When you have an iPad that supports the Apple Pencil, one of the best uses of this combination is to draw, sketch, or paint. After all, what beats a digital sketchbook where you don't need to spend money on having the right tools that eventually run out before you need to replenish your supply?

• Graphite Drawing App
• Graphite Drawing App For The Mac Download

I'll admit it—I'm not an artist. I don't think I have the artistic ability to draw, but you know what they always say? Practice makes perfect, especially when it comes to something like drawing. With an iPad and an Apple Pencil, not only does it feel like an actual sketchbook and pencil, but you'll want to keep drawing and sketching, which means you can only get better over time. Or if you're already an artist, the iPad and Apple Pencil will let you continue to hone your skills.

Regardless of whether you're an amateur or a pro, these apps let you unleash your creativity effortlessly.

Procreate

If you're looking for the one drawing app to rule them all, you can't go wrong with Procreate. It's one of the most powerful sketching, painting, and illustration apps that you can buy for your iPad, and it's built for professionals and works flawlessly with Apple Pencil.

Jun 18, 2019  15 Best Graphic Design Apps for Mac 18 June 2019; by: Cezar Popescu macOS is one of the most popular operating systems in the world. If you just bought a Mac, you may need some apps that are very easy to use to help you edit some photos or even create some great icons or logos on your Mac. May 23, 2020  Graphite is a user interface that lets creative people get precision drawing and drafting done without worrying about how to run their software. Create 2D and 3D precision wireframe drawings of unlimited complexity and detail. Whether you need a simple sketch, an elaborate architectural design or a precision engineering drawing, Graphite lets creative professionals express their ideas clearly. Drawing tools are usually available as downloadable software programs or online drawing tools. The best drawing tools on the market today can run on various platforms including Windows Mac OS, Linux, and Android. Your choice will depend on the device you are using, the features you are looking for, and what you want to achieve.

With Procreate, you're getting access to exclusive tools, such as the dual-texture brushes and immediately responsive smudging tools to create the perfect masterpiece. And if you can't find a tool in Procreate to fit your needs, you can even just create your own tools. Procreate also has incredibly high-resolution canvases that allow you to print out your work in massive sizes, without ever skipping a beat.

All of your work in Procreate can come out as PSD, native .procreate, TIFF, transparent PNG, multi-page PDF, or even web-ready JPEG file formats. Procreate also supports time-lapse replays, so you can send it directly to your favorite streaming service.

Linea Sketch

For those who are intimidated by Procreate's powerful feature-set, Linea Sketch is a better option that's much more approachable, especially for those who don't always draw.

Linea Sketch features a simple and intuitive interface while also providing users with a variety of powerful tools that work great with Apple Pencil. Plus, it easily helps you make perfect circles and shapes to create the best drawings. It also shows you colors that complement your selected hue perfectly, so you don't need to figure that out yourself. It can also do layers, split screen, and much more. Linea Sketch exports your projects as PSD, JPG, or PNG files so that they can be easily accessed from other devices, like your Mac.

Paper by WeTransfer

Paper by WeTransfer is a good option if you want something that's free and accessible. With Paper, you can create numerous journals designed to capture your sketches and even notes. There is a nice variety of tools offered in Paper, and it's very intuitive to use.

In Paper, you'll get six basic tools that are great for drawing, outlining, and even writing. If you opt for the optional Pro subscription for $8 for six months or $12 for a year, you'll get access to more tools like diagrams, collages, and cut-and-fill. There is also plenty of room for creativity in Paper, as you're able to add multiple photos to a journal and cut, stick, and fix without the need for complicated layers. Paper also lets you customize your sketch journals as you'd like, and your work gets synced across devices, as long as you have a Pro subscription.

While you'll need a Pro subscription to really get the most out of Paper, you do get the basics for free, so it's a good idea to give them a try before committing to it. Or if you can live with the basic feature set, then you won't need to pay a dime.

Affinity Designer

For those who need to work with vector graphics, Affinity Designer is simply one of the best options available on the iPad. Think of it as the desktop app, but converted into the perfect mobile experience.

Affinity Designer is designed to take advantage of Metal, so it'll give you blazing fast performance. When you pan the canvas or zoom in or out, everything is at a smooth 120fps, which is amazing. It also works flawlessly with the Apple Pencil, taking advantage of pressure, tilt, and angle sensitivity. You'll also have the best pen, pencil, corner, curve editing, geometry operations, and smart shape tools available at your disposal, and the Apple Pencil means incredible accuracy.

