At we have already devoted several articles to recommending tablets and accessories for creatives. And although we had already commented briefly on tablet drawing appswe have thought of delving into the characteristics and advantages that each one offers.
Since there are so many options on Google Play, it’s not surprising that it’s hard for you to find the app that best suits your needs, device, and creative aspirations. In this guide, we’ve rounded up 6 of the best apps currently available on the Play Store, and if you haven’t tried an app before, we’ll tell you what features to expect from this type of software.
What is the best app to draw on a tablet?
Next, we have separated the best applications that are paid, or that offer a minimum of free features, from others that are either completely free, or offer a good amount of free resources and others that are not so necessary for payment.
You can find all these apps on Google Play, although we still leave you the links in the names of each one:
premium apps
Premium applications are undoubtedly the most professional, as they have a large number of tools and possibilities, which make them the choice of artists, illustrators, designers, architects, etc.
If your aspirations with digital drawing are serious, we recommend you opt for one of them:
1. Clip Studio Paint: The best app for drawing on Android, iPad or Windows tablet
Clip Studio Paint
Main features:
- Ideal for: Drawing and character design/ Comic, manga and webtoon/ Animation/ Concept art and painting
- A very varied palette of tools and sub-tools.
- Raster, 3D, vector, gradient, fill, patch layers, etc.
- Dual color variance brushes for realistic color blending (version 2.0).
- Allows import of Photoshop brushes.
- Editing tools and advanced viewing features.
Compatibility: Windows / macOS / iPad / iPhone/ Galaxy / Android / Chromebook
is a drawing and painting application that will allow you to create illustrations, comics, animations and much more on any device, the same on a tablet, mobile phone or computer. The best thing is that you can use the same license to install the program on up to 6 different devices, including Windows, macOS, iPad, iPhone and Android.
This possibility will give you the option of working on your projects anywhere and with the device you prefer. Clip Studio Paint also offers a wide variety of tools and materials to draw and paint naturally and accurately. You can choose from over 10,000 free brushes, textures, patterns, backgrounds and 3D objects, or create your own.
In addition, you will have the possibility to use advanced functions such as stroke stabilization, perspective correction, vectorization and animation.
Pros
- Clean and intuitive interface.
- It has a dark mode to reduce eyestrain.
- Available for Android, Windows and iOS (iPadOS, Mac, iPhone).
- Allows you to configure Palm Rejection.
- The selection tool allows you to rotate, scale, stretch, warp, distort, and skew.
- The undo tool is unlimited.
- Allows you to export to standard or high-quality formats.
- Includes measurement and scale tools for architects and designers.
cons
- To properly take advantage of the app, you must access the paid version.
2. Procreate: The Best Professional iPad Drawing App
If you ask an illustrator who uses digital media about the best software for drawing on a tablet, in more than 80% of cases they will tell you the combination “iPad + Procreate”.
And it is that Procreate, which is available for iPad and iOS, is an application that, although it is paid, offers a wide basic package of brushes, and a variety of very versatile tools. As well as the creation of infinite layers and the possibility of importing images and exporting them in excellent quality.
Its price is 10.99 euros from the App Store.
Pros
- Considered the .
- Creation of layers depending on the resolution of the document.
- Image import.
- Very complete brushes (200 default brushes, categorized in 18 styles).
- Great community on the web and social networks to learn and share resources.
- 100% compatible with the Apple Pencil stylus.
- Supports creating textures using the Texture Generator tool.
- Allows you to import Adobe Photoshop brushes into Procreate.
- It includes the Timelapse function, to share the videos of the work process.
- Allows you to undo up to 100 steps.
- Adds looping animation or GIF creation as of Procreate 5.
- One of the best apps for calligraphy or lettering.
cons
- Only available for iPad and iPhone, although there are alternatives from and .
- If you work in very high resolutions, the number of layers allowed is much less.
- It is paid, although the license does not expire once you have bought the app.
free apps
We have been surprised to find several applications that, despite mostly having sales within the app itself, offer a lot for free. So without delaying any longer, we present them to you one by one:
1. MediBang Paint: Excellent free drawing app for Android
MediBang Paint It seems to us one of the best free drawing tools in this selection, if not the best.
