Digital drawing – I’m coming for you!

Are you setting yourself up to draw on the tablet for the first time? Here’s the right drawing app to choose for your first drawing endeavors.

If you’re like I was a few years back, all the program info you find when typing “drawing app for iPad” reads like total gibberish. Perfect! Don’t stop reading just yet. You want to draw digitally - meaning on your iPad. You’re in the right place - keep reading! We’ll sort this out.

Maybe you’re the type that effortlessly splosh great artworks onto paper or canvas and now you want to do the same on your iPad. Maybe you’re looking to set up your child to start drawing on the iPad. Maybe you haven’t drawn a day in your life, but you think it could be very cool.

Either way, I would really like to give you a shortcut for making the right choice for you because for me, this journey into digital was a lot of trial and error, testing, figuring out, taking different courses etc. I didn’t feel there was any straightforward way into it and honestly, I can’t even remember when and how I found which and what.

What I do remember was a good bucketful of frustration and confusion that things were not moving as fast as I wanted them to. So let’s try to speed this up for you!

Please bear in mind that this article is entirely my personal opinion based on the programs I’ve tried and worked in – I’m not affiliated with any of the companies behind the different apps. I simply want to create the guide I needed 5-6 years ago. And no, I didn’t set out to try out all the different apps on the market, because the apps I found are working fine for me. So please do add your own research to this. I’ve tried to put a price tag on the programs based on my research here in Asia, but note that the price may be different in your region or will have changed since this article was written.

I’ve divided this article into sections. So if you’re impatient like me, skip my rambling and go straight to the section you prefer by following the links right below. However, if you’d like to follow my line of thought and a semi-chronological order - you can just keep reading. Enjoy.

The (aspiring) Artist’s Guide

The Parent’s Guide

The BauHaus Fan’s Guide

The Animator's Guide

Wait. First things first - you need an iPad - and yes, you DO need the stylus

Please forget about drawing with your finger. Yes, I know that the drawing app people say you can, but for argument's sake let’s try this: Take an analog piece of paper and an analog pencil and try to draw something pretty. Now try to do the same drawing with your finger. Unless you’re an amazing finger artist, you need a pencil - analog or digital - sorry.

Drawing Glove and a paper textured screen cover

I honestly love my drawing glove and my paper textured screen cover for the iPad. They make the drawing experience so much smoother. However, you’re here because you need to move fast and figure out if digital drawing is for you, so let’s skip this for now - I did fine for years without either. So here we are - you have your iPad and your stylus - now what?

Layers baby

So before we start – a quick note as to why you should pursue digital drawing at all. I mean – you’re happy with analog. Why bother? I’ll tell you. Layers baby! And the undo button! And what do I mean by this? All the digital drawing programs give you the option not only to undo your work quicker than you can say “delete” (mostly you just need to tap with two fingers), but also you'll get the option to work with layers. This gives you amazing creative options. You can create an artwork – then add another layer and draw directly on top of your artwork – realize your latest work stinks – and then delete that top layer and make a new one. Easy. The main part of my drawing journey has been the option to throw out half of my crappy work – at the least.

The (aspiring) artist’s guide

I never got pro in analog mediums. I’m simply too impatient in my life to not have an undo function, so my journey started purely in digital mediums. So, I will try to assume that I can meet you where you are if you're a pro in anything but digital. Say, you’re happy (or would be happy) working with different mediums, like watercolor, acrylics, colored pencils or felt pens - anything really - also you like textures? Yes? Ok here goes. Your relevant apps are (drumroll):

Procreate ($12.99 USD – one time purchase)

Weird names aside, Procreate is really the ticket. It comes with a series of good brushes allowing you to paint in everything from pencil to felt tip pens, to convincing watercolor and acrylics. And you always have the option to buy and import brushes or create your own. Also, you can work with textures as the basis of your artworks and you have various options to create different effects such as blurs, grain, etc.

Procreate is great for you as a beginner to digital drawing. Its simple interface makes it pretty quick to understand and start drawing quite soon, and in my opinion, it has everything you need.

