10 Best Drawing Apps for iPad For Graphic Designers

The best drawing apps for iPad enable you to sketch and create digital art wherever and whenever inspiration strikes. The iPad’s touchscreen is an excellent canvas.

If you’re doing digital art, you’ll need digital drawing apps. Whether you’re a novice wishing to experiment with digital art or an established artist searching for more accurate tools, various applications are available to meet your creative demands.

1. Procreate – One Of The Best Drawing Apps For iPad

You’ve probably heard about Procreate. This is one of the best drawing apps for iPad, which has taken the digital art world by storm with its various functionalities, dynamic interface, and 3D painting capabilities.

Their unique graphics engine has evolved. Procreate’s brush collection is one of the most extensive, with over 100 brushes available. This is just one of the many elements that will help you survive and achieve as an artist when using the software.

In addition, if you can’t find a brush that meets your demands, you can always import or make your own brushes from other creative artists to add texture and personality to your work.

Features:

• Extensive Brush Library: It has a brush library with over 130 brushes ranging from pencils and inks to textures and charcoal. You may also develop and import custom brushes to match your style.

• Advanced Layer System: Procreate’s capacity to create and maintain several layers enables complex compositions and non-destructive editing.

• Animation Assist: This allows artists to create frame-by-frame animations, which add a dynamic element to their artwork.

• QuickShape: Create flawless forms easily by keeping your pen down after drawing a line and converting it into a smooth, geometric shape.

• 3D model painting: Procreate allows you to paint 3D models with specific texture brushes and preview them in physical space via augmented reality.

• Custom gestures: Use the Quick Actions menu and specialized gestures to create a personalized, simplified experience.

Pricing: One-time payment of $12.99

Check out these 10 Graphic Design Memes to Brighten Your Day

2. Inspire Pro

Inspire Pro has one of the App Store’s fastest and most realistic rendering engines. This means creatives can have an amazingly fluid and natural sketching experience on their iPads. It also has many accurate, configurable brushes and workflow improvements.

The brushes are particularly unique due to their dual-texture stacking. This allows you to dynamically and concurrently render two textures using the Sorcery brush engine.

Features:

• Brushes with dynamic dual textures: The dual texture qualities of your brushes will give them a lot of individuality and substance.

• Individual brush rotation and size adjustment: The brushes may be precisely sized and rotated for optimal effects.

• Quickly change settings: Quick Change allows you to access your brush parameters, making your production faster rapidly.

• Extensive library of brushes: It has a large library, ranging from oil to spray paint and other high-quality tools.

• Smooth experience: The Apple Pencil fully utilizes the hardware’s capabilities, resulting in a soft and responsive experience.

Pricing: One-time payment of $9.99.

If you’re creating a logo, use these 11 Creative Photography Logo Ideas To Try In 2024

3. Adobe Fresco

Adobe Fresco is a good choice for experienced artists because it has several complex capabilities, such as vector and raster brushes, which are ideal for intricate drawings and scalable designs.

This option, among the best drawing apps for iPad, has many exciting features that will immediately make you feel like an expert, especially if you’re already familiar with the Adobe program suite on the desktop.

Features:

• Capabilities include vector and raster: Open your Adobe Fresco files in Illustrator or Photoshop on the iPad or PC.

• Live brushes: Create on a digital canvas using realistic watercolor and oil brushes.

• Motion and route animations: Ideal for transforming your artwork with animation and motion in an easy-to-understand manner.

Pricing: It’s a freemium app. Pro features start at $9.99/month.

Learn the Difference Between JPEG and PNG Files – Which One To Choose

4. SketchBook By Autodesk – iPad Sketching App

SketchBook by Autodesk is another one of the best drawing apps for iPad among digital artists. It enables you to create in a manner that seems true to traditional materials.

This is mirrored in the brushes, which have sophisticated customization possibilities. With over 15 brush categories to choose from, this is more than just a sketching app. Artists like Sketchbook for its professional-grade features and highly customizable tools.

Features:

• Professional-Grade Tools: SketchBook includes various drawing tools, such as pencils, markers, and airbrushes.

• Predictive Stroke: This function smoothes out lines and corrects curves, making it easier to produce a polished finish.

• Unlimited Layers: Artists may use many layers and blending modes to create intricate compositions.

• Customizable Brushes: Customize your brushes to meet your demands and store them for later use.

Pricing: It’s a freemium app. The premium bundle cost $1.99

Learn about the Negative Space Art: A Powerful Tool for Depth and Design

5. Affinity Designer 2

Affinity Designer 2 is a professional vector graphics tool for iOS and Windows. It is well-known for its speed, especially with huge files, and includes various tools for vector and raster workflows.

Affinity Designer supports CMYK and RGB and includes a comprehensive Pantone library in the color swatch panel, making it suitable for producing digital and printed graphics.

If you’ve already used similar iPad sketching applications, such as Adobe Illustrator, the UI will probably be more straightforward to manage.

Features:

• Vector brush tool: Adds a distinct textural feel to your vector brushes.

• Capabilities include vector and raster: You may combine both creation methods in the same item.

• Advanced Grid and Snapping: Make accurate designs with configurable grids and snapping options.

• Layer effect: In addition to mix modes, you may enhance your work with effects like 3D, Bevel/Emboss, Glows, and more.

• Non-destructive Editing: Apply tweaks and effects without permanently affecting the source image.

Pricing: A one-time payment of $18.49 is required after the trial ends.

