One of the best uses of the iPad, in my opinion, is for digital art. The iPad (unlike dedicated digital art tablets) is an artist’s palette, a web browser, a word processor, a library, and an arcade all in one device. Several sketching/painting apps for the iPad are available in the App Store, and this review will cover three of the most popular ones: ArtStudio, Brushes, and SketchbookPro.
First, a disclaimer: I am not a professional artist, nor, really, even an amateur one. Basically, I can draw eyeballs and horses (yeah, don’t ask). But the nice thing about digital art is that even a less-than-skilled person like me can do amazing art on an iPad. The undo feature is priceless (none of that horrible eraser dust or indelible pencil lines) and, even better, the zoom feature lets you focus in on details in a way you simply can’t on a real canvas.
The three art apps I’m reviewing for you all have their pros and cons. I’ll discuss each one individually, post examples of the art I’ve created on each, and discuss each app’s advantages and disadvantages. I’ve also created a chart that compares and contrasts the three applications.
ArtStudio for iPad by Lucky Clan Software.ArtStudio Overview
Of the three art applications considered in this review, ArtStudio is by far the least expensive. It boasts some features that Brushes and Sketchbook Pro (both more expensive) lack. While certainly not as full-featured as Sketchbook Pro, ArtStudio holds its own as a rich art application for the iPad. It offers all the features you would expect in a more expensive app, including layers, import/export, multiple brushes, an eyedropper tool, and a sophisticated color palette. In addition, ArtStudio provides filters (something the other apps do not include) and in-app art lessons.
Interface:
ArtStudio’s interface is easy to understand and use. When you add a new canvas, you are presented with a choice of canvas sizes: 1024 x 768; 1024 x 1024; 768 x 768. Once you choose your canvas, you have a nice blank screen upon which to create. To access the main toolbar (which appears at the bottom of the screen), you simply press the arrow button on the lower right.
ArtStudio Toolbars
The main toolbar offers the following functions: brushes, color palette, layers, filters, import/export/save options, settings, and lessons. When you press the tools button, another menu appears vertically along the left side of the screen. Here you can choose between eight tools—a pencil, a paint pencil, a paintbrush, an airbrush, a tube of paint, textures, an eraser, a blur tool (which is really good), and bucket fill. If you press and hold any tool you are presented with advanced features, including additional brush choices, size, opacity, and spacing, and the option to fade out (the stroke begins solid and then fades, providing a sort of simulated pressure sensitivity). In the color palette, you can choose from 36 color swatches and you can configure your own colors by pressing and holding a swatch to reveal an RGB color panel.
ArtStudio offers you five layers per painting, and you can choose the opacity for each layer. If you press and hold the layers button, you are given choices to add, delete, clear, copy, or duplicate layers, or merge and transform layers. The filters button offers several filters (including black/white, sepia, and emboss) to transform your art or imported pictures. You can import photos from your photo library and export art back into your library. In addition you can send your art via email or upload it directly to ArtStudio’s online Flickr gallery.
One unique option in ArtStudio is art lessons. Press on the little mortar board icon and four lesson categories appear: 3D, Animals, Faces, and Human. Each lesson features animated steps illustrating how to draw a particular object. You simply draw over the animated lines to complete the lesson. None of these lessons is particularly impressive, but you do receive some basic instruction on perspective and figure drawing.Art Studio offers an interesting way to access tools quickly. Simply shake the iPad and a menu pops up with choices for brush setting, zoom, fit image to screen, and clear layer. Personally, I haven’t found this feature to be very helpful. Shaking requires two hands for me since the iPad is so heavy. I prefer the quick access features of Sketchbook Pro.
Examples of Art Studio Drawings
Noah's Ark as it is typically portrayed
Noah's Ark as it should be portrayed
ArtStudio Pros and Cons
Pros: ArtStudio boasts a simple (yet feature-filed), user-friendly interface. It has some unique features, including lessons, filters and shake for quick menu. Besides that, its price can’t be beat.
Cons: My main disappointment with ArtStudio is its lack of autosave. I worked for an hour on one of my pieces only to have the app crash while I was using the undo button. I wept. Of course, I got over it, but when using ArtStudio now, I obsessively save my work. This is a pain and I hope they fix it in a future update.
Brushes for iPad by Steve Sprang.Brushes Overview
Brushes was featured in Apple‘s Keynote when the iPad was first announced back in January. It has established itself as one of the premiere art programs for both the iPad and iPhone. It seems quite expensive considering how few brushes it offers in comparison with the other two art apps featured in this review. In addition, it is the only app that (as yet) does not offer a blur tool. Nevertheless, in terms of presentation, Brushes really shines. Its gallery view is fantastic, arranging your art in frames along a virtual wall. Each picture has a label denoting the title of the piece, the artist, and the date created. It’s strangely gratifying to see your art posted in the app as though it were in a museum or gallery. The other thing that sets Brushes apart is its playback feature. In gallery view, you can hit the play button and the app will play back every stroke from start to finish.
Interface:
Brushes offers a simple interface with toolbars above and below that you access by tapping the screen once. The upper toolbar includes buttons for your gallery, your photo library (to import photos), and settings (where you can set the properties for your painting).
