
CREATE is an advanced tool for the graphic designer, with which you can detach your creativity from your particular computer or even your whole office and transfer it to the compact iPad Pro, which you can use anywhere you want.
With this program, you can design shapes and icons, edit text and typography, add outlines and fills, modify, enlarge and rotate, align objects on a grid, duplicate or change their order, and so on.
CREATE works with both vector and raster graphics. It has a simple and straightforward interface that doesn’t require a lot of time to learn. With the help of this application even the most incredible ideas can be brought to life.
Drawing Desk
A mobile app with four modes that differ in their capabilities: Kids Desk for kids, Doodle Desk for doodles, Sketch Desk for sketches, and Photo Desk for photos.
Kids Desk allows you to leave your kids alone with their iPad Pro so they don’t have to worry about getting bored. It makes drawing fun with bright colors, music, and more.
Other modes help you make a simple sketch to visualize your thoughts, capture a fun photo for social media and messenger, or just have fun with friends at the end of the work day.
Inspire Pro
With this program, it’s easy to create beautiful drawings right on your iPad screen. It’s great for beginners and experts alike. Inspire Pro comes with 60 high-quality brushes in six kits: oil paint, airbrush, basic shapes, graphite pencils, wax crayons, and highlighters.
Auryn Ink
An easy to learn and work with graphics editor, which imitates all the necessary tools for painting with watercolors. It is worth noting that the toolset of the program is somewhat limited, in comparison with the other products in this review.
ArtRage
Besides the extensive arsenal of tools (brushes, pencils, pastels, rollers, slates), this program also lets you choose the type of surface of the virtual canvas. ArtRage is also one of the favorite products of many digital artists.
Inkist
One of those programs which support pressure sensitive styluses. Other advantages of the editor are its sleek interface, a wide range of customizable brushes and it is completely free of charge.
Zen Brush
With an arsenal of 64 paper surface types and three shades of ink, you’ll have fun with ink drawings. The program has been specially designed for easy and fast sketching.
Carbo – Notes&Sketches
Carbo is an application unique to this selection. It’s not so much for aspiring artists as it is for taking notes with an emphasis on sketches.