Best Sketching Apps For Mac Rating: 8,9/10 8333 reviews

The Surface series from Microsoft changed the game completely, bringing new and much-needed features with extreme portability to the market. Similarly, Windows 10 brought with it a slew of new and improved tools with it. What do you get when you combine the two? A productivity and creativity powerhouse. Needless to say, sketch artists, painters, and those who like to draw are happy. There are plenty of drawing apps for Windows 10 available online, both free and paid.

Apr 10, 2020  The Five Best Free Drawing Apps for Mac April 2020. Similar to Krita, the software is more geared towards comic book artists but it can be used for sketching as well. As you might have guessed, there are a bunch of different tools to create intricate graphics. The app features more than 50 brushes and well over 800 backgrounds and tones. Apr 15, 2020  Welcome to our pick of the best digital art software. In a really short space of time, the number of digital art options has surged, meaning creators are now spoilt for choice. This has encouraged competition, with many of the best digital software creators upping their game by adding new features and capabilities to their existing tools.

  • Apr 03, 2018  For Drawing, Sketching and Painting there are lots of apps available on the Android platform. Therefore, you could easily use them with convenient controls to make your files. Here in this article, we have listed the 5 best free Android apps for Drawing, Sketching, and Painting just goes and have a look at them.
  • Oct 19, 2017  Best Mac apps to make you more creative. By Tom May 19 October 2017. From drawing to typography, these OS X apps will boost your productivity and creativity. When it comes to apps, the world still seems obsessed with iPad apps, although Android apps have gained a lot of ground, especially across Europe and Asia. But as creatives, many.

Let’s take a look at some drawing and sketching apps. See which one fits your requirements and offer additional features that you may need.

Also Read:Duet Display vs. EasyCanvas: Which Is Betters for Using iPad Pro as Drawing Tablet for PC

Drawing Apps for Windows 10

1. Paint 3D

One of the first and most popular drawing apps was MS Paint. Simple, light, and easy to use. Paint 3D takes things to the next level. Released with the launch of Windows 10, Paint 3D comes with a slew of new tools and brushes to play around with. Yes, 3D too.

Pre-installed with Windows 10 and free, Paint 3D comes with a number of new brushes, effects, and tools. Draw or sketch any shape using a brush or finger/pencil and it will automatically be converted into a 3D model. Any shape that comes to your mind, like a cloud in my case. It comes with a built-in library to tap into, but you can always download more from the web. You can also cut out shapes from existing pictures and draw over it.

Pros:

  • Brushes, text, stickers,
  • 2D, automatic 3D shapes
  • 3D library
  • Mixed reality
  • Pre-installed and free

Cons:

  • None

Download Paint 3D: Windows (Free)

Also Read:14 Best Drawing Games for Android

2. GIMP

GIMP is a very popular open-source image editor not just for the Linux platform but is also available on both Windows and macOS computers. GIMP is often recommended as an alternative to the industry leader Photoshop. Yup, it’s that good and can be used for drawing and sketching just as easily.

Best Sketching Apps For Mac

GIMP is not the most user-friendly sketching and drawing app for Windows 10, but it has plenty of firepowers inside. There are many tools like brushes, colors, shapes, and objects to play around with. It can work really well with layers as well. There are pressure dynamic settings in case you are working with a drawing tablet with physical pencils or a Surface Pro. GIMP is too powerful and has a number of tools that are beyond the scope of this post.

Pros:

  • Brushes, text, stickers,
  • 2D, masks
  • Layers, perspective, pressure dynamic,

Cons:

  • None

Download GIMP: Windows (Free, Open-source)

Also Read:There Is No Microsoft Paint App for Android, Try These 6 Alternatives

3. Sketchable

If you want a professional sketching and drawing apps for Windows 10 that was purpose-built for sketching in mind, you will have to move to paid alternatives like Sketchable. It acts as a digital notebook cum canvas complete with page flips, and powerful tools that are easily accessible in menus. A joy to use on Surface Pro laptops and computers (using drawing tablets) alike.

Some important drawing tools including stencils, layers, color picker, masks, and symmetry. These tools open up new possibilities that were previously not possible with apps like GIMP and Paint 3D. Sketchable has a free version but that is very limited. Most tools are locked for the pro version which is available for just $24.99. A small price even if you are a hobbyist.

Sketchable still misses some tools that you will find in Photoshop but is also a lot easier to learn and use, is less resource-intensive, and a lot cheaper.

