# Art Reference: Easel Assistant — Grid, Value Study, & Palettes

> Digital reference tool for traditional artists creating physical art. (iPhone/iPad app by Gil Osborne.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/art-reference-easel-assistant/id6752580673 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Gil Osborne](https://appshunter.io/developer/1135987694)
- Category: Graphics & Design, Photo & Video
- Price: Free with in-app purchases (on sale, was $4.99)
- Rating: 4.70/5 from 3 App Store ratings · 1 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 26.0 · 182 MB
- Languages: American English, French (France), German (Germany), Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified, China), European Spanish
- Released: 2025-10-12
- Data updated: 2026-08-17
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/art-reference-easel-assistant/id6752580673/reviews.md

## What is Art Reference?

Artists Reference is made for painters, illustrators, and traditional artists who work with real materials, not pixels. It gives you the digital reference tools you need while you're creating physical art.

Key Features

- Gallery: Take a photo of your finished work, add a frame, and view them all together in your personal gallery.

- Value Study Mode: Instantly view your reference in 7-value scale to see shadows and highlights or greyscale to see tone and contrast clearly.

- Gridlines: Helps get your under-sketch down accurately.

- Side-by-Side View: Compare your reference and your canvas at the same time, optimized for tablets and stands.

-  Crop and Frame Tools: Adjust composition and aspect ratio of your reference to match your canvas before you begin.

- Collections: Curated starter projects to help you practice and improve, including Animals, Architecture, Botanical, Figure, Landscape, Master Study, Portrait, and Still Life.

- Color harmonies: Experiment with color harmonies to define the feeling if your piece and save swatches

- Offline Friendly: Works anywhere, even in the studio or outdoors.

- Clean, Focused Design: No ads. No clutter. Just the reference tools you need.

- All of your artwork is private and only saved in your personal icloud. No artwork is visble to the internet or AI models

Made for Traditional Artists

Whether you're painting with oils, gouache, watercolor, or charcoal, Artists Reference helps you translate what you see into confident compositions and balanced values. Start with curated Collections to build your skills, or bring your own references for any project.

No AI art is used for any of the starter project references in this app. All photos are attributed to the original artists with links to their portfolio.

## Key features

- Value study mode
- Gridlines for accurate sketching
- Side-by-side reference and canvas view
- Crop and frame reference images
- Curated starter project collections
- Color harmony experimentation
- Offline functionality

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lifetime Full Access | $14.99 | one-time |


## Recent user reviews (1 of 1)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/art-reference-easel-assistant/id6752580673/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Amazing! Incredibly generous, still needs work

*2026-06-06*

First off this app is really unique! So much potential! 
It seems to still be in active development so it’s not perfect .
However…

This app is incredibly generous I would describe it as a 
“Creative project manager”
There is so much utility here!
This is a tool I’ve been looking for! 
You get so many great tools for free! I definitely want to support this apps development.

Suggestions:

- When you upload a reference it gives you the ability to download it again. This is amazing. For your finished work I’d add the feature to download the framed version and the original file unedited as well! (Just like when you download your reference photos from the gallery)

- adding the ability to place our own colors in the color mixer

- ability to create a custom color palette in app similar to the color harmonies tool.

- a gallery option so you don’t have to swipe to look through your completed gallery. (like a display of the pictures you can click, maybe even organize in folders)  then you can display it in gallery mode with the picture frame or close up with the ability to view the description and other details in a digital menu.

(Adding a switch from picture frame mode to a more digital interface would be cool and make it easier to admire your own work especially being able to zoom in)

- adding a confirmation before you delete a project 
(The button is so close to the duplicate button. If someone’s finger slips their project would be ruined)

Bugs I’ve encountered:

- When you complete a work it doesn’t automatically go to the “completed” section! The completed section says 0 even when I added a “finished work”.

- the app is a little laggy at times. 

- I feel the option for a more in depth tutorial showing how to use the interface would be good for many people!
(for people who may not be as experienced with devices/ tech it may frustrate them!)

- when you make a new project I have to open and close to app to access the new project which can be a bit frustrating.

- after removing a project the screen doesn’t clear sometimes it just keep the project you just deleted open? I did this with one of the sample projects.

I’ll update this review if I find anything else! Very amazing app I love what you’ve done this is perfect ⭐️

**Developer response:** Edit: Hello again! Following up on my response below to say I have launched a bunch of these fixes / suggestions!  I have added:
- a gallery option that is more of a grid to see all the art at once. You can also tap to full screen and swipe through. 
- now when you add a finished work it updates the status to complete. 
- made a full video walk through that shows if you have no projects yet and linked to in settings. 
- a confirmation pop up before deleting
- fixed the bug where when you delete a project it stayed open and well as a few other bugs. 

