Whether you’re a casual scribbler or seasoned illustrator, the iPad Pro, paired with its Pencil, can be a serious artistic tool.
This powerhouse of visual creation is loaded with more than 130 brushes, so you can dial in every texture and shape in your mind’s eye. Paint at high resolution, then edit your work with a layer system powerful enough to rival most desktop apps.
$10
Hate pixels? Love lines, curves, and shapes that can be scaled as big as you want without losing resolution? Use this app to build vector-based designs like logos, party invitations, or posters. Bonus: You can make custom stickers and emoji for iMessage.
FREE
Who knew staying inside the lines could be so relaxing? This coloring app lets you choose Pixar, Disney, and Marvel characters or more adult-oriented stuff like Flowers & Plants, and then gets you in the tone zone. The subscription fees add up, but it’s cheaper than therapy.
$10 a month
Start with pencil on paper, then open SketchBook and capture your drawing with the iPad’s camera. Autodesk’s app converts the photo into a digital line drawing. Add layers using all the brushes, rulers, shapes, and curve tools you’d expect from the
makers of AutoCAD.
FREE
Fulfill a childhood dream and author your own graphic novel. Write your story within the app’s script editor, then lay it out in any format you like, from manga to comic strip. You get tools for drawing, inking, and coloring, and the app even helps with the tricky part: lettering.
$10
Between sessions behind an actual potter’s wheel, prototype your next throw by pinching and shaping a virtual lump of clay. The app even employs AR to let you “place” a digital 3D render of your glazed and fired ceramic on your real-world mantelpiece.
$5
This article appears in the February issue. Subscribe now.
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