From a very intuitive interface, you won't take long to find out what you can do with it. It features a wide variety of brushes and tools for being able to turn your computer into a digital canvas. However, there's a free Express version on the Mac App Store – with a limit of three layers, a stop on how big you can make images and minus the ability to create custom brushes.SketchBook Pro is a program that is basically all about illustration.

When it debuted on the Mac App Store it was a steal at £18. If you've got the talent, it will fit around you. There's no real limit to what you can do with SketchBook Pro. Some of the more complex brushes, when using multiple layers and blending modes, can crawl a bit on older machines. One thing – if you're creating large, complicated pieces, you will need a fast machine. You can create your own custom brushes and sets. Along with layer blending modes, this is a great app for getting quick ideas down, as well as creating full-on digital paintings. The painting tools themselves are superb with an excellent sense of realism. To appreciate the control that this offers, you'll want to be using a Wacom.Īll of this, along with fact that tools can be accessed in so many different ways with different ways of controlling and tweaking them, makes this one of the best UIs out there – a true masterclass in catering for the needs of its users without getting in the way. By clicking and dragging on this you can quickly change the size and angle of your brush – a brush preview appearing on the canvas as you do so. This small, circular dial sits anywhere you like on your canvas. You can also undo and redo using the red and green arrows.Īnother great UI element is the Brush properties control. Similarly, you can jump between colours, layers and other tools.

You can also open the Brushes palette for more control.Īt the very left of the curved toolbar, you can reposition it or flick between different interface views. By clicking and holding on a tool, a number of options appear, then you select which one you want by dragging your stylus over to it.įor instance, by clicking and holding on the brush tool, you can quickly swap between Pencil, Airbrush, Paintbrush or other drawing tools. The way you use this toolbar soon becomes second nature when painting in the app. In fact, you may as well turn the top toolbar off, because everything is accessible from the bottom bar.

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