Pros:

  • Brushes, text
  • 2D, masks
  • Layers, perspective, pressure dynamic,
  • Stencil, symmetry
  • Customize UI
  • Sketchbooks

Cons:

  • Not Photoshop replacement

Download Sketchable: Windows (Freemium)

Also Read:Get Microsoft Paint for Mac With These 5 Apps

4. SketchBook (Autodesk)

SketchBook comes from the house of Autodesk, creators of some really cool products and creative tools. Available on all platforms including smartphones, SketchBook allows you to start drawing the moment you are hit with inspiration, irrespective of where you are or what device you are using.

Syncronize hard drive mac software. You can apply filespec filters, copy selected files to the third folder, and execute synchronizations with a single mouse-click.CSL supports multi-language option.

SketchBook comes with so many tools that you will be spoilt for choice. There are over a 140 types of brushes alone to choose from, color gamut, layers, masks, and stencils. Can’t draw straight or curved lines? Use predictive stroke to turn it into perfection. Even when working with layers and blending, there are close to 15 tools I could count. That’s a lot of options, maybe too much.

SketchBook is more suitable for pros who do this for a living. Too many choices can confuse beginners and hobbyists. Plus, it comes with a subscription plan that begins $4.99 per month.

Pros:

  • 140+ Brushes
  • 2D, masks
  • Layers, perspective, pressure dynamic,
  • Stencil, symmetry
  • Customize UI
  • Sketchbooks
  • Cross-platform

Cons:

  • Subscription

Download SketchBook: Windows (Paid)

Also Read:6 Best Thumbnail Maker Apps for Android Smartphones

5. MediBang Paint

App

Are you into drawing cartoons and manga characters? Maybe anime? MediBang is a popular and free tool that’s available on all popular platforms for desktop and smartphones. This drawing app for Windows 10 comes with over 50 brushes, layers, pressure-sensitive input, and an extensive resource library.

It’s an amazing tool for manga artists and is very popular among them too. Not only that, but there is also a very active community who have developed their own brushes that you can import into the app. There is a dedicated comic panel that you can use to create comic art and write text on your art. Makes writing comic books that much easier.

Pros:

  • 50+ Brushes
  • 2D, masks
  • Layers, perspective, pressure dynamic,
  • Resource library
  • Stencil, symmetry
  • Comic art, fonts, panels,
  • Cross-platform

Sketching Apps For Free

Cons:

  • Suitable for comic makers only

Download MediBang: Windows (Free)

6. Krita

Krita is an open-source desktop painting application available for Windows, Linux, and Mac. Although the Windows Store application is paid at around $10, you can download the nightly build for free from this link. Apart from drawing toons and sketches, there’s a wrap-around mode that lets you form seamless textures. Additionally, Krita supports PSD files which means you can import your photoshop brushes. This is a lot helpful when you want to download brushes from the Internet because most of them are available only from Photoshop.

Krita is a part of the KDE open-source project which is a huge community. Hence, you’ll find a lot of tutorials and documentation on the official site and over the Internet.

Pros:

  • Customizable brush engines
  • Organize brushes
  • Support for PSD files and option to import Photoshop brushes
  • Support for pen shortcuts and pen-pressure sensitivity
  • Stabilizer for free-hand inking

Cons:

  • Problems while saving the file

Download Krita: Windows (Free Paid)

Drawing Apps for Windows 10

Best Sketching Apps For Macbook

Where you are a hobbyist or a pro, looking to draw regular objects or create new manga and anime characters, there is a drawing app you can use on your Windows 10 computer. You just have to choose the right tool for the job. That’s why I have reviewed a range of drawing tools focused on different types of artists. Some of them are free and even open-source while others are paid. Choose your tool and get creative.

Also Read: Best Sketch Apps for iOS & Android

Essential drawing app for Mac
Create and edit your brushes with Tayasui Sketches

Macs have always been known as creative machines for creative people. It’s likely the reason you actually bought one! So naturally Macs offer a wide variety of opportunities for you to express yourself, whether that’s building apps, writing prose, or drawing.

Having a good drawing app for Mac is priceless. Retina screens, accurate touchpads, and native support for a variety of inputs make sketching on Mac a pleasure. But with so many drawing programs to choose from, how do you pick the right one? Welcome to the no-sweat guide to the best free drawing software for Mac!

Best drawing, design, and editing apps

With Setapp, you don’t have to choose only one — get a large choice of the best drawing software to support your creativity flow.

The Best Drawing Programs On Mac Today

It’s not easy to pinpoint the best drawing app for Mac. Is it one of the free drawing programs? Is it made for simple drawings or lets you paint on Mac beautifully? The level of skill has to be considered as well.

The collection of drawing apps below features something that appeals to everyone, from the Mac equivalent of Paint you can find on Windows to a simple drawing pad for Mac to the likes of Sketch software that can be used by professional designers too.

