When I was growing up I taught myself to draw from copying the comic panels in 2000AD. My tutors were Simon Bisley, Kevin O’Neill and Dave Gibbons. To this day I can hear my art teacher saying “he’s good but he doesn’t know what he’s doing”, and he had a point. Now, years later, I understand what the guy meant. Being able to draw and knowing how to draw are slightly different things, and an app like Simply Draw reveals the nuance.
Simply Draw is one of the best drawing apps for iPad I’ve tried. It manages to mix digital technology and traditional art skills to teach the fundamentals of drawing, from beginning with short video tutorials on using primitive shapes to build an illustration to shading and texture advice.
You’re drawing with pencil on paper, not on the iPad, but after each tutorial is finished you’re encouraged to photograph your art and the app’s AI rates it – in so much as have you met the steps, not if your art is ‘good’. Your final artwork can be uploaded to a personal in-app blog that can be shared with friends. Having a digital record of your progress is a good way to encourage continued sketching and drawing, which is handy for those of us who struggle to make time for daily sketching.
Image 1 of 3
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
It’s good to be honest with the app before starting too, I was a little coy and undersold by skill so I need to complete a series of basic exercises before I can get stuck into the meatier tutorials. But also, it’s nice to have refreshers and discover art theory my school teacher never taught.
The aim of Simply Draw is to create personalised courses just for you, so be honest. And underselling isn’t bad, you get to take on some fun tasks. After every completed tutorial or set of training the app will ask questions and set new priorities, and offer a schedule of courses with a goal – drawing a portrait, landscape or something else that appeals to you.
Along with the functional tutorials of how to shade, compose or sketch an object the app’s trainer will also offer little nuggets of advice, such as ‘locking your wrist’ to help draw smoother circular shapes. There are also the usual overly enthusiastic messages of encouragement, but we all appreciate an ass pat now again.
Image 1 of 3
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
(Image credit: Future)
Before downloading you need to know this is a paid app, and a Premium account can cost up to $89.99 / £89.99 for a year’s subscription. Despite being ‘free’ on the app store – you get a couple of tutorials and an account – you’ll need to pay to continue your art journey in the app.
Is $89.99 / £89.99 a year too much? Digital art app Procreate is $12.99 and we have our own list of Procreate tutorials that show how to use it. It’s certainly steep, but then with Simply Draw you get a year’s worth of very good, accessible art training. And as I discovered growing up, learning the foundations of how to draw and having something like Simply Draw to encourage you to keep at it daily, is priceless.
Like anything you buy, the value depends on how often you’ll be using the app, a daily tutorial sketch with feedback and detailed tips and advice, and that $89.99 sounds like a good investment.
The Simply Draw app is split into categories – Nature, Animals and Characters – and each offers a path from simple drawing tasks explaining shape and shading all the way to sketching portraits and landscapes. You can opt to pay monthly, which makes this structure more interesting, as I’d recommend picking a path and paying more like $9.99 / £9.99 for four weeks and completing a course, then if you like it, move to the next one.
(Image credit: Simply Draw)
Visit the Simply Draw Apple page to find out more about this fun app. While it runs on iPad, with videos to follow along with, the drawing is done traditionally with pencil on paper. If you prefer digital art, read our guide to the best digital art software – and remember the skills learned in Simply Draw are foundational, so apply to digital and traditional art alike.
