I'd love to hear your thoughts on any great drawing apps for iPad

I'm currenlty using Procreate (which is great) but wondered if there are any other's that you'd recommend. Thanks :)

Replies5

  • I'm using adobe fresco atm which is great for lots of textures that look more hand-drawn. It comes with Photoshop so if you already pay for that it's a good option.
  • Thanks so much @Ronna Sakowska. Very insightful read with lots of great summaries and comparisions between each app! I'll be sure to have a proper look at them :)
  • I agree with @Rob Fuller , Procreate is definitely the winner for me!

    I think a lot of the other apps on offer are just not as robust and don't jusify their pricing either - I haven't seen any that are as good as Procreate.

    For vectors, Vectornator is awesome. Mac/iOS only, 100% free. It feels much more like Illustrator than Adobe's iPad version does. :-) No other vector app can compete imo.

    The only other app I would say is worth looking into is Clip Studio Paint.
    https://www.clipstudio.net/en/

    Great for any digital art, but where it really shines is that it has specialised functions that really support concept & comic artists. Bear with me as this will be long - the software is not super known in the Western market but worth checking out for its USPs, however the different versions and pricing models can be a bit confusing, so I'll break it down.

    CSP is a Japanese software originally developed with professional manga/comic artists in mind and many of the functions and assets reflect that. I used to describe it as "it's like Photoshop & PaintTool SAI had a baby, and that baby became an expert digital artist".

    (If you're familiar with SAI, you might know that it vastly has superior line stabilisation & color blending engines compared to Photoshop - CSP uses those same engines)

    Some key selling points:
    1. Cross platfom - PC/Mac/iOS/Android

    2. It supports vector drawing, and I mean drawing - while you can adjust curves as normal, it's really optimised for putting a stylus to the canvas

    3. Its 3d model tool - this is one of its USPs. CSP has a database of its own and user-created 3d models you can use to compose your artwork. This includes posable character puppes, but also objects and scenes

    4. Asset Marketplace - like Procreate, it has a huge and robust community of primarily free brushes, textures, models, etc

    5. Familiarity - if you've ever used Photoshop for digital painting/drawing, the interface should be intuitive

    -

    Clip Studio Paint comes in the following versions:

    1. DEBUT - ignore, pre-bundled and can't be purchased.
    2. PRO - for art and illustration, very robust.
    3. EX - adds advanced animation & page management tools for pro comic artists, much more expensive but nothing you're missing out on unless you need these specific features.

    Detailed list of differences:
    https://www.clipstudio.net/en/functional_list/

    -

    Costs for CSP PRO:

    (Do note that there are pretty frequent offers/sales it's worth looking out for!)

    > Mac+PC - single fee, $50
    One-off purchase, applicable to either/both platforms. As in, you don't need to pay separately for each platform version.
    > iOS/Android - subscribtion (includes Mac+PC use)
    Different prices depending on the number of devices you want to use it on. If you pay annually rather than monthly, it's half the price.
    e.g.: 1 device - $5/month or $25/year

    Subsciption plans:
    https://ec.clip-studio.com/en-us/application/plans?transitionSourceUrl=https://www.clipstudio.net/en/

    Phew - hopefully this will be a useful reference to someone, all other iPad art tools in my experience just attempt to do what all the apps we mentioned do, but don't manage to do it nearly as well.
  • @Rob Fuller thanks very much! Great to get your thoughts. I’ve been playing with Procreate and it is very impressive! Wasn’t sure wether to try Adobe illustrator too. I think I’ll keep going with Pro for now :)

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