9 best drawing apps on Android
Thanks to technology, artists have made ground with some of the best tools to create beautiful digital artwork. As a result, many now turn to thebest Android tabletsandbest Android phonesas their weapon of choice. And choosing the software becomes of great importance to equip and enable creativity for artists. But with so many drawing apps available, how does one choose the right title for their needs? This is why we’ve rounded up some of the best drawing apps that can turn any Android device into a worthy digital canvas.
The criteria
These are the important features and factors to look out for when choosing a drawing app:
The price and affordability of an app will often be a deciding factor, too, especially for a beginner looking to get started. Therefore, these selected apps have free, freemium, or premium options to scale up the app’s features and accessibility, all while offering generous trial periods for the full version. Either way, you can find and test the best apps that fit your path as an artist.
In case you’re wondering, these apps were tested on theSamsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite. It still holds up as a competent tablet for digital art and is a great value for money.
With that out of the way, let’s dive into the apps.
9Sketchbook
Originally developed by Autodesk, Sketchbook has become a popular choice for many. It has a clean, uncluttered, and easy-to-navigate interface. If this is your preferred app on your computer, you’ll be right at home using it on your mobile device.
Price: 100% free.
8Infinite Painter
If you’re looking for something that gives a similar drawing experience and feature packet as the iPad painting powerhouseProcreate, then check outwhat Infinite Painter has to offer. It has a great selection of tools and textured brushes that emulate traditional media. So for the painters among you, this is recommended as one of the best drawing apps for Android.
Price: $10, includes a 7-day free trial with full access.
7Clip Studio Paint
Clip Studio Paint is packed with features and has quickly become a popular alternative to Adobe’s Photoshop on PC. It has a fair price for such an advanced piece of software and is a great option for comic creators and animators as well.
On tablets, you’ll get the full package too. It’s versatile in how it can be used with touch gestures, keyboard support, and a nifty companion mode for paired smartphones.
Price: Free 1 hour a day, otherwise $2.50/month for Ex Plan or $1/month for Pro Plan; includes 3-months off for first-time purchases. Galaxy owners can get a 6-month free full-feature trial by signing up through the Galaxy Store.Note: Tablet users who plan to use a pressure pen must purchase another plan outside the Smartphone Plan.
MediBang is another popular free drawing app, particularly for new comic artists. Like Clip Studio Paint, it has a large asset library to pull from. You can back up your work on the cloud and access it on your computer later as well. The mobile version is a little different from the desktop release.It’s better adapted for small screens but still packed with tools.
Price: Free with ads; purchase MediBang Premium for
$2.50/month for 20GB cloud storage, $4.50/month for 100GB cloud storage, and $9/month for 300GB.
5Ibis Paint X
Ibis Paint, like MediBang, targets manga and anime drawing enthusiasts. It’s a little heavy on the advertising, though. The tablet and phone versions are much the same, except that the side toolbar is packed away on the phone app.
Price:Free with ads. $10 for the remove ads add-on. The Prime Membership plan starts at $3/month and $28/year, includes 20GB of cloud storage, and added tools.
For first-time registrations, you gain a free 1-month trial.
Free, open-source, and rich in features, Krita is a well-loved digital art app. Designed primarily for computers, it’s been ported over to Android, as is, in its entirety for tablet users. As such, it’s better suited to working with a keyboard connected, allowing you to activate and switch between tools with keyboard shortcuts rather than touch gestures. It works as you’d expect from the desktop version and is also available for ChromeOS users.
ArtFlow is another great app that doesn’t immediately bombard you with features in a busy interface. For that reason, it’s one worth recommending for beginners and hobbyists. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s lacking the tools more advanced users will enjoy.
Price: Free, $6 one-off payment for the Pro version.
There aren’t many decent drawing apps that offer an infinite canvas. That makes Concepts a great app for generating ideas and spreading them over a single page. Think mind-mapping where Pinterest meets your actual sketchbook, so you can insert images, draw around them and make notes. With its full Copic Color Wheel, it feels like this was made with designers in mind.
Price: Free, upgrade for $5/month or $30/year (includes 7-day free trial) for full features, pay $15 for Essentials pack, and other one-off purchases for $2 each.
1Notable mention: Magma.com
Do you want to collaborate on drawings with your friends? Launched at LightBox Expo in 2019, Magma (formerly Magma Studio) is a browser-based drawing app and collaboration tool rather than a downloadable one. As such, you don’t get the range of tools that you would with something like Clip Studio Paint yet, but Magma has something else that’s quite unique: the shared canvas. you could host a canvas and invite your friends from all over the world to draw on it with you and share ideas.
Price: Free, or buy into the Blaze plan for $10/month or $100/year for access to textured brushes, lasso fill tools, higher resolution canvas, and 5GB of cloud storage.
Draw online in Magma Studio.
Final recommendations
Unfortunately, narrowing down an app that provides everything and clearly trumps all apps in that ecosystem is difficult. In retrospect, finding the app that excels in the area of interest and works best for your goals as an artist is more realistic. In addition, it’s common for artists to incorporate more than one app into their workflow and bounce between them on a single project. So it’s best to dip the digital brush into the paint and see which app fits best with your needs.
Personal favorite: Infinite Painter
Infinite Painter feels similar to Procreate on the iPad and is equally as powerful. In addition, its minimal UI design makes it an excellent option for both phones and tablets.
Best for tablets: Clip Studio Paint
Clip Studio Paint has a loaded interface packed with handy features, making the app especially suitable for tablets and Chromebooks. The software functions well as a fingers-and-pen app, but there’s an option to connect a keyboard to emulate a desktop computer experience; choose the style that complements your preferred setup.
Best for phones: ArtFlow
The interface behind ArtFlow is optimally minimal, allowing you to entirely hide all the toolbars while still having the full-screen area to focus on your drawing. The only feature missing is having a double tap to undo gesture.
Get creative on Android
When people ask about finding a standalone device for digital art, the recommended hardware is often the iPad with Procreate. The reason behind the recommendation is that the neat and intuitive design provides a well-matched balance for beginners and skilled users.
But now Apple has a strong competitor within Android thanks to Samsung’sGalaxy S-series tabletswith the included S-Pen. And whether your goal is to shoot for the moon as an artist or if you’re more akin to being a simple hobbyist, Android now has fantastic apps that transform a tablet or phone into your own digital canvas.
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