Communicate with the markup feature in Preview

If you just want to do a rough sketch for Mac or a few simple drawings, you don’t necessarily need to go about downloading lots of drawing apps, you can just use a drawing app for Mac you’ve already got — Preview.

While most of us think of Preview as an image or PDF viewer, it’s also packs a basic toolset for annotating, drawing, and sketching. To see what you can do with Preview:

  1. Open an image, document, or just a white sheet in Preview

  2. Click Show Markup Toolbar in its top menu

  3. From here you can choose tools, shapes, colors, thickness, type, and more to make necessary adjustments or create something completely new

  4. Save and share your image

For those who don’t intend to draw complicated scenes, Preview might just might be enough. For everyone else, there are, of course, more powerful third-party apps.

Get nostalgic with Paintbrush

Best Sketching Apps For Pc

Lots of us remember the simplicity and versatility of Microsoft Paint. Macs used to have a similar app too called MacPaint (that’s been discontinued). Well, good news is some enthusiastic developers took the matter into their own hands and essentially recreated a Paint app for Mac — Paintbrush.

This Mac equivalent of Paint will strike you as a complete duplicate of that old software you used to love. It features all the same tools, including rectangular and oval shapes, paint bucket, pencil, spray, lines, etc. You can also easily switch and add colors to your palette as you go.

Make professional mockups with Sketch

If you’ve already outgrown simple drawings you can do with Preview and Paintbrush, and want to move higher — try Sketch.

Sketch took the world by storm just a few years ago, when they essentially introduced a viable alternative to complex apps like Adobe Illustrator and targeted it specifically to digital design professionals.

Everything you do in the Sketch program is done in vector, which means all shapes are infinitely resizable, in contrast to the raster graphics of Paintbrush. With Sketch for Mac, you can design high-fidelity mockups for your website, prototype your iOS app, or just create complex illustrations.

You can download and try the Sketch software for free, but after a month, you'll be required to pay the annual license fee, which is a big downside if you don’t plan to use the app regularly. In addition, Sketch for Mac is not the most accessible app for beginners and it’s not exactly a drawing app for Mac due to its vector nature.

Create digital art with MediBang Paint Pro

Perhaps an equivalent of Sketch, but in raster graphics, is MediBang Paint Pro. This drawing software for Mac allows you to execute your dreams beautifully with over 50 custom brushes as well as its extensive support for layers and fonts.

Originally developed for comic creators, MediBang Paint Pro got quickly adopted by everyone looking for a versatile drawing pad for Mac and is hailed by many as the best free drawing software around. However, since it was built for the purpose of creating comics, you might face a few problems adapting it to your needs — it’s definitely one quirky drawing app for Mac. Another issue is the app’s slow update release cycle. For example, macOS Catalina users aren’t able to launch the app in the fall of 2019 due to lack of security updates from the developers.

Set your imagination free with Tayasui Sketches

Talking about the best drawing programs, it’s simply impossible to avoid Tayasui Sketches. This intuitive sketch program is universally loved by painters, designers, illustrators, and art aficionados alike.

Ultimate drawing app for Mac

Draw on your Mac’s screen like on canvas with Tayasui Sketches. Mix colors and experiment with limitless layers!

Tayasui Sketches makes it easy to bring what you have in mind to reality with its support for unlimited layers, infinite undos, smart rules, and a wide variety of drawing tools. If you want to paint on Mac, nothing else comes close to representing the physical experience of applying colors to paper than this drawing software for Mac.

To start your drawing pad for Mac with Tayasui Sketches:

  1. Open a new document

  2. Try out all the different tools from the sidebar, from a fine pen to an airbrush

  3. Use supporting menus to modify your currently selected tool and mix just the right color

With just a bit of practice, you’ll see why Tayasui Sketches beats all the free drawing programs out there. Time for your digital painting skills to skyrocket!

Save all the cool colors with Sip

Regardless of the drawing software for Mac you choose to use in the end, one of the most difficult things to do is going to be finding the right colors out there. Sometimes, you might come across a beautiful color you might use in the future, but where do you save it? Sip.

Sip is the most intuitive, handy, and non-intrusive palette organizer available for Mac. This little utility lives in your Mac’s menu bar, where it saves all the colors you like and simultaneously features a tiny color picker on the side of your screen, which makes Sip instantly available in any sketch program for Mac, like Tayasui Sketches, for example.

By now, you should be well-equipped to start on your Mac drawing journey, using the selection of the drawing software for Mac listed above, whether it’s a simple annotation or a large-scale digital painting.

Best of all, you can try Tayasui Sketches and Sip for free by signing up for a free seven-day trial on Setapp, a platform for more than 160 unique creative Mac apps that literally help you bring your dreams to reality. Why wait, check it out now!