5 best drawing and painting apps in 2023

The best drawing and painting apps offer a wide range of features and tools to help you create beautiful works of art. Whether you‘re a professional artist or just starting out, these apps can help you take your drawing and painting skills to the next level. Adobe Photoshop Sketch is a powerful iOS and Android app for creating digital art. It offers a wide selection of brushes and tools, allowing you to customize your artwork and create something truly unique.

You can also work in layers, adjust colors and apply effects, making it a great choice for creating digital paintings. Autodesk SketchBook is another powerful app, with a range of tools for creating digital art. It offers a clean, intuitive interface and a huge selection of brushes, tools, and effects. It also offers an extensive library of tutorials, so you can learn new techniques and gain inspiration from other artists. Procreate is a popular iOS app for creating digital art. It has a wide range of brushes and tools, and you can work in layers, adjust colors, and apply effects. You can also save your work as a PSD, PNG, or PDF, making it easy to share your artwork with others.

1. Procreate:

Procreate is an amazing app that is perfect for creating digital artwork. It has a wide range of tools and brushes that allow you to create beautiful artworks, either from scratch or from existing photos.

Features

Procreate includes a wide range of features for creating digital art, including:

• Layer-Based Painting & Drawing: Procreate allows you to create multiple layers and easily switch between them for added control over your artwork.
• Brushes: Procreate features a wide range of digital brushes, including natural media, textured brushes, and more. You can also create your own custom brushes.
• Color Palettes & Effects: Procreate includes a wide selection of color palettes and effects, like gradients, glows, blurs, and more.
• Drawing Assistance: Procreate offers several drawing assistance tools, like automatic perspective, vanishing points, and rulers.
• Animation: Procreate’s animation features allow you to create simple animations quickly and easily.
  Export Options: Procreate supports a variety of export options, including PNG, JPEG, PDF, and more.

2. Adobe Fresco:

Adobe Fresco is another great drawing and painting app that has a lot of tools and features for creating digital artwork. It allows you to work both on vector and raster art, as well as use realistic brushes to create detailed paintings.

Features

• Live Brushes: Leverage the power of Adobe Sensei AI to create custom brushes that react and respond to your touch.
• Vector and raster brushes: Create detailed artwork with vector brushes and achieve a painterly look with raster brushes.
• Multi-touch gestures: Use multi-touch gestures like pinch, zoom, spin, and rotate to quickly transform your artwork.
• Layer blend modes: Blend layers together to create stunning effects.
• Layers and groups: Organize your artwork with layers and groups.
• Symmetry mode: Create symmetrical artwork with just a few taps.
• Drawing guides: Use drawing guides to help you create perfect shapes and align objects.
• Color and swatches: Create custom color palettes and save them as swatches for later use.
• Animated brushes: Create stunning animations with animated brushes.
• Adobe Capture integration: Use Adobe Capture to create custom brushes from photos or scan drawings.
• Adobe Stock integration: Search and access millions of royalty-free images, videos, and templates from Adobe Stock.
• Integration with Adobe Creative Cloud: Easily sync your artwork across all your devices and share with the world.

3. Autodesk SketchBook:

Autodesk SketchBook is a great app for sketching and drawing. It has a wide range of tools, including pencils and markers, as well as a variety of features such as layers and masking.

Features

• Drawing and Painting Tools: Autodesk SketchBook provides a wide range of professional-grade drawing and painting tools, including pencils, markers, paints, erasers, brushes, and more.
• Layer Support: Create complex drawings with multiple layers and blend them together to create a unique look.
• Symmetry Modes: Create symmetrical patterns and shapes with the Symmetry tools.
• Dynamic Perspective: Use the Perspective Guides to draw in a 3D environment.
• Customizable User Interface: Customize the user interface to fit your workflow.
• Customizable Brush Library: Create custom brushes and palettes to fit your style.
• Color Palettes: Create and save color palettes to use in your artwork.
• Annotations: Add notes and annotations to your drawings with the Annotation tools.
• Export Options: Export your artwork to a variety of file formats for sharing and printing.

4. ArtRage:

ArtRage is a great app for creating digital paintings with a realistic effect. It has a wide range of tools, such as oils, pastels, and watercolors, as well as different brushes and effects.

Features

• Realistic Paint Effects: ArtRage mimics the look and feel of traditional media, including pastels, oils, watercolors, and pencils.
• Customizable Brushes: ArtRage allows you to customize the size and shape of your brushes, as well as the amount of paint and pressure used.
• Symmetry Tools: ArtRage offers several symmetry tools that make it easy to create symmetrical images or patterns.
• Layers and Layer Effects: ArtRage allows you to work on multiple layers, each with its own set of effects.
• Image Tracing: ArtRage includes a powerful image tracing feature that makes it easy to create vector graphics.
• Color Sampling and Palettes: ArtRage allows you to quickly sample and save colors and create dynamic color palettes.
• Stencils and Rulers: ArtRage includes several useful stencils and rulers to help you create precise shapes and lines.
• Tools for Creating 3D Objects: ArtRage includes tools for creating 3D objects, such as cubes, pyramids, and cylinders.
• Integrated Image Editing: ArtRage includes an integrated image editor that makes it easy to adjust the brightness, contrast, and other image properties.

5. Adobe Photoshop Sketch:

Adobe Photoshop Sketch is a great app for drawing and painting. It has a wide range of tools, such as pencils, markers, and brushes, as well as a variety of effects and filters.

Features

• Pencils, chalks, markers, and brushes
• Color selection wheel
• Work with layers and duplicate layers
• Ability to add text, shapes, and artwork
• Multi-touch gestures
• Pressure sensitivity
• Blend modes
• Canvas rotation
• Ability to import images
• Ability to export images into other Adobe Creative Cloud applications
• Ability to sync projects between devices
• Share projects with other users
• Ability to record and playback drawing sessions
• Symmetry mode
• Perspective grids
• Reference images
• Access to Adobe’s Creative Cloud library of assets and shapes
• Quick access to Adobe Color themes
• Ability to save projects to the Adobe Creative Cloud