In this video, I'm going to show you 10 digital drawing apps for your iPad or tablet. I'm going to show you what each one looks like and then talk through which one would be best for what type of artist. I'll also give you some pros and cons for each one, whether or not they're free or paid, and which operating systems they are for. At the end, I'll show you a little chart with a breakdown of all of them and also give you my Top Choice, so make sure you stick around for that. Alright, first up we have Sketchbook, which is a very versatile app, especially for free. Look at all of these amazing brushes. They even have things like textures that you can easily get started with that are already pre-loaded. You can see you can select them from over here as well. You don't have to download any extra just to have a really good amount of them. And you have a lot of different tools like the Stream flow and how much it's going to correct your stroke like this right.

here if I hold it, it'll just correct it and make it a straight line. Or if I want to draw a circle, and I can just hold it for a second, boom, it makes a circle like that. And it's just extremely easy to use. There's really hardly any lag. You have a similar layer structure with layer tools. You have a color similar to all of the other color tools and other programs, as well as a selection tool that's really nice. And it's just an easy-to-use platform, especially being for free. The layer structure, like I said, is very similar, and there's not a lot too difficult to get into. You can even do text and even draw your word in this text box, tap out, and then boom, it will add your word. And you can go in and do a series of different fonts and things like that. Again, Sketchbook is free to download and available for both Apple and Android devices. So next up, we have the Clip Studio Paint app, which is extremely intense. I was a little overwhelmed. You can see all of these

menus. I'm clicking through, and the layer system looks a lot like Photoshop, and it works a lot of the same way as Photoshop. This is definitely for advanced artists. I couldn't even figure out how to change the brushes until I clicked these other tabs over here on the right, which is completely separate from where the pin icon actually is. But it does feel nice to draw with. You have a variety of different settings you can play with here to get the thickness, and you can also change the size here in the size panel. It's a little bit different than easily just sliding it, but again, this is definitely geared towards more serious professionals. Now, to change the color, you have to double-tap on this icon where the color is. I was tapping it, but you gotta tap it twice. And I mean, it is nice. This is a very robust application. So again, I would not suggest this to beginners, but they do have a very nice catalog of beginning blending brushes, kind of like texture skin brushes, especially for anime and manga art. The selection tool is also really

nice, the layer system works well. Like I said, just in Photoshop. The thing about this, though, is you cannot save without paying. So right now I'm just in the free version. You're gonna definitely want an SSD for this application. It is massive. It's going to take a lot of data, so you want to get one of these portable SSDs. This is a terabyte for about 60 bucks, and I will link it down in the description. So Clip Studio Art is free to try but will cost you a one-time fifty dollar fee. You can use it on your desktop and your tablet, and it's available on both Apple and PC. Next up, we have Tayasui Sketches, which is also extremely powerful, however limited. You see, I tried to add a third layer, and it's already trying to get me to pay. Now, the cost is not that big a deal, but to keep drawing, you will have to keep deleting different layers. But look at all of these awesome brushes and patterns that you can get started with. And one of the features I love is being

able to just draw the area that you want a texture. So, I'm just drawing around the side here, and boom, it just adds like my half tones or my hatch lines or whatever. And they have a series of markers and pens that definitely feel realistic when drawing with them. They feel very nice. There's no lag in the application or anything like that. This is a very powerful free app. All of the benefits and the features are going to come with that extra six dollar investment that you need. Because when you try to go to another pen, when you try to go to another size of something. So, for example, let me click this eraser here. If I try to click another one, I'd have to pay. So, you're only getting the base brush sets where you can change your size and opacity and things like that. But it is an extremely powerful tool to get started with for free. Again, Tayasui Sketches is free to get started with a six dollar Pro Plan, but it's only available for Apple devices. Next up, we have Paper by WeTransfer. Out of all of

the applications. This is definitely I think the worst one so you only get these tools that I'm drawing with down here at the bottom. I have not found a way to change them at all and to access any other additional colors or any other tools. You immediately have to pay, which is going to be twelve dollars for the year, but I do like this ability to add different grids and things to the background. But for twelve dollars, I would suggest just definitely getting procreate or some other app with a lot more ability to do things. See, if I want to add anything, I just can't and it also just doesn't feel super streamlined when drawing. Again, Paper by WeTransfer is free to try out, but you're gonna have to pay that twelve dollars to pretty much do anything and it's only available on Apple devices. So next up we have Art Studio Pro, which definitely has a similar look and vibe to procreate as many different drawing apps do, and this one is going to be a 9.99 for the year or forty dollars one-time purchase to be

able to use all of its different features. Okay, I'm limited in the amount of layers I can do and the functionality in Saving, albeit it does have some pretty cool brushes over here in the top right tab, which I took forever to find. I could not figure out how to change the brushes, but as you can see here, there's a bunch of different cool ones that are pre-loaded in there. But again, if I'm trying to do extra layers, this is what happened. I definitely have to go to the pro version. But again, for 9.99 for the year or 40 time 40 dollars one time, I would much more recommend something like procreate. But there is a lot of cool textures and features and brushes in here that you could get started with for free to test out if this is going to be the best option for you. So real quick before I show you the final five, I wanted to talk about three drawing accessories no matter if you're using an iPad or a tablet or whatever you want.

