Drawing on iPad can be a stimulating and rewarding experience thanks to a range of apps that offer great tools and features. These apps not only provide a digital environment for drawing, but also offer advanced techniques that help develop skills and achieve professional results.
With iPad and Apple Pencil side by side, you can easily improve your drawing skills in a variety of ways. There are a variety of drawing apps available to do this, each offering different things to both new and experienced artists. Here are the iPad apps that have enhanced my drawing skills. Check out these great word processing apps for iPad: Improve your productivity and creativity.
1. Procreate
For many digital artists, purchasing an iPad usually comes with the purchase of Procreate, an iPad-only drawing app.
While Procreate isn’t a free option, it’s not very expensive, costing less than $15 as a one-time purchase from the App Store. Procreate was developed entirely with the iPad in mind, so they work perfectly together.
Drawing with Procreate allowed me to experiment with drawing and painting techniques. It's one of the best ways to use the Apple Pencil on the iPad, and it feels like you're holding a real pencil or paintbrush when drawing in Procreate.
I've created a lot of digital illustrations using Procreate, including landscapes, house drawings, pet portraits, and fun drawings—especially using Procreate's QuickShape tool. This cost-effective app also allows me to experiment with animating my drawings in Procreate, further enhancing my skills.
Download: Procreate ($12.99)
2. Adobe Fresco
Adobe Fresco is one of Adobe’s many great free apps. You need an Adobe account, and you can pay for a subscription to get some of the premium features. However, the free version of Adobe Fresco gives you almost everything you need to improve your drawing skills.
My favorite part of Fresco is that you can draw with vector brushes instead of exclusively raster tools. My second favorite part is that — since I’m an Adobe subscriber — I can easily open my Fresco drawings in other Adobe tools, and vice versa, to edit my drawings or incorporate them into other creative projects.
Fresco works similarly to Procreate, so using the Apple Pencil for my digital drawings has given me plenty of opportunities to practice my drawing skills. Being able to easily edit my vector-based drawings—although Fresco also offers raster tools—enhances my digital drawing and art skills by offering easier editing and grading.
Download: Adobe Fresco (Free, in-app purchases available)
3. Simply Draw
Simply Draw is a great app for kids and adults alike for anyone looking to improve their drawing skills. My six-year-old niece discovered Simply Draw before I did, and has been able to draw amazing pictures of pandas to accompany her unicorn collection.
Simply Draw is not explicitly a drawing app, however, it is an app that teaches you how to draw.
It uses AI and your iPad’s camera to evaluate your hand-drawn pieces and give you personalized tips to improve your drawing. It starts by teaching simple shapes before adding shading and more complex aspects to your drawings. Simply Draw also includes pre-recorded video explanations as well as personalized tips generated by AI based on your drawing input.
If you're a complete beginner at drawing, Simply Draw is a great place to start. Using traditional tools like pencil and paper leads to more intuitive results when first learning to draw.
You can start using Simply Draw for free, but to continue your skills and improve your drawing techniques, you must subscribe for $9.99 per month.
Download: Simply Draw (Free, in-app purchases available)
4. Adobe Illustrator للـ iPad
If you’re an Adobe subscriber, you probably already use Adobe Illustrator on your desktop, but it’s also available for iPad, where it offers digital vector drawing on the go. I personally prefer using Illustrator on my computer, but it has its uses when I’m out and about with just my iPad.
Using Illustrator won't help you improve your natural drawing skills. However, it can help you easily turn your drawings, paintings, or any other art into digital art.
Drawing in Illustrator is similar to creating images with shapes—though there’s a pencil tool if you want to draw hand-drawn vectors. You can convert your drawings to a variety of digital assets, enhancing your artistic skills for new projects. Check out the best free browser-based Adobe Illustrator alternatives.
Download: Adobe Illustrator (Free to download, Adobe subscription required to use)
5. Da Vinci Eye
Da Vinci Eye is an app available for iPad, iPhone, Android, and Apple Vision Pro that aims to teach people how to draw. To use this app with iPad, you'll need to use a dedicated stand or tripod — or set up your iPad horizontally on something above your desk.
This is a drawing app, but not for drawing directly on your iPad. Instead, it uses augmented reality (AR) to help you visualize your drawing before and during the process, so you can know exactly where to place your pencil or drawing tool.
There's a choice between AR and Classic mode, and even a library of community-added images that you can draw on included in the free plan. The free options are useful, though limited.
Da Vinci Eye Pro costs $29.99 per year, with a 7-day free trial, but the skills you’ll learn are invaluable and definitely worth the cost if you want to improve your drawing toolkit. The hardest part about using Da Vinci Eye is finding something to balance your iPad on if you don’t have an iPad stand or tripod.
Download: Da Vinci Eye (Free, in-app purchases available)
6. Sketchbook
Sketchbook is an app that lets you explore an infinite number of artistic mediums without leaving your iPad screen. It has an extensive free tier, and the premium package costs just $1.99. Sketchbook is the iPad version of the iconic desktop tool, Sketchbook Pro.
I can create captivating paint strokes, textured chalk or charcoal drawings, and very detailed drawings using Sketchbook. I really enjoy having access to so many mediums, and the results are so realistic, it feels like traditional tools are being used.
Although it doesn't offer vector art, Sketchbook is the perfect choice for anyone who loves to draw and create and doesn't want to bring dozens of paints, brushes, books, or papers with them.
Download: Sketchbook (Free, in-app purchases available)
7. Infinite Painter
Infinite Painter was the first art-based app I downloaded to my iPad Pro before purchasing Procreate. It’s free — with a small one-time upgrade for additional editing features — and offers a variety of digital art media, resulting in realistic textures and patterns that mimic traditional art.
Along with a paper screen protector and your choice of Apple Pencil, you can create stunning hand-drawn art using media like charcoal, watercolor, or graphite.
In the free tools, you can draw or paint with a wide range of media, use the pattern tool to create repeating patterns as you draw, and create layers using the Layers panel. Using Infinite Painter is a good option for creating patterns with it, and I recommend using it in conjunction with my tips for pattern designers.
to download: Infinite Painter (Free, in-app purchases available)
With so many different app options, using your iPad with an Apple Pencil gives you so many different ways to improve your drawing and art skills. You don’t have to go all-in on digital art when using your iPad, and you don’t have to spend a fortune on apps if you don’t want to. I’ve grown more confident drawing with these apps and would recommend them to anyone who wants to do the same. Now you can see which Apple Pencil model should you buy for your iPad?
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