It’s easy to envision a future in which the iPad has replaced pencil and paper; Apple is undoubtedly doing everything possible to make this happen. And thanks to better environmental awareness, almost all tablets today serve much more than just taking notes; the 2020 version of the iPad Pro is proof of this. With this selection of the best drawing apps on iPad Pro, you can quickly design and sketch.
Designed from the ground up with the Apple Pencil in mind, the iPad Pro is a true digital canvas and features a host of drawing apps on the App Store, many of which have already been optimized for the Pro’s extended display and tip Fine of the Pen. Of all of them, the ones that follow are clearly the best.
Paper
Paper has long been one of the best drawing apps for iPad. In addition to having a wide variety of creative functions, the application offers diagramming and note-taking tools.
You can choose from a watercolor brush, a regular or calligraphy pencil, a marker, a pen, an eraser, a paint roller, scissors and a ruler to make your work of art. You can even import or take pictures and mark them with text or drawings. All your creations can be easily shared in Paste , an application for creative teams. Using the Apple Pen and iPad Pro with the app is transparent.
There’s also a subscription-based Pro version that gives you additional features and tools.
Adobe photoshop sketch
Adobe‘s suite of iOS apps works extremely well on iPad Pro, but we will highlight Sketch in particular as our favorite drawing app in this group. You can create expressive drawings and paintings without opening a sketchbook. Artwork can be sent as layered PSD files to Adobe Photoshop CC or resized up to four times in Illustrator CC to print high-resolution copies.
The application includes 14 tools, a digital ruler and some graphic guides. You can also import your own images or photos to work with them. With the Creative Cloud connection, you can send a file to Photoshop CC or Illustrator CC to your PC or share your creations with the Behance creative community.
Zen Brush 2 ($ 3 dollars)
With the support of Apple Pencil, Zen Brush 2 allows you to create a very particular art that focuses on the appearance of the East Asian ink brush. The application allows you to choose from a large collection of backgrounds to display your art or calligraphy. The application also allows you to share your work directly on your Facebook or Twitter account. If you don’t have an iPad Pro or an Apple Pencil, you’ll be happy to know that this app also supports Wacom Intuos and Adonit Jot.
Tayasui Sketches
Tayasui Sketches looks like a very basic thing, but it offers a wide variety of free brushes and a free space to draw. You get a pencil, Rotring, a watercolor brush, a marker and an eraser for free. You can also import photos and it’s really easy to share your sketches on social media or by email.
It’s great for illustration and quick sketches, but it can turn into a professional drawing app with surface pressure, layers, paper types, more brushes, and the ability to resize brushes. It also allows you to try professional features for an hour, so you can decide if it’s worth $ 5. Regardless of whether you pay for the pro package, you can organize your sketches and creations in different notebooks in the app, making it easy to keep track of everything. Thanks to the backup function, you won’t have to worry about losing any job.
Ibis Paint X
Ibis Paint X is an attractive and multifaceted drawing application that offers a variety of tools. It has 1,000 fonts, 312 brushes, 58 filters, 46 screen tones, 27 blending modes, stroke stabilization, symmetry rulers, and radial lines, plus the ability to record drawings. The free, ad-supported version facilitates smooth drawing at up to 120 frames per second (fps) with brush types such as pens, felt-tip pens, digital pens, airbrushes, pencils, flat, fan, oil, charcoal, crayon and seals. The brush parameters present initial / final thickness, initial / final opacity, and initial / final brush angle. Sliders allow you to adjust brush thickness and opacity previews. You can add unlimited layers and set parameters for each one individually, such as opacity, alpha combination, among others. Filters for the latest version include lens blur, hex pixel, square pixel, triangle pixel, ripple, twist, fisheye lens and polar coordinates.
Morpholio Trace
Trace is a design application that allows you to develop ideas as you work through various phases of the design process. Designed for architects, graphic and interior designers, illustrators, and other creative professionals, Trace lets you conceptualize designs by drawing on PDF, maps, photos, drawing sets, and background templates in high resolution with tools, brushes, and pens. An augmented reality perspective finder sets grids in real space. You can draw and measure on any place to scale, vanishing points, mark and share drawings, move the paper as you would with the paper path, in addition to accessing photos from your camera or the cloud. A scale pen gives you smart lines to draw accurately. The basic application is free, but there are several professional subscription alternatives that vary between $ 5 and $ 20 per month.
MediBang Paint
MediBang Paint is a very easy-to-use drawing program that has some similarities to Photoshop, as it allows you to work with layers. This program has a very good brush editor and offers the possibility of adding styles to your layers. As if that were not enough, it has dozens of tools that are also compatible with the fourth generation iPad (0 superior) and iPad Mini 2 (or superior). If you like to draw comics, this application offers you a large number of fonts to get the professional look you want. You can also save your projects locally or in the cloud.
Artrage ($ 5 dollars)
The main idea behind Artrage is to make the paintings as real as possible on the iPad. You can mix the paintings as if you were really manipulating them on a canvas. This app works with layers and if you are familiar with Photoshop you will feel right at home with blending modes. Artrage allows you to save your paintings and drawings on the desktop. It not only has support for the pen, but also for Wacom, Adonit and Pogo styli.
Autodesk Sketchbook
Even if you are not a professional artist, you have probably heard of Sketchbook by Autodesk. It is one of the most popular applications among artists. The distribution in the tools can be imported and exported to Photoshop and the ability to zoom is 2,500 percent, so you can work on the smallest details.