that I always use. And the first one is this glove. This drawing glove right here has a microfiber cloth here on the side, which is perfect for wiping away dust and crap on your screen. And it's just easy to use, so that you don't make any accidental marks or accidentally delete something. The next one up is the uppercase grip here on the pencil, the Apple Pencil. You can also get these to fit other styluses, and this just makes drawing a lot easier on your hand. That way, you're not holding a very, very hard Apple Pencil. You actually have this silicon around it, which is very, very, very flexible. The last thing would be an SSD, a portable SSD. I love these SanDisk ones right here. You can get an even smaller one that's cheaper and can still do massive amounts of space, but these applications take a lot of data. The more projects that you use for your artwork, so you're definitely going to want to have an external hard drive you can easily plug up to your iPad. All of these

will be linked down in the description for you to check out on Amazon. So, next up is an application called Sketch Pro, which is pretty cool. They do have some pretty cool nice features in here. There doesn't seem to be any lag. I enjoyed drawing around and messing around in it. They have a pretty good catalog of different brushes. However, you are going to have to pay for the Pro version of this to get all of the bells and whistles and the brushes. They also have an AI integration in it as well, which is going to run you forty dollars for the year. I didn't see on any other availability for that. So, with that in mind, for 40 bucks being super steep, again, I'm gonna suggest something like Procreate or Fresco, albeit this does have some redeeming qualities in the simplicity of the UI, which is really nice to use. So, there are a bunch of other cool tools that are normal like the guides, so very consistent to what you might find in other applications, as well as a text tool. It's always nice to

see a text tool in an application like this knowing that you could use and utilize text and different fonts if you want to, as well as different brushes and things like that in as a combination. So this one you can also hold a shape and you can also drag and fill it, which is something that's not in all of the other ones. You have to use the paint fill tool, but this one you can actually draw in it. It will also, if you hold the stroke down, it will also correct things like lines and curves, similar to procreate, which I think is really nice. So again, it's all about what you think is the best value for you. So you can try out Sketch Pro for free, but you'll need to pay the 40 yearly fee to get all of the brushes and features. And this is another one that's only available for Apple devices. Next up, we have Adobe Fresco, which I love using for Vector work. So here we have Vector brushes which make your process super easy if you've started something in

Photoshop, or maybe you've put in an image to trace over, and then you can easily continue working on it in something like Illustrator. You can also do some really neat features like drawing in the lines that you create. You can also change all of the brush settings, so this is a pretty strong Vector drawing tool. Now, you also have live brushes with a series of different styles, as well as pixel brushes if you do want the more procreate pixelated brush style. Now, this is where you're going to get all your cool different brushes. You'd have to start importing brushes for the vector style, and it's really limited. The vector brushes are limited, so you might want to just go ahead and use something like Adobe Illustrator on your iPad. But as you can see here, it's really easy to use. I love using this for vectoring my work. It's super nice. They do have a series of different brushes and things like that, and the layer system is really easy to use. It's not as overwhelming as something like Photoshop, and it's

definitely not as overwhelming as something I showed you at the first, which was the Clip Studio Paint app. There's a lot of features that you're probably used to seeing in Fresco. The only thing is, it's going to run you $9.99 a month. Or if you have the Adobe suite, you can simply just download this on your iPad to start using it. And there's a lot of similar layer actions and tools over here in the right panels that are neatly categorized and easy for you to use. So again, with Fresco, you can either have a Creative Cloud membership and just download the app right away. Or you can pay $9.99 a month to use Fresco, which is available on both Apple and PC devices. One application that is completely free for you to use is Vectornator. Now it is only on your iPad, so it is only for iOS devices, but it is completely free. And you can draw in Vector, which makes this application very exciting and very alluring. Because what you can do is drop in an image, maybe you

drew on paper or something like that, and start vectoring it with Vectornator. So you could easily just draw if as I'm messing around like this um, but you could also like I said just Trace over an image or something like that to get clean Vector lines, which is very important for maybe uh, you know, commission work or logo work or whatever it is that you are working on. Maybe it's a commercialized or a commissioned art piece or something. Now you can also create shapes in here, which is really cool. So you have some similar easy or easy shape Builders like maybe something like Illustrator, but you can also use the pen tool to connect points together if you want to do something like get real precise with your lettering. Of course, my lines are super huge here, but you do have the ability to do a lot with a little. So the tools are simplified here. Now you can go over here into your brush strokes, and you can start changing things like your width that you can change like your Jitter things like there up in the brush settings and this

