Top 10 Drawing Apps for iOS and Android

Drawing is one of the most common and fun past times. Nowadays, with the release of new and powerful Android tablets and iPads, you don’t even have to break out your drawing pad and favorite drawing utensils.

There are dozens of drawing apps that allow you to draw digitally and hone your artistic skills. The only problem is, which drawing app to pick? To help you answer that question, we’ve rounded up the best drawing apps for Android and iPad.

Procreate

Procreate is an exclusive iPad app that was built with professionals in mind and works flawlessly with the Apple Pencil. It has an unobtrusive UI and and easy-to-use color picker as well as over 136 brushes.

A few exclusive tools include dual-texture brushes and incredibly responsive smudging tools. You can export your finished masterpiece as PSD, native .procreate, TIFF, transparent PNG, multi-page PDF, and JPEG file formats.

Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer is another well-known app for all of you who want to use iPad and Apple Pencil to create works of art and digital drawings. Affinity Designer supports both CMYK and RGB color formats and comes with a full-blown Pantone library in the swatch panel.

The finished drawing can be exported to a wide variety of formats such as JPG, PNG, PDF and SVG. You will also find more than a 100 brushes, in a variety of styles including paints, pencils, inks, pastels, and gouaches.

Adobe Illustrator Draw

Be sure to check out Adobe Illustrator Draw if you use an Android tablet. Adobe Illustrator Draw has full layer support, much like its desktop counterpart. It also supports zoom up to x64 so you can easily see all the fine details.

The app comes with 5 different pen tips, all of which have various customization features. You can export your work to other devices and open it later in the desktop version of Illustrator or Photoshop. Adobe Illustrator Draw is free and it’s also available as an iPad app.

ArtRage

ArtRage is a full-fledged painting and drawing software that can be used not only on your Windows or Mac computer but also on your Android tablets and iOS devices. The app features a range of tools that will help you create a digital drawing or painting. You will find various canvas presets, brushes, paper options, pencils, crayons, rollers, and pastels.

ArtRage also comes with the ability to create custom brushes and powerful perspective layout tools.

ArtFlow

Voted as one of the Editor’s Choice apps on the Google Play Store, ArtFlow is a powerful drawing app for Android devices. ArtFlow comes with more than 80 brushes, layer features, and layer blending.

Once you’re done with your drawing, you can easily export it to a variety of formats, including JPEG, PNG, and PSD. What’s more if you have an Nvidia device, you’ll have access to Nvidia’s DirectStylus support.

Ibis Paint

If you’re looking for an app that’s easy and fun to use for both kids and adults, look no further than Ibis Paint. With more than 140 brushes, numerous filters, various blending modes, clipping mask features, and the ability to record your drawing process, this app is definitely worth checking out.

On top of the above features, Ibis Paint offers stroke stabilization feature and various ruler features.

LayerPaint HD

LayerPaint HD is another Android app that has plenty of features to create beautiful digital drawings. The app has a ton of features, however, the most notables ones are pen pressure support, layer features, and the ability to export your work as PSD so you can finish it off in Photoshop if you so desire.

In addition to that, LayerPaint HD comes with full support for keyboard shortcuts which makes your digital drawing process even easier.

Linea Sketch

Linea Sketch is an easy to use iPad drawing app that allows you to draw as well as take handwritten notes. The app is optimized for Apple pencil. What makes it standout from the others, is the ability to help you create the perfect circle and other shapes and automatically recommends matching colors for the shades you’re already using.

Other features include layer support, split screen, and exporting your projects as PSD, JPG, or PNG files.

MediBang Paint

MediBang Paint is a free drawing app available for Android, iOS, and PC/Mac computers. The app makes it easy to create drawings and comic books and is packed with features such as brushes, fonts, premade backgrounds, and other resources.

What’s more, the app has a vibrant community so there are plenty of resources and tutorials online that will help you learn the ropes quickly.

Autodesk SketchBook

Autodesk SketchBook used to be a paid app but is now completely free to download and use on both Android and iOS devices. The app has a simple user interface and comes with dozens of various brushes, intuitive gestures, and includes the exclusive Copic® Color Library.

The app also lets you export your work as JPG, PNG, BMP, TIFF, and PSD. Lastly, Autodesk SketchBook has full support for layer features.

Featured image via Unsplash.

Brenda Stokes Barron

Brenda Barron is a writer from southern California specializing in business and technology. Read more about what she’s up to on her site Digital Inkwell.