Check out this Effective Design Guide: 14 Tips for Non-Designers To Get Kick Started

6. ArtRage

ArtRage is an app that aims to recreate the appearance and feel of genuine wet paint, whether using watercolor, oil, or acrylic, so your mixes and stroke interactions will seem authentic.

You may fill your brush with paint and spread it around with excitement or combine colors on the canvas, and ArtRage Vitae does an excellent job of simulating real-world paints. The app’s toolbar shows each art supply in 3D, including a palette knife and paint roller.

With infinite undo and redo options, you’ll never have to worry about creating a mess or a mistake again.

Features:

• Realistic paint brushes: Experience the realistic feel of wet paint on your iPad.

• Third-party stylus support: Select from a variety of compatible styluses.

• Wet and dry paper effects: Simulate dry and wet paper to alter the appearance of your paint strokes on your painting.

• Realistic instruments: Model real-world instruments such as oil paints, watercolors, and pastels.

• Texture and Canvas Settings: Customize your canvas with different textures and settings to improve your painting experience.

• Layers and Blending Modes: Combine layers and blending modes to create intricate compositions.

• Reference Images: Import reference pictures to help with your artwork.

Pricing: A one-time payment of $2.99 is required.

Learn about Color Theory in Graphic Design

7. Clip Studio Paint

Clip Studio Paint is ideal for drawing comics and manga and creating other types of digital art. It’s also one of the few sketching applications for iPad that recreates the sensation of conventional drawing in digital form, making it ideal for producing drawings and sketches on the fly.

You’ll feel at ease exploring the iPad app’s toolbar at the top of the screen. This is ideal for artists who are comfortable working with desktop art applications such as Adobe Photoshop.

Features:

• Animation timeline and tools: Advanced animation features enable you to bring your designs to life.

• Raster and vector brushes: Use textured pixels or sleek, smooth vectors on the same page.

• Classic desktop UI: You’ll like the desktop document arrangement like working on a PC.

• 3D modeling support: Clip Studio Paint includes over 100 models for you to utilize.

• Comic Creation Tools: Clip Studio Paint’s panel layouts, speech bubbles, and 3D models make it easier to create comics.

• Extensive Brush Collection: Select from thousands of brushes or design your own to obtain the desired look.

• Vector Layers: Use vector layers to create accurate lines and make quick modifications.

Pricing: Clip Studio offers two monthly subscription plans. The EX monthly plan starts at $9.69, while the PRO monthly plan starts at $4.89.

Get more information on colors from these 5 Websites for Finding Color Mix Inspiration

8. ArtStudio – One Of The Best Drawing Apps For iPad

Artstudio Pro offers sketching, animation, and picture editing skills. You may tailor the program to your needs, from brush preference to toolbar tool selection.

New and enhanced tools include 27 blending modes, over 100 built-in brushes, and the ability to import any file format, including ABL brushes. The software also has complex capabilities, such as variable canvas sizes and high-resolution exports, making it ideal for elaborate artwork and professional projects.

Features:

• Favorite brush menu: Keep your most often used brushes organized in an easily accessible favorites panel.

• Frame-by-frame animation: Insert items into your page to generate animations you can preview.

• Light picture editing features: The ability to change and retouch photographs using tools such as burn and clone.

Pricing: It’s a freemium app with a yearly Subscription of $6.99 and a Lifetime License for $29.99.

Check out some of the Best Adobe Illustrator Alternatives For Every Need

9. Art Set 4

This is one of the most realistic and simple programs you can use. It offers high-quality, realistic paper textures and an outstanding brush collection.

Art Set 4 offers an easy-to-use interface with hyper-realistic sketching and painting tools, so you can see how your watercolor paint flows and runs as you use it. Your toolset’s presentation is visually appealing and does not rely on deciphering icons to determine which tool to utilize. Colors are simple to pick up and modify and are mirrored in your toolset.

Features:

• Realistic, conventional toolset: Beautiful brushes and equipment that seem to belong in an art studio.

• Clean, simple interface: You’ll be presented with a huge canvas, and your tools are conveniently located in your screen’s bottom and top corners.

• Document History: Return your document to its prior version or condition.

Pricing: It’s a freemium app. A one-time payment of $12.99 is required to unlock all other features.

Also, check out Top 5 iPad Apps Any Graphic Designer Should Have

10. Brushes Redux Drawing App For iPad

The legendary artist David Hockney uses this iPad sketching application to create artwork. Brushes Redux is a simple drawing and painting program designed for artists looking for a contemporary painting experience with unique brush control. You can also build your own brushes within the software to give your work a more distinctive appearance and feel.

Features:

• Unique brush editing: You may create new brushes using preloaded shape presets within the software.

• Time-lapse recording: A time-lapse replay of your artwork allows you to see how it was created.

• Extensive UI: The tools onscreen are modest, but when selected, they appear huge for quick modifications.

Pricing: It’s a free app.

Graphic designers love these 11 Best Free Graphic Design Software

Wrapping Up – The Best Drawing Apps for iPad

There are numerous specialist drawing tablets on the market, but the iPad experience has improved, and many artists use it as their primary digital art tool. The iPad is a versatile device that can be used for general surfing, media, and much more, eliminating the need to purchase a separate device for sketching.

If you want to take your creative journey to the next level, pairing it with the best drawing app for iPad is essential. Whether you like working with pixels or vectors, you’ll be prepared to follow your imagination wherever it leads you. As digital art evolves, these iPad sketching applications let artists bring their thoughts to life with simplicity and accuracy.

Did you find this post insightful? Check out more amazing content for graphic designers on our blog.