Graphic ($ 9 dollars)
When the iPad Pro was announced, it was said that it would replace your computer. Graphic is like having Adobe Illustrator on your iPad. You can go to your computer and continue drawing there. It comes with different types of brushes and drawing capabilities. If you work in graphic design, you will be amazed with the capabilities of this program for the iPad.
Adobe illustrator draw
Adobe Illustrator Draw is similar to Graphic, allowing you to create designs based on vectors. The difference is that this application is much easier to use and less intimidating in its interface. It is designed to quickly save ideas and work when you are not in front of a computer and to continue when you return to the office.
Inspire Pro ($ 10 dollars)
This application is one of the most intuitive when it comes to drawing. Take advantage of multicore CPU and OpenGL capabilities to quickly draw and render. The application saves your favorite colors so you can access them without problem.
Assembly
Making stickers, icons, and other types of graphics can be a breeze, thanks to Assembly . This wonderful program allows you to create a sharp and professional job in no time, as it has a wide selection of shapes, symbols, layers and stickers.
In addition, you can save your work in high resolution JPG or PNG format, as well as in SVG and PDF vector formats. The app is free, but if you want the package that offers 21 themed shapes, a text engine with 25 custom fonts, the ability to combine fonts, or even import vector images, you’ll have to pay for a Pro subscription that costs $ 3 per week, $ 5 a month or $ 30 a year.
Sketch Club ($ 3 dollars)
Sketch Club offers something unique: the ability to share your masterpiece with a community of artists, read other people’s opinions about your projects, and even find inspiration. The application allows you to create up to 64 layers in total and, likewise, you can build your art on canvas with a resolution of up to 4K. To make matters worse, it has a wide selection of brushes and vector tools, it has full support for Apple Pencil and the ability to record in 1080p.
Brushes Redux
Brushes has been available since the Apple iPad was released in 2010 and proved to the world that the device could be a tool for artists.
Since then, the application has grown to be compatible with the iPad Pro. This application is OpenGL compatible and takes advantage of 64-bit processing on the iPad. Furthermore, it is not only very fast, it also has a very simple toolbar and has the typical iOS interface design language, with which iPad users will feel comfortable.
It also has layer support, but — unlike other professional applications — you can only create 10.
Astropad ($ 30 dollars)
Astropad combines your iPad Pro with a Mac and turns your tablet into an almost professional drawing board. This application is aimed at creative professionals who use applications such as Photoshop and Illustrator.
Plus, it’s optimized for the iPad Pro to show improved image quality, a custom pressure curve specifically designed for the Apple Pencil, and tilt support with the stylus.
It also has an advanced stroke setting to remove loose stitches and provide pencil strokes, which means you’ll only see what you’re trying to draw.
It is the ideal drawing app for professional illustrators, comic artists and anyone who has ever wanted a Wacom tablet. Although it costs $ 30, it seems to us that it is very economical when compared to the price of professional drawing boards.
Animation Desk
Although Animation Desk has been around for several years, the latest news is that it is now compatible with Apple Pencil software. As its title suggests, the Animation Desktop (name in Spanish) is an application that goes much more than drawing, because it focuses on animation.
If you decide to opt for the basic application you will not have to pay a penny, but if you want something more specialized you can pay for the most complete package.
Pigment
Pigment is the best application that exists for both adults and children, since it seems that you are working on a book to paint with colors. It is compatible with Apple Pencil and offers more than 200 professional illustrations, along with eight different types of pencils, markers and brushes. Their color choices are limitless and when you’re done with your masterpiece, you can instantly share them with family and friends or print them out to stick on the fridge. Also, it has some paid plugins for those who want more coloring options and designs.
Concepts
Like Animation Desk, Concepts is made to create designs for the home, industry, or whatever you want. The application includes support for infinite layers (or at least the ones you can handle on the iPad) and the possibility of exporting in SVG or CAD formats.
The current version of the app has an excellent 4.6 star rating on the App Store. Like many other apps on this list, it’s free, but offers in-app purchases.
uMake
This application is ideal for modelers and designers who make objects or plans in 3D. With uMake, you can draw in two dimensions on one axis to represent 3D images on iPad Pro. Once you have sketched the design in 2D, you can modify the 3D representation to meet exact specifications. When you’re done, uMake offers the ability to export your creations in PNG, IGES, and OBJ file formats. The app is free, but to get the full feature set, you’ll have to pay $ 10 a month or $ 100 a year.
Pixelmator ($ 5 dollars)
Yes: Pixelmator is not free, but it is a great photo editor that can handle painting and graphic design. From cropping to retouching, from sketch to blending, Pixelmator does it all, and the results speak for themselves. The application includes a large number of tools and pays close attention to how you use your Apple Pencil. In fact, the series of brushes included in the application have full support for the Apple Pencil. Sure, the app costs $ 5, although that entitles you to everything in it.
Procreate ($ 10 dollars)
Procreate is one of the most professional and comprehensive drawing apps on this list, but it will cost you $ 10. It comes equipped with a complete set of drawing tools that expertly mimic a number of real creative implements, such as soft pastels, oil, charcoal, variable-hardness graphite pencils, acrylic, watercolors, and more. Whatever the medium, Procreate’s digital tools will give you the full effect and appearance of the real thing. You can even blur and manipulate your strokes like you would on paper or canvas.
Its 64-bit paint engine, Silica, is incredibly fast and responsive, and with a Pen on iPad Pro, drawing or painting feels natural. You can add a number of layers and decide how high resolution your canvas wants. In the Pro, you can achieve 16K resolution with 64-bit color, and you can export your illustrations as PSD, PNG, or JPG. The application also helps you create a portfolio and share your work.