Affinity Designer ($22 USD – one time purchase)

From the beginning, you get the impression that you get more program options in Affinity Designer if compared with Procreate. This is true. There are more options for professional drawing and editing in Affinity Designer. One key difference is the ability to work in both pixels and vector in this program. Let me see if I can explain the difference between pixels and vector real quick:

(Working in Pixels and working in Vector)

Imagine a photo. You zoom in and the more you zoom in, the more pixelated it becomes and in the end you’ll see a lot of squares in different colors that all make up the total picture – this is what working in pixels is like – you splosh it on there – it sticks forever – pixelated or not depending on your level of zoom. When working in vector you will not see these little squares – instead, you can zoom in indefinitely and your work will not look pixelated at any point. Another hoot about vector is that you can edit your line work after you put it on your canvas. Also, you may take advantage of the option to work with some predefined geometric forms – wuhu.

The interesting part about Affinity Designer is that you are actually able to paint watercolor/acrylics/pencil looks but in vector. This is a really good option if you for instance need to make big prints of your work while avoiding pixelation. Also, you will be able to move around your strokes after you make them and this opens up some great artistic options for editing your work. With Affinity Designer you also have the option to import or create your own brushes and import premade brushes. After editing options and integrations with other graphic programs is also (just a bit) smoother in Affinity Designer.

Affinity Designer might be the better choice for you as an artist if you want even more professional tools and you’re pretty tech-savvy. However, do expect to spend a bit of time understanding and building up your knowledge in the interface. I haven't been able to find as many online tutorials for Affinity Designer for the iPad as I have for Procreate.

The Parent’s Guide

Kiddo wants to draw. And you’re supportive because maybe – just maybe it could get him or her off the YouTube videos for 2 minutes hey. By the way “How To Draw” is another great YouTube activity (like you need more of them).

Here are my preferred drawing apps for the kids.

Procreate ($12.99 USD – one time purchase)

Procreate would be (and is) my choice for the kids. My son who is now 12 has been drawing in Procreate with great enthusiasm for a few years already. The main reason I find Procreate to be a good choice for the kids is its simple interface that means they can get drawing right away. Still, it is advanced enough that your child can keep progressing as they gain more skills. The fact that you only pay a one-time price for the program is also a plus.

The kids can easily find many different brushes, colors, a smudging option, an eraser, etc. You can import pictures to draw on top of or you can set up a reference next to your canvas so you can try to freestyle from a picture. You can flip the artwork or resize it and move it around as needed, and you can create your own color palettes. You can even see a replay of your drawing process.

It's nice that the kids can start out with relatively intuitive and easy drawing options, but seriously, my son is much more tech-savvy than I am already, so the fact that the the app is semi-advanced while still intuitive is a great plus. There are many of the very simple drawing apps out there that just offer pens and paper - more or less - and they do get boring after a short while.

Looom ($9.99 USD – one time purchase)

Note (there are 3 ooo’s in Looom – I know, I couldn’t see the third o for a long time). Actually, Looom is the first app that springs to my mind when I think of kids drawing. However, it is not so much about the drawing as it’s about the interactive experience you can create as Looom is mostly an animation app.

Looom allows you to draw and record fun and quite simple but powerful animated scenes – offering a very limited but cute selection of tools, so it’s really more about getting creative with what you have than having a large toolbox. You need a minute to understand how the simple interface works, but once you get the hang of it there are hours of fun using this program.

Adobe Fresco ($9.99 USD / month)

Ok, so the monthly fee is a bummer, but Adobe Fresco is a fun app and it is a good support for some fun freestyle drawing. Your child can get started relatively easily with great options for advancing later on and getting into play with many cool functionalities.

When getting into more advanced artworks, your child even has the option for creating some fun animations (I do really like Fresco's animation features). Like with Procreate, you can add a picture to draw on top, work in layers and move around your artwork. The key difference between the two programs is the ability to draw in vector – which has many meanings for the pro-artist but for a kid, I gather it would mostly mean that you can draw in a cleaner look and edit your work after you put it on the canvas.

I would probably go with Fresco for a kid like my own, who is older, tech-savvy, and wants to use the app to advance with their drawing – I mean it is $9.99 / month, so if you have a 5-year-old who just wants to play around with some digital paint, I’d go with Procreate and save some money.

