Android Art Apps

 
So far I have only picked up the one I already knew about, SketchBook Pro. Any residual disappointment in the pre-loaded apps is gone. SketchBook Pro, I am finding to be an excellent drawing experience and tool. At a glance it was a little confusing figuring out where all the tools are and why they're in more than one place, but I think it's just something to get used to. I'll post about it more once I've gotten deeper into it.

Anyway here is a nice list of apps and a run down of the original poster's thoughts on them. Thank you very much to micahganske for putting together the original post.

It can be hard to find the right software in Android and the apps suggested by the Wacom Reccomends app are not that great. I want to also say that until we get a feature complete version of Wacom's Bamboo Paper that is compatible with the Hybrid, we're missing a big piece of the digital sketchbook puzzle. Right now the Android version of Bamboo Paper is crippled (when compared to the iOS version) and is exclusive to Samsung devices. Not cool Wacom. You've entered the Android ecosystem so it's time to support it fully!

Anyway, here are the apps that I've found are great with the Hybrid:

Layer Paint HD: This is currently in beta but can be purchased in the Play store. It's the best app hands down for hi-res line art as it will let you work in just about any resolution you want. I've been working on 6000x4000 pixel images and it's smooth and responsive. If you want to do more in-depth painting at that size, you'll run into issues as the brushes don't go up to really huge sizes, but for pencil/pen simulation at super hi-res, it's absolutely fantastic and the dev is quickly updating and improving the app. There has been 3 upgrades in the last week for instance.

ArtFlow: This is a fantastic app with a beautiful UI. I really love it but the problem (right now) is that it crashes on the Cintiq. There is currently an issue that causes it to crash when touch input and stylus input happen too close together. It will be a wonderful app for the Hybrid eventually though. I've been emailing with the dev and he's eager to get it all working smoothly. Right now it only supports 2556x2556 canvas sizes but he's also planning on upping it to 4096x4096 soon.

Clover Paint: This app is sort of crazy. The UI is really awkward but it offers unlimited resolution for canvases and is EXTREMELY customizeable. You have more control over brush settings that you do in desktop Photoshop which is bananas. It also has a really nice brush engine. Definitely not for everyone but an interesting option to be sure if high-res artwork is what you're looking for.

Infinite Painter: This is a nice app if you want to simulate real-world type painting. Honestly, if I want to do detailed color work I'll connect to my pc and use photoshop though. This works well with the Cintiq but with a limited canvas resolution.

Sketchbook Pro: Everyone already knows this app but I'll put it in here anyways. This isn't my favorite app as I find the UI to be really slow to use, but it does work perfectly with the Hybrid. The issue for me is that it's limited compared to the iOS version and is also has a limited max canvas size.

Paperless: This app isn't very good but I'll include it since it's the only app in the Play store that tries to pull off a "Paper by 53" style. It's very mediocre when it comes to it's brush and line quality though. I really just wish Paper by 53 would come out for Android. Or Bamboo Paper...



Apps to Avoid (for drawing and painting)

Photoshop Touch: It has a terrible brush engine. Simply awful. It's okay for basic photo editing and collage though. Just very disappointed in it.