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There are a ton of drawing apps and art apps out there. We’re here to share the best drawing apps for mobile and desktop for 2018/2019. (And many are free!)

Jan 25, 2012 8 Impressive Vector Drawing Applications on the Mac App Store. The Mac App Store is full of useful little gems for designers, and one area where the marketplace isn’t lacking is in pretty, lightweight alternatives to the Adobe Creative Suite. Jan 07, 2020 In researching the best free apps for the Mac, I started by using Apple's category list. This makes it easier to cover the wide variety of content available. If an app is on the Mac App Store, it is in one of the 21 categories that Apple has listed.

There’s a whole world of cool drawing apps, art apps, sketch apps, and painting apps out there. They make everything from children’s book illustrations to acing your online illustration class work super-easy, allowing you to create cool work that will really make your online illustration portfolio stand out to prospective clients and customers alike.

But what are the best drawing apps? We’ve assembled this list of the most powerful, interesting, and popular drawing apps and art apps on our radar for 2018/2019. Let’s check it out!

Free Drawing Apps

Adobe Illustrator Draw

Drawing rich and vibrant sketches with vector art is rewarding: they look clean, and the art scales seamlessly no matter the size you work at. Adobe Illustrator Draw is a drawing app gem among (not surprising, given that it’s part of the hallowed Adobe family).The interface is intuitive and requires very little learning time, and the UI is clean and responsive. Brush strokes behave as expected, and the interface provides lots of cool features. Plus, as an Adobe product, you can count on great support and regular updates, too.

MediBang Paint

Available, essentially, on every type of device, MediBang Paint is among the best art apps available. It’s lightweight, and handles comic art and manga as beautifully as it does painting, sketching, and digital design. The interface is straightforward and makes the entire package a joy to experiment with. It also sports numerous features that provide control over your brushes and layers. Overall, a solid offering that can give you professional results on a nonexistent budget.

GIMP

If you aren’t able to procure a license for Adobe Cloud but absolutely require something with Photoshop-esque features, GIMP is exactly what you need. It’s been around a long time, too, so it has a wealth of features that are constantly being updated and improved. Some might argue that it is the best free drawing app available due to the advanced feature set. Why not take it for a spin for your next poster design?

iPad Sketch Apps

Procreate

This app turns your iPad into a veritable art studio and offers deadly-sharp color clarity, ultra-responsive stylus control, and exceptionally powerful features, all at a decent price. There’s very little you cannot do with this iPad drawing app, and, considering the affordable pricetag, that’s saying a lot.

iPastels

This free art app for the iPad replicates the look of pastels. It’s simple to use, and, if you haven’t been working with pastels much, might be just what you need as an outlet for something new. It’s one of the simplest Apple Pencil apps you can find, and a good way to get a feel for the device while creating beautiful sketches and paintings in a style that is a refreshing change from the norm.

Zen Brush 2

Offering a unique style unlike anything else on this list, Zen Brush is designed to produce art a la traditional East Asian calligraphy and art. For only a few bucks, you can create astounding pieces in mere moments. This is a niche art program that offers a very specific features that you just don’t see anywhere else in more generalized digital drawing apps.

Pixelmator Pro

Eye-poppingly powerful, this Mac art app offers just about anything you need to create incredible works of art. Whether you need photo retouching, graphic design, painting, vector art, or just something to do quick sketches, you’ll be able to do it here. Considered to be the best drawing app for iPad Pro by many users, the wealth of features is sure to impress and have you making production-quality work in no time, boosting your illustration career to new heights.

Assembly

This is high-quality iPad Pro drawing app is definitely worth checking out. Specializing in logos and icons (using a building-block approach to design), it allows you to create eye-catching graphic designs capable of revitalizing your brand and appealing to clients all over the world.

Graphic

Available on the app store, Graphic is a lightweight, powerful iPhone drawing app that produces vector-based art and is designed to be as simple as possible so that literally anyone can pick up a device and create pleasing artwork. It works on iOS on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, which lets you take your work virtually anywhere. While it has a $40 price tag, it’s justifiable in terms of the quality of work this app can create to help improve your illustration portfolio](https://www.format.com/magazine/resources/illustration/illustration-portfolio-examples-2016) !

Art Set

This great little digital drawing app is offered at the low price of $2.79 and provides a great budget-friendly set of art tools for creating sketches on the go. It’s lightweight and user-friendly—the layout is super-simple, and every feature is so responsive that it feels like a more pro-oriented product. Rather than drowning in features, it keeps things simple and doesn’t bog the user down with extra bells and whistles.

Inkist

If you’re looking through this list for good drawing apps to really whet your appetite for sketching, Inkist is a potent one that can meet all of your needs. It offers a wide array of brush features, layers, blend modes, a simple UI that can be picked up in a few minutes, and fully customizable brushes and tools you usually find in more advanced programs. Inkist also has a unique approach to color blending in place of layers, allowing the artist to build their colors up as if on a canvas.

ArtStudio

Capable of handling just about any type of drawing and sketching you can throw at it, ArtStudio for the iPad offers 450 brushes, multiple-layer support, and dozens of filters. Available on every mobile iOS device, this is a great option among the various painting apps found on the App store.

Brushes Redux

Offering some of the most responsive brushes available thanks to a powerful open-GL engine, it works seamlessly across your various iOS devices. It offers layers, gesture controls, and a variety of painting-specific features, and is a great option for those looking for a sketchpad app without too many extras to bog them down in minutiae.

Pixaki

Pixaki is definitely one of the most cool drawing apps on the list, and is made specifically to create pixel art. It has numerous useful features including a multi-touch interface, layers, animation support, color selection, and custom-palette options. Bonus? It’s quite affordable.

Android Drawing Apps

Infinite Painter

Probably the best drawing app for Android, Infinite Painter will have you pumping out amazing pieces in no time at all. Every brush stroke feels great, and produces the various lines you want. Few other offerings exist on the Android platform that can rival this fantastic product, thanks to its ability to produce quality, professional-looking art in a fresh way.

Sketch Apps

ArtRage

Touted as “natural painting” software, ArtRage is renowned for its amazing quality and realistic painting tools. It’s available on Windows, Android, and iOS, and comes in a Lite version with limited features for those desiring a more basic approach, as well. This is a powerful app for any artist and, without a doubt, one of the best sketch art apps available anywhere.

Autodesk SketchBook

Regarded by many as the best sketchpad app in the world, few would argue this point after trying it out. It features amazingly re

Best Free Vector App For Mac