After downloading the application, which by the way is available for both Android and iOS, Mac and Windows 10, we will have software that is not only reduced to the creation of comics and manga, as can be suggested by the art that users and tutors upload to the networks. But it is also an excellent option for drawing and illustrating.
On the MediBang website you will find about 80 free download brushes that will be automatically loaded into the app. In addition, you can buy others on the same page (although the prices are in yen -the app is Japanese-).
The app also includes a social network called ARTstreet where tutorials, contests, raffles, etc. are shared. everything related to creation using this tool.
The app is completely free, and it does not set limits for the creation and modification of layers. You can also undo your strokes and actions infinitely. The geometric selection tool, free or with magic wand, is very versatile, and when you copy and paste an area of the drawing, it is pasted on a new layer.
Pros
- Infinite layer creation, with adjustments such as opacity level, transformation of its elements, etc.
- It has pressure support for Wacom styluses.
- Images can be imported in MDP (MediBang format), .jpg, .png, .bmp, .gif, .psd, .tif, and .webp.
- Export in MDP, .png, .jpg, .bmp, .psd, .tif, and .webp.
- It provides lots of free pre-designed brushes, tones and backgrounds to use.
- Allows you to enable multi-touch gestures.
- It is optimized for creating comics.
- Allows you to create custom palettes.
- Provides the option to store your work in the cloud.
cons
- It presents errors when logging in, which is essential for downloading resources from the Internet.
- The app “Backup” your progress, but if you are online you can close the app and you will lose your progress.
2. Krita: Cool app for drawing on Windows tablet
Krita It is a free and open source software, which specializes in painting works, comics, illustration, etc. It is an easy-to-use app that is compatible with Mac, Linux, Apple, and Windows.
It is currently in the beta phase in the Play Store, so you can have it on your tablet, although we recommend it for tablets 10 inches and up. Well, the interface is not yet adapted for small screens, and it can be uncomfortable to use.
It includes more than 100 brushes, and if you don’t find the ones you want among those available, you can import them from Photoshop.
Pros
- Very similar to Photoshop but with a focus on professional illustration.
- Totally free, and the resources that are shared in the Krita online community are also free.
- Allows you to import Photoshop brushes.
- Supports selecting the color palette in RGB or in CMYK (essential if you print your work).
- It has support for .svg files and allows you to create shapes using vectors.
- Allows you to edit photos.
- You can create infinite layers, group them in folders, delete them, change the order, etc.
cons
- It is not available for iPhone, iPad or outdated versions of Android (we have tested it on Android 10 and Android 8, but it does not work on Android 5).
- The app interface is not adapted for small screens.
3. ibisPaint X: The best minimalist app
One of the apps that closely follows the rest of this selection is ibisPaint X. It is compatible with Android and iOS, and it is very complete in its free version compared to others in the Play Store. There is also a paid version that does not have the X and has many more features.
In the free version you can choose from a variety of professional brushes, colors and tools. It allows you to create and manage countless layers at will and play with different blending modes. It includes the tools of magic wand, gradient fill, etc.
Its download and basic use (quite complete to tell the truth) are free. But we recommend you opt for the paid version if you want to fully exploit its potential.
Pros
- It has a large number of brushes and textures.
- Advanced tools similar to those of the desktop version.
- Clean and intuitive interface.
- Allows you to import from the gallery for free.
- You can create as many layers as you want and move them around.
- Includes filters to blur, degrade, etc.
cons
- You must become a Prime subscription to remove ads and unlock Prime fonts and materials, as well as map filters, clouds, curve, etc.
Find the ideal tablet to use with these applications HERE:
What features do the best tablet drawing programs have?
If you’re already familiar with digital art, you may be familiar with (or at least heard of) the tools in the Adobe suite, such as Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator Draw.
The problem is that these tools have a learning curve, which is accentuated to a certain extent in their versions for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. However, there are many other more intuitive alternatives aimed at getting the most out of the combination of stylus and tablet.
However, there are many very limited basic drawing apps, full of ads and internal purchases, which are not worth investing in. Instead, a good drawing application should allow:
Multi Layer Creation
Layers in a digital drawing allow a process similar to drawing with pencil and paper, in the sense that you can use one layer to make the structure, then another to…
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