Having a desktop application already, Affinity Designer is a great designing tool for digital artists that resort to their iPad for drawing and editing. This app is equipped with Apple Pencil and it allows you to make the most out of the functionalities provided by the Apple Pencil. It is different from other design apps as it is completely optimized solely for the iPad. For that reason, designers are given the same user experience and usability as Affinity Designer’s desktop version. This app works best for graphic designing, digital illustration creation, and website interface design. Supported by iOS 11 and its successors, this app comes with a price tag of $19.99, which is cost effective.
Allowing you to sketch, paint and create, Procreate has been every designer’s utmost choice in iPad apps for a long time. However, now that is it is supporting Apple Pencil, it provides designers with more enhanced usability and features than before. The reason to integrate its support with Apple Pencil was to give iPad users a smoother and more fluid user experience and the developers have been successful in doing so. Comparing its price tag with Affinity Designer, Procreate is cheaper as it is only for $9.99. The recent update introduced a number of great features such as the wet paint tools, clipping option and simply a breakthrough collection of 136 brushes.
This iPad app gained popularity in the realm of 3D designing but it is also a great tool if you want to design basic graphics or illustration. The pro of using Sketchbook is that it comes with a number of accessibility features that simplify the art creation process. With an in-built paper scanner, it allows you to transform your hand-drawn drawings into digital art. You can not only change the format of the image but you can fully customize it to befit your tastes. This app is also free-to-use and it integrated with features that most free design apps do not have. Therefore, if you are looking to design your cute animal face illustration then the Sketchbook tool is a great find.
There is yet to see the release of a Photoshop app that has the same features and tools as its desktop version. However, Adobe has provided us with its equivalent for digital designing that is Adobe Photoshop Sketchbook. This iPad app contains several amazing and useful features that even have the option to incorporate add-ons using Capture CC. Some core features include a diverse collection of 24 customizable brushes, high-resolution print option, multiple layers merging and it even gives you the option to let you license royalty free photos from Adobe Stock. The best part is that despite having so many unique features, it is free-to-download.
A free-to-download design app with a number of in-app purchase options, Concepts is based on the notion of inimitable art creation. This app has gained popularity due to its intricate brush options that let designers sketch with delicate strokes. You are even given the option to select from image types such as PNG and PSD and also export vectors formats in general. With an extensive color palette, you can even blend in a different color to give life to appealing visual aesthetics.
