It’s a well known fact that drawing is a relaxing hobby and if you’ve got enough time and an iPad, then you should put your skills to the test. If you’ve got an artistic streak – lucky you! There’s a number of cool painting apps to help you improve your art skills. If you can’t paint for the life of you, don’t worry, practice makes perfect.
Most of the apps are really affordable, which means that you can try them out without spending a lot of money on them. There are a bunch of sophisticated, more serious apps available, as well as those more simple ones that your kids will love. We’ve chosen three apps today that we thought were pretty neat.
Paper – Free
Your kids will love this app.
A simple drawing app that will keep your kids preoccupied and happy and it’s free to boot. First, you get to select your background by tapping on the square paper icon. Once you’ve done that, tap the pencil icon to choose the size and color of your ‘pen’. Now you’re ready to start drawing! You draw with your fingertips and create images that you want. You can undo anything that you don’t like by selecting the back arrow. The icon shaped like a TV saves/loads old drawings. You can open up more options by tapping the pen icon, including those that you need to pay for. The fire icon in the right corner opens up a visual drawing tool.
Artrage – £2.99
For those of you ready to take your skills to the next level!
A more serious app for those who are ready to delve into artistic waters on their iPad. You can start with either a blank canvas or a photo. To use a photo as a base for a painting, select the icon second from the right (two squares overlapping) located at the bottom of your screen. You’ll have an option to either import a photo or take a new one. The photo is always set to be traced at the base of an image, but you can change this by tapping the image icon. There you can change the opacity of the photo and other settings. To select a brush type, tap the icon on the left. When you open up the palette tool, you can set the color for your brush and begin drawing. If you want, you can experiment with layers and textures, as well as smear paint by using a palette knife.
Procreate – £2.99
Procreate is a simple app that has a wide range of great painting options.
This app has a fairly simple UI, but you can do a lot with it. So, instead of wasting time trying to figure out how to use the app, you can actually use it. There are layer options, a color picker, fast zoom, twelve pre-set brushes that include paint loading and wetness. You start a painting by either importing an image or selecting a canvas size. Press the Layer button if you want to add more layers to your drawing. Like we said, there’s a large selection of brushes and they’re divided into groups, so tap the smaller icons to reveal more options. Once you’ve selected the brush size, you can change its opacity via sliders at the right of the screen. Choose preferred colours via the icon at the top right. In the right hands, Procreate will help you create some truly amazing art.