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The Play Store is an endless resource of art apps that can help you find inspiration, get followers, learn more about the masters of art, or get productive. Here’s my list of the top apps for artists!
In this article, I will be talking about apps that are useful for artists, but that are not necessarily used to draw. Apps in which you can draw using a tablet and/or a stylus will be featured in a different future article. All of the apps mentioned in the list are available on the Google Play Store, and are free.
Let’s dive straight in for the first app on the list!
MagicPoser
MagicPoser is a must-have if you draw people. It’s a fairly simple app which allows you to play with a 3d model of a human body. You can position it in any way you like it. Using this app, you can get a quick reference for pretty much any pose you need to draw.
There are some things that the app could do better. You cannot customize the character much, the scene has always only one light source, the fingers are tough to manipulate on such a small screen, and the muscles don’t behave 100% realistically. Despite of this, it’s a great app for getting fast and simple reference for human (and humanoid) poses.
DailyArt
If you love art history, studying the old masters, looking at amazing paintings, DailyArt is the app for you. Every day, the app gives you one artwork from the history of art, along with a high-resolution image, a detailed description of both the work, and its historical context, along with a few statistics about the painting itself.
With the previous app, I’ve listed some things I’d like the app to do better – with DailyArt, I honestly can’t think of anything. It does what it’s supposed to absolutely perfectly.
Instagram is kind of obvious, but I couldn’t not include it here. It’s arguably the best social media app for artists. You can use it to find inspiration in what other artists do, and you can post your own artwork to gain followers and ultimately make money from your art.
I’m not much of an expert on Instagram marketing for artists, but I would like to recommend a great Skillshare course on the topic. In the 90-minute course, the teacher goes through why you should be using Instagram, how to get noticed on it, why you should have a business account, how to get ideas for posts, how to take good photos of your artwork, writing captions, making money, and a few other topics, all in a beginner-friendly way. Check the course out!
Color Palette
Color Palette is an app that helps you find complementary colors, create gradients, or pick out colors from an image. It’s a good app if you’re creating a series of artworks that’ll have to use the same color palette.
However, I have one large issue with the app – the ads are very obtrusive. They pop up sometimes even several times a minute. If you have problems with that, Color Palette isn’t a good choice for you.
Art Prompts
While I am biased towards Art Prompts, because it’s the app I made, I’d still like to include it on the list. Art Prompts gives you inspiration when you don’t know what to draw, with over 750 unique, original prompts.
The prompts are split into 7 categories, so you can choose what topic you’d like to draw. The categories are People, Animals, Places, Horror, Fantasy, Sci-fi, and Myths & Legends. Plus I’m adding new prompts into the app every week!
Forest: Stay Focused
The final app I’d like to talk about is Forest: Stay Focused. While this isn’t an app specifically aimed at artists, I feel like it still fits on the list.
If you have problems with productivity, procrastination, and staying focused, Forest is the ideal app for you. In the app, you “plant a tree” by setting a timer for however long you want to. During the time, your tree grows, as long as you don’t close the app. If you close the app to do something else on your phone (breaking your focus from drawing), the tree dies.
Conclusion
With the practically infinite number of apps available to you, it’d be a shame to not download some to help you with your art. With MagicPoser, DailyArt, Instagram, Color Palette, Art Prompts, and Forest, you’ll be ready to be the best artists you can be.
If you’ve enjoyed the article, please let me know in the comments. If you have an app to suggest here, you can shoot me an email over to darezar@eledris.com.
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FAQ
Here are some useful apps for artists: MagicPoser (references), DailyArt (history), Art Prompts (inspiration), Instagram (social media).
Instagram is one of the best social media apps for artists; not only can you find plenty of inspiration from fellow artists, you can also share your own work, get followers, and eventually make money from your art.
