Designers are not only concerned with the design. They often find themselves also creating the actual layout. The free hand has its charm, but for an accurate digital work that borders on perfection, it is necessary to rely on specific software and applications that can enhance the designer’s drawing qualities and perhaps add a few more touches that, perhaps, would not have been possible. Run-on paper. Here are the most popular applications and programs for digital drawing.
Sketchbook Pro
Sketchbook Pro is an Autodesk program designed for all users who want to create digital illustrations and drawings. Users can customize the interface of this application with the tools that are used most often. Users can choose from more than 190 tools, including brushes, pencils, airbrushes, and inks. Thanks to new technologies, the digital drawing experience is very close to the experience the user experiences when drawing freehand.
After downloading the application, an initial guide will explain how the software works. Thanks to the manual, the user will immediately have an overview of the most exciting tools, including the color wheel, brush, symmetry, and gradient fill. Sketchbook Pro has been designed to be used with the help of a pen and touch, which give an extra touch to the final resolution of the drawing. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes: you can undo every action or restore the entire canvas.
Adobe Fresco
After the withdrawal from the market of Photoshop Sketch and Illustrator Draw, Adobe has proposed a new application that should combine the functionality of the previous two. Thus was born Adobe Fresco, a new application for drawing and painting explicitly designed for touch and stylus devices. For iPad and Windows, Adobe Fresco offers a large variety of brushes, including live meetings, which give a natural effect to any design.
The simple interface gives users an overview of all the tools they need to create projects with immediate and fast workflows. If you prefer, you can customize it with the tools most used during the drawing sessions. Users will be able to get lost in a collection that includes thousands of brushes, including pixels, live and vector, designed to satisfy every need, from illustrations to drawings to watercolor and oil paintings and photo collages.
Adobe Capture
Adobe Capture is an application available for iOS and Android for free. Unlike the others, this application was designed more for creating than drawing. It allows users to immortalize with a simple photo any interesting element they find in front of them while they are around and modify it to their liking. If you come across a flower with particular shades during a walk, take a photo, and with Adobe Capture, you can trace the image’s gradients in a few clicks simply by scrolling on the image.
Users can also transform their pictures into vector shapes, look for which font they have noticed, for example, on a shop sign, and get recommendations from Adobe Fonts. You can choose color themes with extreme precision and create patterns from a single photo of any object. Custom natural 3D materials can be made with the textures around them. Finally, users can turn images into paint brushes for use in other Adobe apps and capture the light and color of an image.
Clip Studio Paint
Clip Studio Paint is an application created specifically for drawing lovers and enthusiasts. The peculiarity of this software is the brushes, which seem to have a natural and realistic stroke. The software is paid, but it is possible to test it thanks to a free trial version. Clip Studio Paint can detect up to 8192 pen pressure levels recognized by Wacom tablets. Users will also be able to express any nuance thanks to the pen.
Designers will be spoiled for choice: Clip Studio ASSETS makes 1000 new materials available every month. With this complete set of tools, users can customize all their brushes, creating a unique and personal style. One of the greatest innovations of this application is the possibility of using the coloring system, which is based on the machine learning of artificial intelligence. Thanks to AI, just a few color or line art touches will be enough to get fantastic results.
Procreate
Procreate is a great iPad application that allows you to draw, paint and illustrate. Suitable for both enthusiasts and professional illustrators. Thanks to the use of Apple’s pencil, drawing will be child’s play, and the control over the lines of the drawing will be greater than with any other device. Among the most popular and advanced functions is the live reconstruction to change further the changes made to achieve stylistic and graphic perfection. Users can push, expand, pinch, pull, and twist any element they draw.
The Symmetry Drawing Guide makes it easy to mirror effects directly while creating the layout if you need to create a perfectly symmetrical design. This way, the workflow is not stopped, and the user can continue drawing smoothly. If, on the other hand, you have in mind a drawing with a vital perspective, Procreate provides a series of tools that allow you to measure the grid and create detailed guides accurately.
AstuteGraphic Illustrator Plugin
In addition to the various software, applications, and programs dedicated to designers, we must not forget or underestimate other tools that can be very useful, such as plugins. In this specific case, we will talk about the AstuteGraphic plugins for Illustrator, which allow you to give the Adobe application an altogether higher level of quality. AstuteGraphics offers 21 different plugins, accessible through an annual subscription.
From auto saves to the ability to set reminders, from selection tools to perfect alignment, without forgetting the importance of lettering, pre-press checks, the creation of perfect paths and roads, immediate symmetry correction, and instant control of color. These Illustrator plugins offer many benefits to take advantage of while working, indispensable for any professional designer.
AutoCAD
If you are an architect, a surveyor, or an engineer and the aim is to create a technical drawing, you cannot fail to use AutoCAD. AutoCAD is a CAD software launched on the market by the Autodesk company to offer a tool that could help realize 2D projects, although 3D models can also be produced. With AutoCAD, it is possible to create technical drawings starting from solids and surfaces but also to design the plan of a house and draw an elevation, with results almost always in two dimensions.
Compared to the first versions of the program, modern AutoCAD allows you to do much more than simple C ++ programming, becoming a fundamental reference point for professionals in the sector. Thanks to its extensions of tools created ad hoc for each area, the software can respond to any need in the industry. AutoCAD can be used in any field, from architecture to electrical environments, but also in 3D maps, mechanics, and raster design.
3D Graphics Programs
With the advent of low-cost 3D printers, plenty of 3D printing enthusiasts have bought one to bring their first 3D model to life. Surfing the web, you can find many ready-to-use models: from cutlery to Minifigures of space characters, such as Baby Yoda, one of the most downloaded 3D models in the world. But if you want to print an object born from your mind, you will need software that allows you to create a 3D model. Here are two examples of the most used by designers.
3ds Max
Formerly also known as 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, the modern 3ds Max is a three-dimensional vector graphics and animation software marketed by the famous company Autodesk. Among the many programs for 3D modeling, 3ds Max is undoubtedly one of the most famous and used. Its powerful editing capabilities, combined with many plugins available, make it one of the most valuable tools in the industry.
Advanced features like textures, but-in regular map generator, and renderer have been included to enhance users’ game design ability. Regarding modeling, 3ds Max offers seven different methods: primitive modeling, NURMS, Surface tool, NURBS, polygon, mesh, and patched modeling.
SketchUp
Sketchup is the big competitor of 3ds Max. Enthusiasts can take advantage of the features of SketchUp both through the program and directly online from the official website. The graphics and the interface of the 3D modeling application are elementary and intuitive, so much so that it does not need a particular preliminary study to access its functions efficiently.
Compatible with Windows and Mac, it can also be used to create technical drawings, although the rendering is not photorealistic. When you create 3D objects on SketchUp, it will be like drawing them with a pen on paper: speed and intuitiveness of the drawing shapes are two of its cornerstones. Intuitive and understandable even for beginners, it is swift to use and does not require too many intermediate steps to obtain the final design.
Also Read: What Are The Most Used Tools By Designers?