The Bauhaus fan’s guide

You love clean and clearly defined crisp color. Collages make you happy, as do geometric shapes and the option to create a perfectly symmetrical wave. Hand-drawing is not your thing - no thank you. However, you will happily combine shapes to create that exact shape you need. Even better – you have all the tools available so that your strokes become perfectly straight arches and so that you can delete any wonky points on your linework that make you unhappy. The hand-drawn look - meh - not so important to you.

These apps would be relevant for you:

Adobe Illustrator for iPad ($9.99 USD / month)

Illustrator for iPad is a simplified version of Illustrator for the computer – fair enough – but it took me a while to figure out that you don't have ALL of the tools handy. That said it is handy that you can work in Illustrator from your iPad.

If you’re a complete novice to vector work, maybe Illustrator for the iPad is an easier way to start learning than going with the computer version. Either way, you need to be a bit tech-savvy and I’d highly recommend hopping straight on a course with, for instance, Udemy or Domestika if you know nothing about this program.

It’s just much easier to get started when you follow someone – and more fun too. And when you’re up and running, you can quickly create and build shapes, make perfectly straight line-work, adjust line thickness, and change color 222 times, work with fun gradients, etc.

If you’ve already got experience with Illustrator, you might be like me and get frustrated with the wonky learning curve in regards to mimicking the functionalities on your computer. However, you should recognize what all the buttons do, so you’ll have a head start. I usually make my basic drawing from the comfort of my sofa and enjoy that freedom – and then I’ll add my needed final effects from the full version on my laptop later.

In sum, I think the Illustrator program for iPad is nice – but I’d highly recommend you to do a tutorial to come up to speed on how it works.

Affinity Designer ($22 USD – one time purchase)

Affinity Designer for the iPad is a lovely alternative to Illustrator, and to me, it is a bit more intuitive. One key difference is that you can work in pixels as well as in vector in this program. You can easily create perfect line work and build shapes, slice up your work, move it around, create fills, gradients, etc. Also, the program has many great editing and effect functions. If you’re into patterns and dream of creating your own down the road, Affinity Designer is great for that type of work.

The Animator's Guide

Who cares about drawing – you want to go straight to creating fun animations. I hear you. While there are many more advanced animations programs out there that surely are amazing (I’m not aiming to challenge all you experienced animators out there), this article is aimed at novices in this field, and therefore I will recommend just a few beginner interfaces for this.

Procreate Dreams ($19.99 USD – one time purchase)

Procreate Dreams is a great tool for making animations and my preferred one along with Procreate. I usually use Procreate Dreams to create fun and quick effects on my drawings to create some more engaging Instagram content. Procreate and Procreate Dreams work seamlessly together, so you can easily import your drawings from Procreate to Procreate Dreams and create stunning animations from the basis of them. However...

You need a good introduction to how the program works, and you need a bit of patience to learn how the different tools and not least principles work. I highly recommend setting aside some time to take a few tutorials and get a good introduction to the app interface and principles. In the beginning, it was not easy finding tutorials on this program, but now they are starting to come out.

Procreate ($12.99 USD – one time purchase)

I did many of my animations in Procreate earlier on and the program has the option of creating fun short videos – for instance with a foreground layer that moves on a background layer that remains static. If you’re new to animation and just want to have a bit of fun, Procreate is a fine option for a bit of play. However there is a reason they created Procreate Dreams to support. Procreate Dreams simply has so many more options and shortcuts to creating stunning animations than Procreate has.

Adobe Fresco ($9.99 USD / month)

I like making my animations in Adobe Fresco, which might be a good middle ground if you are not so keen on investing too much time understanding some of the more advanced options offered in Procreate Dreams. Adobe Fresco gives you the option to work with animation in at least two ways – onion skins – like you know them from Walt Disney and layering one new paper on top of the next to create the movement – but also actually move that set of layers around at the same time to create more movement (which does save you a lot of drawing work). Good option and definitely less advanced than Procreate Dreams.

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That’s it, folks. It really was a surface scratch, but I hope you found it helpful in some way. If you have additional advice for great drawing programs that you think we should know about, please add your description below. It would be great to hear your input and thoughts on what you’ve encountered out there.

As always – have a beautiful day ahead.