Top 10 Best Drawing Apps for iPad and iPhone

Top 10 Best Drawing Apps for iPad and iPhone

Whether you want to learn how to draw or get in the mood for something creative, these drawing apps are the perfect way to bring out your inner artist.

With all of the cool stuff you can do on your iPhone and iPad, it's not hard to get lost in the pre-installed apps on these devices. But, sometimes, you wish there were a few different apps to play with.

You may want to add a few of these creative apps to your collection, and you won't regret it.

Are you searching for the best drawing app for iPad or iPhone?

Don't look further because I have a list of the top ten best drawing apps for iPad or iPhone that you can download right now. So, check out my top 10 list of best drawing apps and choose your favourite one.

Best drawing apps for beginners

1 – Procreate

I have been using Procreate for a few years and am familiar with the program and its capabilities. I have also been using it for almost two years, which means I know how to work within its limitations.

Procreate is a great drawing and painting app that is easy to use, but it does not have the features that would make it a viable alternative to the other drawing apps on the market.

An extremely versatile digital illustration tool that's well suited for the novice to the world of digital drawing and designing. Procreate is available for iPad and iOS devices. It costs £10 ($15) to download, and its spacious suite of art tools and innovative features make it well worth the money. 

The app is easy to use, whether you are a designer or an experienced digital artist. Whether you are a beginner in digital drawing or a seasoned professional, the app has everything you need to create beautiful artwork.

For a touch of elegance, you can customise the gesture controls on your iPad to immediately populate cut-and-paste options when you place four fingers on the screen.

If you're looking for a creative app to help you express yourself, you'll want to download Procreate. 

With over 150 tools to choose from, there's something for everyone. You can explore airbrushing, calligraphy, charcoal, and spray paint from sketching to painting. 

Whether you're looking for basic sketching or want to take things to the next level, you can choose from seven different pencils and three different pastel textures. It's great that there are so many brushes in Procreate.

2 – Affinity Photo

Affinity Photo has rapidly emerged as a powerful tool for digital and graphic designers, offering various features that enhance creativity and precision.

Impressive Zoom Capabilities

One standout feature of Affinity Photo is its unparalleled zoom capability. Designers can dive deep into their work with zoom levels reaching as much as 1,000,000%. This allows for meticulous attention to detail that is hard to match with other software.

Handling Complex Projects

The software also excels at managing complex projects. It supports importing high-resolution images without compromising performance, allowing designers to work with intricate designs effortlessly. Moreover, Affinity Photo can handle thousands of objects on a single canvas, making it suitable for detailed and compound project work.

Creative Tools

A range of creative tools is at the user's disposal to foster innovation and artistry. Whether you are crafting detailed illustrations or manipulating photographs, Affinity Photo provides versatile tools designed to serve professional and hobbyist designers alike. However, despite its robust functionality, there is a learning curve involved. Beginners might find it challenging, but mastering its interface can unlock immense creative potential.

Balancing Performance and Usability

While it offers advanced features, Affinity Photo strikes a balance by ensuring high performance without overburdening system resources. It's a solid choice for those requiring power and flexibility in their design software.

In summary, Affinity Photo equips designers with sophisticated features to meet various design needs, making it a valuable asset for anyone in the digital and graphic design field.

3 – Adobe Illustrator Draw

While the Adobe community has created fantastic artwork in the past with the Illustrator Draw app, they've only got a small selection of pieces available to check out. Still, it's great to see how they're growing their community, and it's certainly worth trying.

And this app can let users create vector graphics that put it over the top. Six brushes are available, each of which can be resized from hairline to paintbrush size.

You can adjust opacity and change colour with a wheel and slider (or use the stock colour themes or themes you've created in Adobe Color CC). A “Colour History” also keeps track of your most recently used colours, which can be useful.

With the Photo Editor, you can draw on top of any photo you have on your device. Whether it be a photo you've taken with your camera or a photo you've downloaded to your device, you can create amazing drawings with your finger.

And if you have a photo you've downloaded from the in-app market, you can also use that. Once you download a photo, you'll see it on the main screen, where you can tap and draw.

If you want a free app that helps you create incredible illustrations, then it's a good choice. Whether a professional illustrator or a budding artist, Adobe Illustrator Draw offers a great selection of tools for creating everything from posters to logos.

