Graphic design is an important part of any business. If you are looking for some free graphic design apps for your iPad, the variety available to you is certainly very impressive. The large number of applications can be intimidating even to experienced graphic designers, so quality assurance before downloading is recommended.
If you are in search of some resources to find some free Adobe Photoshop alternatives, then your search ends up here with the most relevant resources for free graphic design apps for iPad. As you’re reading this post, you’re most likely that among the long list of graphic design software, you’re already familiar with the name of Adobe Photoshop. This software has been used by many graphics designers over the last few years and is still considered to be one of best 3D design software out there.
Adobe Photoshop Sketch
Think of Adobe Photoshop Sketch as a bigger and better version of your analog sketchbook. The next time you’re away from your computer and your next best design idea strikes, whip out the app and use their assortment of brushes, pens, and shapes to get it all down on a digital piece of paper. You can even use grids to add another level of precision, and insert photos from your personal or Adobe stock library for reference.
When you get home, you have the option of easily importing your sketch into the desktop version of Photoshop to polish it off. The interface is simple enough that it feels intuitive, so we highly recommend you try it out!
Vectornator X
The Vectornator X app is an intuitive vector graphic software enabling you to create awesome digital work straight from your iPad or iPhone. The design tools offered within the app are very similar in function to those in Adobe Illustrator, so if you’re already familiar with AI, the learning curve here will not be so steep.
In fact, you can even export your Vectornator work directly into Adobe Illustrator to continue working there afterward if you wanted to. Alternatively, import your unfinished work from any Creative Cloud software so you can continue working on it, on the go within Vectornator.
Adobe Capture
Are you a designer that loves taking photos to fuel your inspiration? If so, Adobe Capture might just become your new favorite design tool and photo editing software. Using the app, harness the power of your smartphone or iPad’s high definition camera to create custom brushes, textures, color schemes, and even scalable vectors from the photos you take. Save all of these to your Creative Cloud account so you can use them the next time you open up Adobe software on your desktop computer.
The editing tools offered in this app are top-notch and will surely encourage you to gather even more inspiration during your daily adventures outside the house!
Adobe Capture CC
Adobe Capture is specifically designed for your iPad (or iPhone) and lets you turn photos into vector graphics to be used in other Creative Cloud apps such as Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Animate, Illustrator InDesign and Premiere Pro.
This app is the combination of Brush CC, Color CC, Hue CC and Shape CC – letting you play around with geometric patterns, colours, shape and custom brushes.
It can also be in conjunction with the upcoming Adobe Fresco app, through which your photos instantly turn into brushes. Catch that in action with our video review of the software.
Graphic
Graphic from Picta is a professional graphic design and illustration app designed for artists on the go, working seamlessly on the iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil.
Although it’s a little on the pricey side, it may be worth the investment if you’re wanting a polished look on your graphics.
The app allows you to create complex vector-based PDF and SVG files using the powerful pen tool for customised shapes.
This app offers layer effects such as shadows, glow, multiple strokes and fills, as well as canvas scale, rulers and units to create dimensions with precision.
You can also use classic brush and pencil tools for fluid drawing and sketching.
Graphic is available for £8.99 or US$8.99 from the iOS App Store.
Astropad Graphics Tablet
Astropad Graphics Tablet is an iPad app, but it works with a Mac app to turn your iPad into a graphics tablet.
Yes, that’s right, you can use your iPad to draw directly into Photoshop or another applications on your Mac including Illustrator, Lightroom, Corel Painter, Manga Studio, Pixelmator, Mischief with Astropad.
Essentially, what you see on your iPad is the same as your Mac. A technology called Liquid allows twice as fast performance compared with AirPlay, better than JPEG files, and designed specifically for Wi-Fi.
It features palm rejection, pinch and zoom, customisable shortcuts and importantly, pressure sensitivity to allow it to work with lots of styluses, including the Apple Pencil.
Unlike some apps featured here, it’s regularly updated, meaning the software is optimised for the latest iPad Pros.
Astropad Graphics Tablet is available for £28.99 or US$29.99 on the App Store.
Adobe Illustrator Draw
You can create vector art with Illustrator Draw, with lots of handy tools at your fingertips to make the experience easier and more efficient.
You can zoom up to 64x to apply fine details and customise your toolbar and brushes. Adobe Ink and Apple Pencil (with iPad Pro), Adonit and Wacom styluses work alongside this app.
You’ll be able to create perfect lines and curves thanks to the Touch Slide digital ruler, and add images from multiple sources including the Creative Cloud market for tracing and collage.
2GB of complimentary storage for file syncing and sharing comes with the basic level of Creative Cloud membership.
As with Photoshop Sketch, Illustrator Draw comes included in your Creative Cloud subscription.
Support for pressure sensitive styli offers added appeal, too.
Illustrator Draw is free to download from the App Store. Don’t confuse it with the upcoming Illustrator for iPad that was recently announced.
Adobe Photoshop Sketch & Photoshop Mix
Photoshop Sketch offers up drawing tools including a graphite pencil, ink pen, blending markers and an eraser, as well as brushes including acrylic and pastel. It’s essentially the design tools from Photoshop condensed into a mobile app, so you should find it familiar and infinitely useful.
There’s also the Photoshop Mix app that’s aimed more at photographers than designers but could come in handy. It’s where you’ll find Photoshop’s other tools including Content-Aware Fill and Camera Shake Reduction, as well as other image enhancement features.
Both are connected to Creative Cloud and are free as part of your subscription.
Tayasui Sketches
We love Tayasui Sketches for sketching out ideas when we’re out and about and get a sudden burst of inspiration.
It’s free to download and initially offers a set of tools that’ll do the trick for doodling. The Pro version for $5.99 gives you unlimited layers, extra rulers, wet watercolour and colour eyedropper.
You can choose from realistic watercolour wet brushes, brushes, and a colour eye-dropper, and have the option to import photos.
Using your iPad you can organise drawings into personalised folders. Tayasui also supports Apple, Wacom, and Adonit Styluses.
You’ll get a pencil, rotring pen, watercolour brush, felt pen, eraser, and the ability to pick colours from a colour wheel. Only the bare minimum buttons are shown to make for a clean canvas.
You can also choose from a selection of paper types with varying textures, all of which result in realistic-looking strokes when combined with the tools available.
Vectr
Best for: Collaborative projects
Platforms: Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, Web Browser
Vectr is a free graphics software that lets you create vector graphics using a simple platform. Vectr is available as a downloadable program, or you can use the software online in your web browser.
The website includes a variety of helpful tutorials ranging from how to get started to creating beautiful professional presentations. You can also use the software to create business cards, typographic logos, social media headers, memes, resumes and more. In addition to the tutorials, you can also check out Vectr’s user guide for a more comprehensive description of how to use the software.
Perhaps one of the best features that Vectr provides is real-time URL sharing. You can send anyone a Vectr document for real-time collaboration online. You can create and edit designs live from both the web app or the desktop version. This makes it a great tool for collaborating with others on projects.
Conclusion
Graphic design apps are equally as important to designers as software. The right apps can make all the difference in how effectively you can design. Apps that are complex and allow for editing of images, fonts, colors etc that change or transform your app into something different than what you had planned is incredibly helpful.