My Top Drawing Applications

I have been drawing digitally for 5 years now. From using Paint, all the way to various drawing applications, finding the right one that fits my needs. Each of them taught me valuable skills which improved my workflow when drawing digitally. I want to share my experiences and observations from these applications and hopefully, I can help aspiring artists too.

Here's the list of my top drawing application which is divided into three categories:

• Drawing Applications I'm Currently Using
• Drawing Applications I already used
• Drawing Applications I want to use

Disclaimer: All reasons and explanations why they are rank that way are based on my opinion. I know we have different preferences and that's okay. If you disagree with this list, you're free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. You may also make your own list if the apps you are using didn't appear here.

Drawing Applications I'm Currently Using

I mostly draw on a laptop with my pen tablet and my secondary drawing device is my smartphone with my capacitive stylus. I will enumerate first the application available on PC before android apps.

1. MediBang Paint Pro

This is so good for a free drawing application. The correction a.k.a stabilizer is my favorite out of all I used in my life. Using the cloud, you can download brushes, tones and save your files so you can open them to your other devices. It has all I need for my workflow that's why I love it. I highly recommend this!

Artworks I made using Medibang Paint Pro:

Pros:

• Free
• Good for making comic/manga
• In-app Cloud support
• Easy to understand
• Simple user interface
• Wide-range compatibility
• Works fine even on old or slow devices (I currently use it on a 10-year-old laptop that has an Intel Atom processor and 2.00GB RAM)

Cons:

• The dot thing before and after a line is disturbing. It can easily be solved by: (1) minimize the app, wait for a few seconds, and open it again; (2) open another application on your taskbar then go back to medibang after few seconds; (3) close other applications on your background to reduce the risk of encountering it again
• Choppy lines when I have too many running application, screen recording, or doing line too fast (for devices only that has the specs like my laptop; I have used this before on a laptop that has 4.00GB RAM and this thing does not happen to me)

2. FireAlpaca

I like this one like how I like Medibang Paint Pro because they look identical, have the same file name extension, and have the same functions. You can animate here which is great. The only thing this is second for me because this does not have cloud saving. I can't continue my work when I use my phone or borrow a laptop from my family. I have to rely on file transferring like using a USB flash drive or uploading it to my google drive, not the in-app support MediBang gives me. Still, I use this interchangeably with MediBang Paint Pro because it is less laggy here. The dot problem I said in the Medibang Paint Pro is not visible here. There is still the choppy line though.

Artworks I made usingFireAlpaca:

Pros:

• Free
• Good for making illustrations and short animations
• Easy to understand
• Simple user interface
• Works fine even on old or slow devices (I currently use it on a 10-year-old laptop that has an Intel Atom processor and 2.00GB RAM)

Cons:

• No in-app cloud support
• Choppy lines when I have too many running application, screen recording, or doing line too fast (for devices only that has the specs like my laptop; I have used this before on a laptop that has 4.00GB RAM and this thing does not happen to me)

3. ibisPaint X / ibisPaint

I have been using this for a long time and I like it. Not a big fan of the stabilizer though, it is different from MediBang. I can't make a proper lineart here but coloring here is great. I admire the vast number of materials and brushes you can use so you can't go wrong here. If someone asks me what app do I recommend for their smartphone, it will be ibisPaint. It already has many features that you can't find on other free apps like Huion Sketch and MediBang Paint.

Artworks I made using ibisPaint X in Android:

Pros:

• Free
• Has many brushes to choose from
• You can use their provided materials for your artwork
• Can export time-lapse of your drawing
• Various effects and filters
• Automatically saves your work
• Has keyboard shortcuts and pen tablet compatibility

Cons:

• Lags when you have too many layers, have a big canvas, or using a big sized brush (I did not experience lag on the paid version which is the ibisPaint without X)
• Exporting video takes too long
• No gradient
• You still can't arrange artworks in your gallery even you are using the paid version (I saw the reviews in the Playstore and I think you should get every feature of the app if you bought it)
• The advertisement takes too much space in the landscape mode (I downloaded the free old version of ibisPaint on my phone; you can find it on the AppMarket which is the application directory of OPPO devices. I borrowed my brother's phone so I can have it on my phone. I think this is the more legal way of having the paid version for free. I only use the paid version for my drawing time-lapse videos because the latest update is so much better)

4. MediBang Paint

I used this a lot when I am still working on a comic because I can easily access and continue my work using cloud support. Pretty easy to use if you are a PC user because of its interface. However, many people said that it is hard to use and I think it is because of the user interface too.