Unlike many other apps, Illustrator Draw doesn't have annoying in-app ads. Just download it from the App Store.

4 – Adobe Fresco

This app is easy to use and offers several features that make it easy to create great-looking drawings. The pen tool can save your image, and brushes have a lot of variety.

The subscription fee of $9.99 is a bit high, but the cost is worth the price.

While it's elementary to use, it does lack a range of brushes. It does offer a pack of brushes from the app itself, but you may not find the right ones for your style.

Nonetheless, it's a great way to practice painting and create fantastic artwork yourself.

It's no wonder that Fresco is so popular. The app allows users to draw and paint over the screen with digital watercolours. However, the app's interface has been criticised for being confusing. Users have complained that the app is missing features found in other apps.

5 – Inspire Pro

Inspire Pro is a great way to get started if you're looking for a truly artistic way to express yourself digitally. It's a powerful app that can imitate the stroke of a natural brush or even create a realistic watercolour effect. Sadly, you have to pay to unlock the brushes, and while there's plenty to choose from, the customisation options are limited.

We strongly recommend that you get a fine-tip stylus with this app. You can use a finger, though you don't have as much control. In our experience, a pen-like tool feels more natural.

The interface is clean and intuitive. It also features a variety of tools that allow you to make your work more beautiful and easier to understand.

You can add layers to your drawings to combine multiple images to create the designs you've always wanted. And, if you'd like, you can add text to your images to quickly explain what's going on.

As you use the tools, you'll find that you'll be able to quickly and easily enhance the look of your drawings.

6 – Pixelmator Pro

Pixelmator is an excellent digital painting app, especially if you're looking for an alternative to Photoshop for the Mac. It offers a simple-to-use interface and a broad range of tools to help you edit photos and create beautiful works of art.

In addition to editing tools, the app offers a library of Photoshop-like filters and a selection of brushes that you can use to create custom art. If you want to make your brushes, you can use the Pixelmator Brush Editor.

Pixelmator is a great choice for those who only occasionally need to do graphic design, painting, or photo editing. It's designed to help with a single task at a time, and you can't expect to batch edit dozens of images or work with raw files. However, Pixelmator is a solid choice for those looking to use an app for such things. It's intuitive and well-designed, and the features match those in more expensive apps.

The app is relatively new and has a growing development community. It has a clean user interface, ease of use, and various effects. You can customise the application's functionality by installing other apps. The app also works well with other tools and offers a range of features that other similar apps don't. The app is bug-free and has many valuable tools that work efficiently.

7 – Clip Studio Paint

Professional and Educational Usage

Clip Studio Paint has firmly established itself in professional and educational circles as a top choice for digital art creation. Its powerful features make it ideal for hobbyists and professionals looking to produce high-quality cartoons and comics.

Outstanding Drawing Experience

Users consistently praise the software for its intuitive drawing experience. The application provides a superior tactile feel, closely mimicking traditional drawing methods while enhancing the creative process.

Robust Tools and Features

• Versatile Digital Art Tools: The software has many cartoon and comic creation tools, from specialised brushes to advanced layer management.
• Customisable Brushes and Pens: Artists can fully customise brushes and pens, allowing fine-tuning to match their style and needs better.

Beginner-Friendly Options

Though initially, it might seem daunting to beginners, Clip Studio Paint offers plenty of resources to ease newcomers into digital art. Its user-friendly interface and supportive community make it accessible for artists with minimal experience to create impressive, realistic artwork.

Whether you're an aspiring cartoonist or an experienced comic artist, Clip Studio Paint provides everything you need to bring your visions to life with professional quality. Its blend of powerful functions and user-centric design ensures it's a favourite among creators worldwide.

8 – Krita

Krita is a stellar free option for digital artists, whether you're just starting or have years of experience. Here are some key benefits:

Extensive Toolset

Krita offers various tools and features that cater to various artistic needs. From traditional brushes to innovative new tools, artists can easily find what they need to bring their vision to life.

Customisation Galore

One of Krita's strengths lies in its high customisation options. You can tailor your brushes and textures to your style, creating a unique and personalised drawing experience.

Collaborative Community

Krita's active community enhances its appeal by enabling the sharing of brushes and textures. Artists can effortlessly download resources created by others, enriching their creative toolkit and fostering collaboration.