one is just worth pointing out because it is completely free. Next up, we have Procreate, which is my personal favorite. I use it all the time. I use it for all of my tattoos and commissioned artwork. The layers are nicely structured, and all of the brushes are nicely structured in the brush library. I mean, you could go for days and have so many brushes, and it's still easy to go through them and check them out, especially with the recent brushes category. It's just a lot easier to get started. With all of the actions nicely categorized underneath a series of different tabs here, you can click through as well as exporting and even playing video and animation. You can animate with Procreate, which is extremely powerful. The selection tool is easy enough to use if you want to select one piece. Now, again, I'm on a layer where I just put some dots, or if you want to select the entire thing and move it around, it's easy enough to do. You have a series of settings down there on the bottom, but again, I think this

application is the easiest one to get started with. The bar of Entry is low, and the risk is really low as well. Again, coming in at 12, this is a super easy investment. If you have an iPad, this is iPad only. It is easy to use, and it will be well worth your time learning. Last but not least, we are talking about Concepts. Right at the beginning, it's asking you to subscribe and pay for per month or per year, but we'll get started for free. I actually enjoyed using this app a ton. It prompts you to go through a series of steps in the beginning to make this cater to your style. Like I'm left-handed, so it had a series of settings for left-handed people, which I enjoyed. And then you're basically off to the races. You're easily ready to start concepting and note-taking or whatever it is that you're trying to do. Change your artboard size or style over here, and this wheel up here in the top right is where you get all of your tools from, which is really

cool idea. I actually am digging the tool. Um, basically eliminating the need for massive long toolbars or anything like that. Basically, this wheel is where you would go for a home base. Now you can open up your layers down over here on the right, and I can collapse them by hitting the layers panel up at the right. Now I'm limited in my layers because I don't have the pro version, but look at this awesome color wheel. You can turn around it. It is really neat. I would definitely suggest grabbing this app to play around with it. First, I can definitely see concept artists using this application. It is extremely powerful, especially if you're going to do something like character design or maybe architecture, or maybe you're a fashion designer. The amount of free brushes you get is limited, but you can still do a lot with them. You can change the complexity of the brush, which is enough to get started before maybe you want to make that investment, which is five dollars a month or thirty dollars for the year, which is, you know, pretty

much necessary to do anything because if I want to take this select it and move it around I cannot do that unless I upgrade. So here are the apps ranked 0 to 10 in my personal opinion. I give Sketchbook and Procreate a 9 because they are phenomenal apps, but Sketchbook is going to be the overall winner because it is available on both Mac and PC devices. So these apps I am going to suggest for both beginning and professional artists looking to enter into digital art. Concepts, Tayasui, and Fresco are all super strong, but I would suggest these to those that are looking to doodle and maybe a digital format with an endless artboard approach to digital art. With Fresco mainly being ranked 6 out of 10 due to its limited brush library and being slightly more difficult to use for new users, plus it's a bit more pricey than Concepts or Tayasui. Clip Studio I'm giving a 5 because of how robust the app is and how much potential there is for digital art, but it's definitely not a tool for

beginners. So, I only suggest this to the most serious artists or animators. Sketch Pro and Vectornator are both cool but severely limited in what you can do, making the other apps a better choice. And the Paper by WeTransfer application is not worth your time. I'm not honestly not sure why that's a thing, except maybe for kids when their parents just want them to draw on their iPad or something. So let me know down in the comments which of these apps that you'll be trying and which one you think is your favorite. And if you want to see any other tutorials on those apps, definitely let me know in the comments as well. Now, don't forget to like and subscribe to this video. It really helps me out a ton. If you feel like someone would enjoy watching this, please send it to a friend, an artist that might be interested. It would greatly help me out, and I would super appreciate it. So do all that, and I will see you in the next one. Bye. [Music]

Which Drawing App Is Best? (For iPad, Windows, and Android Tablets)

I'm Drew, a faith-based designer with a passion to bring heritage style back into modern design. Focused on the use of vintage inspiration for fonts, lettering, illustration, photography and other useful tools to help us create stunning, hand-crafted work.

I use YouTube to share my design process, tips, and tutorials using design tools and software to help build the community of aspiring designers. I also share rare antique finds for work inspiration, as well as some of the best priced stuff to look out for.

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Which Drawing App Is Best? (For iPad, Windows, and Android Tablets)

Which Drawing App Is Best? (For iPad, Windows, and Android Tablets)

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