The lower toolbar offers the following selections: color palette, eyedropper tool, bucket fill, brush, brush properties, eraser, undo and redo, and layers. The color palette gives you a choice of 28 swatches plus a color wheel and slider bars for dark/light and opacity. Unlike the other two apps, you are not given the option to set RGB. You can select the eyedropper tool (which allows you to click on a color in your painting to duplicate the color) from the toolbar, but it’s easier simply to press and hold anywhere on the canvas and the eyedropper will appear. Bucket fill simply covers the entire canvas in whatever color you choose. Brushes offers only 19 brush choices (fewer than the other two apps). For each brush, you have options for spacing, size, and opacity. In addition, you can choose two options that create simulated pressure sensitivity (vary size with speed and vary opacity with speed). Neither ArtStudio nor Sketchbook Pro offer a similar option. In Brushes you can create up to six layers and there are several different options for manipulating those layers.
Examples of Brushes Drawings
A Dog
Family Time?
Brushes Pros and Cons
Pros: Brushes has a good user interface, though it’s not as intuitive, in my view, as ArtStudio’s. Its gallery view is simply beautiful, and the playback feature is quite unique.Cons: Of the three apps, Brushes has the smallest selection of brushes (which is rather odd, considering the app’s name!) And, while the UI is simple, it offers no quick access functions, so accessing tools typically takes two or three taps. If you want assistance understanding the app, you’re pretty much up a creek. There’s no in-app assistance, and although you can click on “Brushes App Support” in iTunes, you are taken to the iPhone app webpage. The two apps are different enough that the instructions for Brushes iPhone (which itself is minimal) aren’t sufficient. I emailed the developer with a question about one of the buttons in layers whose function wasn’t clear. I never received a reply.
Sketchbook Pro for iPad by Autodesk Inc.Sketchbook Pro Overview
Sketchbook Pro is a slick art application with an amazing set of features and a user interface that makes the most of the iPad’s touchscreen. Sketchbook Pro has 75 brush choices with all sorts of options to configure them. It is also the only app that allows you to export your art with layers intact (for use in Photoshop).
Interface:
Sketchbook Pro has the most complex user interface of the three apps considered here. However, with that complexity comes a plethora of choices and flexibility. Plus, of the three apps, Sketchbook Pro is the only one that offers extensive in-app help as well as a detailed website with forums, tutorials, and other information.
When you open SketchbookPro, you are first presented with a brief tutorial that introduces you to the UI. Unlike the other two apps which place their primary toolbars at the bottom of the screen where your hand can accidentally press buttons, Sketchbook Pro places all the tools at the top. You access the toolbar by tapping with three fingers anywhere on the screen or by tapping on a button called the “puck” that appears near the bottom center of the screen. The toolbar includes the following options: gallery (where you can add, delete, save, and export your work); an add button (for creating a new painting); an information button that gives you access to the Sketchbook Pro newsletter, help, and preferences; undo and redo buttons; Brush/Color selector button; draw style (freedraw, shapes, etc.); mirror image button (allows you to create a mirror image); full screen button; layer transform button; and layers button.
Two especially handy features of the Sketchbook Pro interface are gestures and the puck button. You can use gestures to get quick access to various tools. Swipe up with three fingers to open the layers menu; swipe down with three fingers to open the brush/color selector; swipe left for undo and right for redo. The “puck” button which opens the toolbar can also be used to quickly resize and change the opacity of your brushes. Simply press and hold the puck, swipe left or right, up and down, to change the brush’s qualities.
Sketchbook Pro offers the widest selection of brushes: 75 in all (45 are brushes, 30 are stamps). You can choose the radius and opacity for each brush on the main tool screen. On the second tool screen (accessed by pressing what looks like a slider icon) you can choose to make the brush soft, solid, or hard; further change the radius and opacity, and increase or decrease the spacing. The brush selector also allows you to choose an eraser and the bucket fill. While Sketchbook Pro doesn’t offer simulated pressure sensitivity like Brushes does, the configurability of each brush allows for quite a bit of flexibility and mimics pressure sensitivity to some extent. Color selection in Sketchbook Pro is also quite configurable. You can choose between color swatches, RGB sliders, and a color wheel. You can create up to six layers in Sketchbook Pro and configure the opacity of each one. In addition, layers can be rotated, scaled, or moved using the transform layer button.
Examples of Sketchbook Pro Drawings
iPad blues
A Horse
Sketchbook Pro Pros and Cons
Pros: Sketchbook offers an incredible array of brush, color, and configurability choices. It blows the other two apps away in this regard. The gesture-based tool access is unique and makes the best use of the iPad’s touch interface. Although there is a bit of a learning curve to make use of this app’s abundant features, users can find detailed help both within the app and on the developer’s website.Cons: Although I like the gesture based tool access, I do wish there was an option to keep the toolbar visible all the time. When you’re quickly switching between tools, you don’t really want to have to tap to access the toolbar, tap again to choose the tool, and tap a third time to use the tool. Of course, using the swipe gesture eliminates one of these taps.
Conclusions
So, which of the three is best? I hate to waffle here, but I can’t decide. All three have features I like and dislike. I would put ArtStudio as my first choice for ease of use, excellent features, price, and its great blur tool. Sketchbook Pro would come in first for its wide range of brushes and gesture-based user interface. Brushes tops the other two in terms of gallery presentation and the playback feature. If you’re looking for an art application, any of the three will work extremely well. I’d say ArtStudio is sufficient for most people who are simply wanting a painting and sketching program for entertainment purposes. For more serious digital artists, all three apps will work well, but of the three, Sketchbook Pro seems best geared for the professional. Not only does it offer the most brushes and configurability, it also supports PSD export.