I am still working on some of this. But wanted to give you an update. Thanks again!

——
What a thoughtful review thank you! I am glad you are finding it useful and I will add all of these suggestions to my backlog! It is in active development as you said. I build this on the side for my own use so it’s really great to hear what features you are drawn to. I will work on these as soon as I can. Thank you!

## Frequently asked questions about Art Reference

### What is Art Reference?

Art Reference is a digital tool designed for traditional artists to assist with their physical art creation. It offers features like value studies, gridlines, and side-by-side viewing to help artists translate what they see into their work.

### Is Art Reference free to use?

Yes, Art Reference is available for free. The app is designed with a clean, focused interface and does not contain advertisements.

### Does Art Reference have ads?

No, Art Reference is ad-free. The description explicitly states 'No ads. No clutter. Just the reference tools you need.'

### What devices does Art Reference support?

Art Reference is supported on iPhones and iPads, making it versatile for artists using Apple mobile devices.

### How often is Art Reference updated?

The latest version of Art Reference is 1.60, and it was last updated on May 28, 2026. This indicates a recent update cycle for the application.

### Can I use Art Reference offline?

Yes, Art Reference is offline friendly. It works anywhere, allowing artists to use it in their studio or outdoors without an internet connection.

### What is the age rating for Art Reference?

Art Reference has an age rating of 4+. This means it is suitable for users of all ages, with no mature content concerns.

### Is my artwork private in Art Reference?

Yes, all artwork saved in Art Reference is private and stored only in your personal iCloud. No artwork is visible to the internet or AI models.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.62 — 2026-08-13

• Your project list sort order is now saved between sessions.
• Confirmation prompt before deleting a project.
• Projects are now automatically marked complete after adding your final artwork.
• Deleting a project while it's open now closes it cleanly.
• Thumbnails now keep their correct aspect ratio in the project list.
• New setting to hide the star from the project list.
• Tidied up spacing and layout throughout the project list and settings.
• Link to walkthrough video on YouTube.

Bug Fixes
• Fixed an issue where a project would close when rotating the device to landscape.
• Fixed issue where Collections and Gallery link on ipad has squared off corners, now rounded.
• Various visual polish and stability improvements.

### 1.61 — 2026-08-11

New Collections & Reference Content
• Added curated Collections, including a Master Study collection and a Skulls collection, to give you more reference material to work from.

New Gallery
• Browse your finished artwork in a redesigned Gallery with a new grid view option and quick view for fast previewing.

Artwork Capture
• Photograph your artwork directly in the app, with a new exposure slider for better control over how it looks.

Customization & Tools
• Set any grid size for your reference grids.
• Color harmony swatch and dot refinements.
• Primary reference now scales to fit the screen width.

Quality-of-Life Improvements
• Your project list sort order is now saved between sessions.
• Confirmation prompt before deleting a project.
• Projects are now automatically marked complete after adding your final artwork.
• Deleting a project while it's open now closes it cleanly.
• Thumbnails now keep their correct aspect ratio in the project list.
• New setting to hide the star from the project list.
• Tidied up spacing and layout throughout the project list and settings.

Bug Fixes
• Fixed an issue where a project would close when rotating the device to landscape.
• Various visual polish and stability improvements.

### 1.60 — 2026-05-28

Now add photos of your finished artwork and view them in your personal gallery.

### 1.54 — 2026-04-20

Refined some small branding things like screenshots and name.

### 1.53 — 2026-04-01

New collection for "skulls" 

Fixed an issue where rotating the device within a project, closed the project

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| [Artist Tools](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/artist-tools/id6756378078) | 4.5 (2) | Free | Graphics & Design |
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| [Values at Play](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/values-at-play/id6449201350) | 5.0 (5) | Free | Graphics & Design |
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## More apps by Gil Osborne

- [Alien Fitness](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/alien-fitness/id1433839472)
- [Indoor Bouldering](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/indoor-bouldering/id1535750808)
- [Using Spanish](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/using-spanish/id6476018482)
- [1000 Books Before 5](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/1000-books-before-5/id6749195393)

All apps by Gil Osborne: https://appshunter.io/developer/1135987694

## Related topics

[artist reference](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/artist-reference) · [value study](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/value-study)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-17.*