Artworks I made using Medibang in Android:

Pros:

• Free
• It has everything the PC version has
• Works fine even on old or slow devices (I use the old version of Medibang before on an Android 3)
• Works okay on a big sized artwork (I opened my artwork that has 100+ layers and has dimensions of 3150x2100) but I think it still depends on what that layer contains and the device you are using
• The correction here is the same as the PC version and I think it is the best I have ever used on android

Cons:

• Pixelation when zooming and panning are noticeable
• Artwork that is big and has a lot of layers will take a long time to open
• Does not automatically save your artwork when you accidentally closed the app or it crashed (solution: go to setting and select Auto Recovery Settings, then choose 5 minutes because it is the lowest you can get. If your app closed and crashed before you or the Auto recovery saves it, your artwork will revert to your last save)
• Some functions are hidden: filters, palette, transform, copy-cut-paste (I only found this last year and I have been using the app since 2018)

5. Huion Sketch

This is my new favorite. I can do line art here even I don't have a pressure-sensitive stylus/screen because of the writing brush. That one brush change my whole experience in drawing on a phone. I usually can't replicate my usual lineart when working on my phone, but I can make it pretty close here. Thank you, Huion!

Artworks I made using Huion Sketch:

Pros:

• Free
• Great brushes to choose from
• Simple user interface
• Smooth panning and zooming
• Automatically saves your artwork
• Great compatibility for Huion products because you can customize its hotkeys (I tried using my xp-pen DECO01v2 and pressure sensitivity works but I can't assign shortcuts in my hotkeys)

Cons:

• Too many bugs such as the selected area becoming invisible when transforming, pixelated shapes, and layers not merging (solution: close the app and open it again)
• Layer restriction depending on the size of the canvas for smooth performance
• Many missing features for a drawing app such as clipping, renaming layers, gradient, and folders
• Crashes when you reach the layer restriction
• Suddenly glitching the file

Overall, this is still a developing app with a lot of bugs. It has the potential to be great because panning and zooming are satisfying, the brushes look realistic even though I only use a universal stylus, and the interface is so easy to understand. I will keep using this app and always make a backup so if some bug happened again I will be able to retrieve it.

Drawing Applications I already used

I will not put the pros and cons here because I do not have the applications here on my current device or I do not actively use the application now.

1. Clip Studio Paint

If I ever have the money, this will be the drawing application I will buy. The rulers, the models, and the vector layer. It has everything an artist needs to work efficiently. It provides a lot for the price which I really like. Once you purchase it, you do not have to pay for it again. I wish the same goes for tablet and mobile versions.

Linearts I made using Clip Studio Paint:

2. Paint Tool Sai

This is so user-friendly and optimized for old or slow devices. You can do a lot with Sai like in CSP and I think the difference is CSP has more function and is more expensive compare to Sai.

Artwork I made using Paint Tool Sai:

3.Krita

Another application that is so good is to be free. I have used this in 2017 and I am sure that Krita is much better now. I just can't use it for now because it tends to be laggy on old devices like mine; it makes the drawing experience unsatisfying.

Artwork I made using Krita: (I know I did more but I can't remember what artwork it is.)

4. Adobe Photoshop Elements

I have used this for a long time after I use paint. This has many good painting brushes and editing tools. I just don't use it right now for drawing because it doesn't have a stabilizer or correction.

I got this for free from my Wacom bamboo tablet.

Artworks I made using PSE (2015-2016.):

Drawing Applications I want to use

1. Procreate

Great app for its price. I see a lot of YouTubers use this app. Too bad it is only available for Ipad and iPhones.

2. Infinite Painter

I rarely see someone use this app but I always see it being recommended. I want to try it but not now or else my phone will be full of drawings apps.

3. Artflow

From what I know, this is a paid app. I like the UI of this one. I will try it soon after I get bored with the apps I use on my phone.

Honorable Mentions

This is the application I used but I could not write proper information because of my lack of artwork and experience with the app. Maybe on my next year's version of this blog?

Paint.net

I did not use this properly before. I remember it not having pressure sensitivity but I did not check if the problem is on my tablet driver or the application did not really have sensitivity in the first place. The UI is pretty simple though I like it.

Clip Studio Mobile

Sadly, I do not have android 9. Mine is android 8 only so I can't try it even just with the 1-hour rule because I am too shy to borrow my family member's phone.

Autodesk Sketchbook

I have used this before but it crashed and did not save my drawing. I have uninstalled it since then. I might give this a try next time.