If you need to deal with vector graphics for marketing materials, websites, icons, UI design, or concept art, then Affinity Designer is a must-have.

Adobe Illustrator Draw

While we highly recommend Affinity Designer, we get it—it's still quite expensive. If you're on a budget, or just prefer the Adobe Creative Cloud, then Adobe Illustrator Draw is another option to consider.

In Adobe Illustrator Draw, you'll get customizable brushes that you can use for drawing, designing, and stylizing. There are even a ton of basic shape stencils for your perfect circles, squares, French curves, polygons, and speech bubbles for epic comics. Adobe even allows you to mix photos in with your vector drawings, which can result in some amazing effects. All of the canvases in Adobe Illustrator Draw can go up to 8K resolution, meaning you can get large prints of your work as well, in case you want to show it off.

All work can be stored in the Adobe Creative Cloud, which does have a free tier option. However, you can get another 20GB of storage space in Creative Cloud for just $2 a month, which is honestly not that bad. You'll be able to access your work from any other device, including Macs, that have Adobe Illustrator on them, thanks to the Cloud.

Adobe Photoshop Sketch

If you're not into vector drawing, then Adobe Photoshop Sketch is the way to go. This one focuses more on traditional drawing, sketching, and painting, rather than vector graphics.

In Adobe Photoshop Sketch, you'll have access to 24 built-in brushes, all of them with adjustable sizes, colors, opacity, and blending settings. And if you can't find the right tool for the job, you can import Photoshop brushes directly into Sketch as well, so the possibilities are truly limitless. Like Draw, you can mix photos into your drawing layers, and there are stencils to help you create perfect curves and basic shapes. Sketch also goes up to 8K resolution, so your work can be printed out on massive prints if need be.

And since Photoshop Sketch is part of Adobe, your work saves automatically in your Creative Cloud account. If you need more storage, you can opt for 20GB of storage for just $2 monthly.

Autodesk Sketchbook

If you want something that's powerful and free, then you need to give Autodesk Sketchbook a try.

With Autodesk Sketchbook, you get a distraction-free UI so you can focus on drawing, not a cluttered interface. Sketchbook is packed with dozens of various brushes, and you can pretty much pick from any color on the spectrum to use in your sketches. The app also has intuitive gestures and shortcuts to bring up various tools and quick access to the most common brushes that you may need.

It may take some time to get used to using Autodesk Sketchbook, but it's a robust drawing app that works nicely with Apple Pencil. Plus, you can't be the price tag of free.

Sketch Club

A lot of the premium drawing apps we've mentioned so far can be a bit pricey, but Sketch Club is a bit on the lower side while still providing a lot of nice features, whether you're an amateur or pro.

In Sketch Club, you'll find plenty of brush tools, along with blurring, filling, procedurals, selection, smudging, text, and vector tools. And if you're worried about getting perfect shapes, don't worry! There are shape tools with automatic ratio snapping to make sure that nothing looks off. There's layer support in Sketch Club, and all of your canvases can go up to 16K with presets, and nice 300 DPI prints.

Sketch Club also has an integrated community, which is great for getting motivation and inspiration. The community has daily challenges, weekly competitions, monthly group events, annual awards, and more. The tutorials are also fantastic if you're trying to improve your drawing skills.

Astropad Standard

Graphite Drawing App

Astropad isn't just another standard drawing app for your iPad. Instead, it turns your iPad into a drawing tablet for your Mac. That's right—if you prefer to use your image editors on your Mac, but prefer to use your iPad for the actual drawing, Astropad lets you do just that! Think of it like turning your iPad into a Wacom pen display. To get Astropad to work properly, you'll need to get the free Mac companion app.

With Astropad, you'll get a natural drawing experience with your iPad, with the results being delivered right to your Mac. It's fast and will keep up with your drawing at 60 FPS, even over a Wi-Fi connection. Astropad can work wirelessly or just over USB with your computer. It supports Apple Pencil flawlessly and is pressure sensitive, just as you need it to be for accurate drawings.

The app itself can be a little pricey, but think about it—it's much cheaper than going out and buying a Wacom tablet when you already have an iPad, right?

