Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPad Pro Best Drawing App For iPad 11 Pro & Apple Pencil?
- Thread starter i1280
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
It’s all about personal preference. And ask what type of art are you trying to achieve — that’s going to guide you the best. Here’s a few to get you started off:
Procreate
Concepts
Affinity Designer
Adobe Illustrator
Sketchbook
Tayasui Sketches
Clip Paint Studio
My preference is Affinity Designer. I use their whole suite (Photo, Designer, and Publisher) as the core apps for my design business. Those three apps have made me a lot of money for the little I spent on them (they often go on sale during parts of the year).
But if I just want to create some light sketches, I use something like Concepts, Tayasui Sketches (or even Goodnotes for really rough sketches!)
Procreate
Concepts
Affinity Designer
Adobe Illustrator
Sketchbook
Tayasui Sketches
Clip Paint Studio
My preference is Affinity Designer. I use their whole suite (Photo, Designer, and Publisher) as the core apps for my design business. Those three apps have made me a lot of money for the little I spent on them (they often go on sale during parts of the year).
But if I just want to create some light sketches, I use something like Concepts, Tayasui Sketches (or even Goodnotes for really rough sketches!)
For pixel-based images the free Sketchbook is my favourite - but as @ericwn asked, what are you planning to do?
If your interest lies in vector-based drawing take a look in Vectornator, Amadine or Affinity Designer.
If your interest lies in vector-based drawing take a look in Vectornator, Amadine or Affinity Designer.
Procreate here. I've taken a couple udemy courses on it, and its deep. The ability to use different "paints" (watercolor, acrylic, chalk, etc) and see them blend like the real thing, with the AP, is cool beans.
For engineering drawings/woodworking plans, I prefer DraftSight (and it's free!)
For engineering drawings/woodworking plans, I prefer DraftSight (and it's free!)
I’m not exactly sure what I want to do to be honest. Just looking at something to use as a sketchbook and do a variety of different things.
Don't discount the inbuilt Notes app. It is excellent for sketching.
Procreate for full blown artistic painting and drawing.
Concepts is also an excellent vector based drawing app.
Procreate for full blown artistic painting and drawing.
Concepts is also an excellent vector based drawing app.
My personal top 3:
Linea Sketch
- Simple and straightforward, yet powerful with excellently designed tools
Moleskine Flow
- Wonderfully designed interface, realistic drawing experience
Paper
- Very direct, great toolset and color palette, ugly interface with over the top 3D effects
Linea Sketch
- Simple and straightforward, yet powerful with excellently designed tools
Moleskine Flow
- Wonderfully designed interface, realistic drawing experience
Paper
- Very direct, great toolset and color palette, ugly interface with over the top 3D effects
For me without a shadow of doubt it’s Procreate.
You can do so much with Procreate from light sketches to full painting.
Want to touch up a photo or change something on it.. no problem.
Collage’s…. Start with a large canvas and import several photos and make your own collage with design, flare and text. Need to play and warp, pinch etc. go ahead.
The only brush that is not available is Impasto.…. For that I use Art Set or ArtRage.
You can do so much with Procreate from light sketches to full painting.
Want to touch up a photo or change something on it.. no problem.
Collage’s…. Start with a large canvas and import several photos and make your own collage with design, flare and text. Need to play and warp, pinch etc. go ahead.
The only brush that is not available is Impasto.…. For that I use Art Set or ArtRage.
Another huge vote for Moleskine flow.
This might not be for everyone, but I’ve tried and tested almost all the major art apps on the store, exhaustively, to see what worked for me. I use other apps for more heavy art. But as a complete beginner and a non-artist, Moleskine Flow has been an incredible experience for more lightweight, casual sketching.
It’s incredibly well designed and the whole experience is really nice and makes me want to draw more. I use it as a scribble pad and for general sketches. Also works great if you import an image/template of a daily planner (hundreds available on a Google search).
Meanwhile, I've been waiting since last Wednesday for an answer from their Support Desk
IMHO, with a subscription based app I expect to be helped within 24 hours.
So I will most likely stop throwing my money to Moleskine very soon, and handle everything within Linea Sketch.
Good luck, whatever works for you.Meanwhile, I've been waiting since last Wednesday for an answer from their Support Desk
IMHO, with a subscription based app I expect to be helped within 24 hours.
So I will most likely stop throwing my money to Moleskine very soon, and handle everything within Linea Sketch.
The folks at Moleskine team were super quick and helpful with my problem last month.
I love Procreate for all the different brushes and stuff you can add in. I have a friend who's a tattoo artist and he uses the tattoo brushes in Procreate to practice new designs. He's not even a big Apple fanatic, but SWEARS by the iPad for this reason.
I would also suggest Keynote. Free on macOS and iOS and iPadOS. Probably not really for sketching but great for putting together lots of shapes to quickly get an idea across. I use this a lot for all sorts of diagrams I need to make to get an idea across.
To ericwn's point, there are all sorts of sketches ranging from engineering/technical drawings through free-hand artistic sketches. Zen Brush 3 gives you the sense of drawing in ink with a brush on rice paper making drawings or calligraphy. Shapr3D lets you create 3D shapes.
To ericwn's point, there are all sorts of sketches ranging from engineering/technical drawings through free-hand artistic sketches. Zen Brush 3 gives you the sense of drawing in ink with a brush on rice paper making drawings or calligraphy. Shapr3D lets you create 3D shapes.
You may want to look at this demo by Brad Colbow.
I'm not a Procreate fan, but Brad mentions the app Medibang having a storyboard creation tool. So that app seems interesting for your use case.
Shameless plug here for an app my wife an I recently released on the iPad App Store.
Exsto is a little bit different to other apps. One of the key goals is to help people who are uncertain or struggling with creative block.
The apps adds noise to your strokes so you do not need to be worried that each stock will be perfect until you see the shape you want to refine. You can find it on the App Store here
Exsto is a little bit different to other apps. One of the key goals is to help people who are uncertain or struggling with creative block.
The apps adds noise to your strokes so you do not need to be worried that each stock will be perfect until you see the shape you want to refine. You can find it on the App Store here
oops, I was "out of the box' explaining my difficulties.
perhaps I do read too much Martin Amis and Murakimai books.......
what I should have typed was: "I simply cannot draw a face without using 28 layers in that program".
no matter how hard I try not to.
their reposed was very technical, like programing an ice maker on a whirlpool refrigerator.
which one DOES need that degree in quantum physics or a similar scholastic curriculum.
Whereas the app I mentioned is easier to draw a face.
Ah, I see, I was moreso thinking the app required some form of verification to make sure you have a doctorate. That would be absolutely mindboggling to simply use an art app.
@hishnash, thank you for the shameless plug for Exsto! It is an extraordinary app that does exactly what you said and more. I’ve purchased it and posted the following review:
“Exsto is a rare find in the App Store. It provides an unconventional, yet simplified approach to sketching with simple tools (colors, brushes, noise, opacity, symmetry and no undo). This unusual approach is easy to acclimate to and quickly produce impressive results.
The experience is peculiar as I am simultaneously overcoming the mechanical friction of creating the visual on the iPad screen using the tools and unconventional approach with the Apple Pencil .. and overcoming my own internal friction against this unconventional approach to drawing.
The result is surprisingly meditative and fulfilling .. and after just a couple of hours of use I am in love with Exsto. Exsto is a reminder that it is still possible to create a truly magical iPad app.”
Thank you and congratulations to you and your wife for creating this gift to artists and aspiring artists. 🙏🏽