Apps Lists April 10, 2012

Apps Lists: Remarkable drawing apps for the iPad experience

by Irina Craciun

The skills of an artist are backed by the drawing tools he has: different types of pencils, chalks, and brushes, the variety of his palette of colors and the type of materials he paints on. But what if the only tool an artist disposes is an iPad with powerful graphics?

The following list integrates popular apps that can help artists, designers, illustrators and even gifted iPad users to create beautiful artworks that simulate the impression of real painting techniques, such as watercolor, oil painting or acrylic.

• Any drawing starts with a sketch. LiveSketch HD introduces one to the basic procedures of drawing by offering you thin and thick pencils and an eraser. It does not have multiple brushes, but you can sure bring out beautiful drawings with this app, especially if you add also a bit of color to your sketch. You can also try SketchClub; it is a more advanced drawing app than LiveSketch that integrates many easy to use tools with multiple drawing and painting functionality. It combines not only various brushes, but also vector tools, smudges and layers.

• I think it’s time you go on to a more diversified palette of colors and watercolors might be your start.  Auryn Ink is the perfect watercolor painting app even for those who are not familiar with the watercolor technique; it simulates the watercolors in an accurate way giving a real-like impression of your work. Adobe Eazel is a more advanced alternative to Auryn Ink. It combines both the “wet” and the “dry” in a pleasant painting technique that can make paintings look beautiful when dubbed by the skills of your fingertips.

• Talent is mandatory in painting, while skills can be achieved by practice. But brushes also can have an impact over your talent. Zen Brush is an app that does not compromise the texture of a real ink brush so use it when in need to feel the joy of drawing with ink on multiple templates. If you want to experience more realistic brushes and paint using various colors and multiple layers, than use Brushes, a toolkit that can help you create beautiful artworks, not only drawings.

• Procreate enables your inner artist to both paint and sketch. It is an advanced sketchbook for artists and for illustrators that cares about the details. It offers precise brush strokes, smudge tools, multiple layers, HSB colors and lots of adjustments for the tools.

• There are other two remarkable apps that artist can use to create digital artworks that look just like the real ones. SketchBook® Pro from Autodesk puts forward a good deal of professional tools for impressive creations, including a large variety of brushes, pencils, pens, markers and colors, dynamic symmetric drawing capability, up to 30 levels of undo and advanced layers. ArtRage is not just the comfortable environment for artists, but the complete workroom. It features multiple color blending modes, unlimited layers, multiple painting tools, such as airbrush, palette knife, oil brush, ink pen, chalk and many others, all of them adjustable and all of them simulating real painting techniques.

• Inspire Pro – Paint, Draw & Sketch is the app that successfully competes with SketchBook and ArtRage and, in my opinion it also successfully wins the competition due to its key feature, namely the simulation of wet oil paint that enables all the possible blending effects. As for the rest, it also integrates all the tools and brushes a professional artist needs.

• Illustrations reach their best when the accurate vector drawing is involved. One of the most featured vector-drawing and illustration app is iDraw. One can create in an easy way complex designs and detailed technical illustrations that look beautiful by using various Boolean path combinations, rulers, pen tools, brushes, pencils, multiple layers and a magnifier loupe and an eraser. Inkpad is a competitive alternative to iDraw that features paths, text, images, masks, gradient fills, unlimited layers and various brushes. Overall, both apps have a high degree of performance and Dropbox integration.

• Just in case all these apps seems too overwhelming for you, than you can stick to the enjoyable Colored Pencils. Choose your colors from a large variety, mix them with the blending tool for a smooth texture and use multiple layers. The result will certainly look artistic.