Pixelmator

Finally, we have Pixelmator, which is a great option for those who want a full-featured, layer-based image editor. This works great for photo editing, but it's also an amazing app for sketching and painting as well.

With over 100 brushes, which are designed by fellow artists mind you, the possibilities are pretty much endless in Pixelmator when it comes to drawing and painting. These tools are also specifically designed for various painting techniques, so chances are high that you'll find what you need. They also replicate the wetness effects quite well, especially for watercolors and crayon brushes. Double-texture brush technology also means you will get the best detail as you paint, and the Pixel brush is quite fun to use too. Pixelmator also supports layers, has an eyedropper color picker, and is fully optimized for Apple Pencil.

Pixelmator can save your images as PSD, JPEG, PNG, and more file formats. Your work can be shared via social platforms, or you can upload and sync it right to your iCloud to be accessed anywhere.

What's your favorite digital sketchbook?

These are some of the best drawing apps that we could find that work amazingly well with the Apple Pencil. What are your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!

Drawing on iPad: The ultimate guide

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Apple Sanlitun, Apple's newest store in China, is opening today

Apple has announced that its newest retail store, Apple Sanlitun in Bejing, is opening to customers in the area later today.

macOS is one of the most popular operating systems in the world. If you just bought a Mac, you may need some apps that are very easy to use to help you edit some photos or even create some great icons or logos on your Mac.

So, here are the best 15 graphic design apps for Mac:

1. Icon Plus

If you are looking for an app that can help you create or modify an icon or logo then we recommend you try out Icon Plus. This app comes with some amazing features like combining images and text for creating fabulous logo designs. You can also edit existing graphics for obtaining great user interfaces. You can download it from the Mac App Store for just $4.99.

Graphite Drawing App For The Mac Download

2. Gravit Designer

Gravit Designer is one of the most complete apps in this business. This app can be used for all sorts of design jobs (app icons for example) and even animations and presentations. You have to pay if you want to use the PRO version of this app, but the free one is really excellent too.

3. Inkscape

Inkscape is a very useful design tool which you will find on the Mac App Store. It focuses on the SVG format and it offers some special features that are not available with other apps such as alpha bending, markers and cloned objects, all for free.

4. Krita

This one is pretty cool. Being in development since 1999, Krita is a great painting tool that comes with different types of brushes and with advanced filters that will make your work easier. You can download this app for free.

5. GIMP

If you are searching for a free app that is very similar to Photoshop you should download GIMP. Even if it’s free you can use the full suite of tools like painting tools, clonning, correction or selection.

6. Image Tricks

If you are the type of person that likes to play with images and edit them, this app is perfectly suited for you. As the name suggests, Image Tricks gives you the possibility to apply a multitude of different photo effects on your pictures, all for free.

7. Comipro Plus

Comipro Plus is the creation of a Japanese company but it can be used by english speakers too. This app was made for the cartoon enthusiasts and enables them to create various modern comics. You can get this app for free from the Mac App Store.

8. Scratch

If you have a passion for animations you have to download Scratch. This app is very easy to use and you can create animated stories or small games just for fun. This application is completely free.

9. DAZ Studio

If you want to create 3D programs where you can use 3D objects, people and animals this app is perfect for you and you need to download it immediately. You can download DAZ Studio from the Mac App Store for free.

10. ArchiCad

If Google SketchUp isn’t enough for you and you need a 3D design app with more features, then ArchiCAD is the app for you. This tool allows you to bring your ideas to life in 3D, all for free.

11. Adobe Ilustrator CC

This app is one of the best in the business, it helps you create some great graphic designs for websites, video games or apps. It also comes with a state-of-the-art digital illustration tool. Even if it’s not cheap, this app is a must-have.

12. Canva

Canva is a great app that can be used by both begginers and professionals, by both individuals and teams. Canva is an app that lets you create professional graphic designs very easily. It offers you access to over a million graphics or images.

13. Corel PaintShop Pro

This image editing software is an easy to use tool for anyone. It comes with a lot of features that help you create graphic designs or improve your photos and it is very similar to Photoshop. It might not be free, but is a very useful app.

14. Piktochart

If you are looking for a very easy to use infographic maker, Piktochart is exactly what you need. It comes with a large library of themes and templates that help you customize your multimedia projects, all for $12.50/month.

15. Venggage

This app is pure gold. It helps you tell your stories and present your data. It is especially created for marketers and it helps you create whatever materials you want.