User-Friendly Features

The software includes numerous features designed to streamline the drawing process. These tools assist in refining your artwork and can significantly improve your creative workflow.

Overall, Krita provides a robust and flexible environment that can adapt to the evolving needs of any digital artist, ensuring that limitations don't hinder creativity.

Best drawing apps for professional designers

9 – Autodesk Sketchbook Pro

It's no secret that SketchBook Pro is a painting and sketching app that enables you to get drawing and painting quickly. Don't be fooled by the name – this is not just a pencil/pen and ink tool; it's a full-blown art studio with a wide array of natural-media painting tools.

The first thing you'll notice about the product is its simple, uncomplicated design. After a while, though, you'll get used to it. You'll forget that it's there. You can customise it to your exact workflow to tailor your preferences and needs.

The paint palette features a collection of tools to help you create various effects and images. It has all the standard tools like brushes and erasers and can edit colours and paint layers.

The colour picker will allow you to select colours from the palette and apply them to any area. You can also use it to select areas of a picture and then add shadows and highlights to specific areas. The shape tool allows you to create a selection easily, and the guides and rulers allow you to make precise lines and measurements.

SketchBook Pro isn't limited to what you can draw. For instance, you can add effects to your drawings or design your brushes. There's no absolute limit to what you can do with SketchBook Pro. The price of £45 isn't bad for the app.

10 – Affinity Designer

Serif Affinity Designer is a highly intuitive program for all types of graphic design. The interface is simple and easy to use. You can easily customise the program to suit your needs. It's easy to start and has many tools to help you create unique designs.

One of the essential features of the new version of Affinity Designer was performance. You can now render documents at 60 frames per second, ten times faster than the previous update.

The increased precision and speed of the program allow it to work effectively on large CAD-related documents, like architectural blueprints or floor plans. Its ability to zoom over one million per cent makes it great for rendering large diagrams and maps.

Affinity Designer is a robust and reliable software that allows you to create 2D and 3D designs for websites, print media, presentations and other mediums.

Although the program has a steep learning curve, the vast number of tutorials and easy-to-follow video lessons should make it a breeze for beginners to master it.

With Affinity Designer, you get a full suite of tools and the ability to create vector graphics. As a result, you can quickly make designs with minimal fuss. In addition, because all your files are saved as vector graphics, you can share them easily with anyone.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Digital Drawing App

Selecting the right digital drawing app can significantly impact your creative process. Here are some critical factors to evaluate:

1. Device Compatibility

• Type of Device: Is your device a tablet, smartphone, or desktop? Ensure the app is compatible with your specific hardware and operating system.
• Touch and Stylus Support: Check if the app supports touch gestures or stylus input, which can enhance your drawing experience.

2. Art Style and Features

• Art Style: Identify your preferred art style. Different apps cater to techniques such as sketching, painting, or vector art.
• Tool Variety: Look for apps that offer a range of brushes, layers, and editing tools suited to your style.

3. Budget Considerations

• Price Range: Determine how much you're willing to spend. Apps range from free versions with essential tools to premium options with extensive features.
• In-App Purchases: Be aware of potential additional costs for unlocking features or buying extra content packs.

4. User Interface and Usability

• Ease of Use: Choose an app with a user-friendly interface that doesn't hinder your workflow.
• Learning Curve: Consider how intuitive the app is. Some may require more time to master than others.

5. Community and Support

• Community Resources: Check if a vibrant community offers tutorials, forums, and asset sharing for your chosen app.
• Customer Support: Ensure there is adequate support available for troubleshooting and learning.

6. File Compatibility and Sharing Options

• File Formats: Look at the app's ability to export files in various formats compatible with other software.
• Cloud Sync and Collaboration: Some apps offer cloud syncing and collaborative features, which can be vital if you work across multiple devices or with teams.

Evaluating these aspects will help you choose a digital drawing app that best meets your creative and technical needs.

Conclusion

There are quite a few drawing apps available for iPhone and iPad. You may consider looking at these 10, including paid and free options.

These apps cover many purposes, including features like voice input, undo/redo, and layer tools.

Whether you're looking to sketch ideas or capture details of your surroundings, these apps can provide the right tools to do the job.

Download the apps on this list, or visit the App Store to browse more!