ArtRage vs Calligraphy Penmanship
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
ArtRage
This app offers a realistic digital painting experience, simulating the behavior of real-world art supplies like oils, watercolors, and pencils. It allows for smearing, blending, and texture application, making it accessible for aspiring artists without the mess or expense of traditional materials.
- Realistic paint simulation (oils, watercolors, etc.)
- Smearing and blending capabilities
- Layer support with blend modes
- Import images as reference or tracing
- Apple Pencil pressure and tilt support
- Customizable interface
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The most advanced simulation of real paint on iOS! Get creative on a digital canvas with smearing, blending oils, delicate watercolor, and much more! Ever wanted to try painting your masterpiece but were put off by the mess and expense? Now you can! ArtRage isn't just about color: It knows how much paint you've used so you can smear it around to spread it over the canvas. It knows how wet your paint is so you can blend it with other paints. It even knows about the roughness of your paper so your pencils can be used for soft shading. It's not just a special effect either - ArtRage is a live simulation of the properties of real artistic media that lets you can get creative with colors and textures using tools you already know how to use! ArtRage takes full advantage of the features of your device like larger canvases on iPad Pro, Apple Pencil support for pressure & tilt, and 3D touch on your iPhone. Join the ArtRage community: Forums: forums.artrage.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/artrage Features: Real world painting tools: Oils, Watercolors, Paint Rollers, Pencils, Crayons and more. Each tool has a range of familiar properties such as how much thinner is applied to the paint, or how soft a pencil tip is. Tools apply texture as well as color, and blend under the brush. Add Layers to your painting and work on individual elements without damaging others. ArtRage supports a wide range of Layer Blend Modes, and layer contents can be scaled moved and rotated independently. Import images, converting them to oil for smearing or as Reference Images pinned to the canvas as a visual guide. Load photos as Tracing Images which are overlaid on the canvas, and have ArtRage select colors automatically as you paint. The interface has been designed to maximize your creative space without hiding away critical functions such as tool and color selection. As you paint, it gets out of the way so that you don’t have to stop and manually adjust panels. Record your paintings! The ArtRage Script system lets you record strokes while you paint for playback in desktop versions of the product at higher resolution. Import and Export using external services such as Dropbox, and iCloud Drive. Share your images on Facebook, Twitter, and any other sharing app on your device. Tools: • Oil Brush, Watercolor, Airbrush, Palette Knife, Paint Roller, Paint Tube, Inking Pen, Pencil, Marker Pen, Chalk, Crayon, Glitter Tube, Gloop Pen, Eraser, Flood Fill. • Paint simulation monitors the physical properties of your paints to allow natural blending, smearing, and other real world behavior. • Preset support to save your favorite settings for later use. • Supports the Apple Pencil's Pressure and Tilt properties, and 3D Touch where available to add realism to the simulated paint strokes. Layers: • Unlimited layers with Photoshop standard blend modes, visibility and opacity controls. Scale, rotate, and position layer contents independently. Utilities: • Record your paintings as Scripts then play them back in a desktop version of ArtRage. • Unlimited Undo / Redo. Load photos as References or Tracing images. Store color samples for later use. Files: • Create paintings up to 2048 x 2048 or 4096 x 4096 on iPad Pro. • Control the texture and color of the canvas to create different effects. Canvas presets can be stored to save your favorite settings for later. • Export PTG, JPG or PNG to services such as Email, iOS11 Files, Adobe Creative Cloud, Dropbox, and more. Share images on Facebook or Twitter. Import photos to a new file or a layer, with camera support. Interface: • Easy access pods provide functionality without getting in the way. Elements vanish as you paint so you can paint underneath. Multi-Touch shortcuts for canvas manipulation, Undo/Redo, and Brush Size. • Adapts to suit iPhone layouts. Stylus & Input Support: • Apple Pencil Pressure & Tilt. • Supports 3D Touch. • Includes support for Wacom, Adonit, Adobe, and Pogo styluses.
Calligraphy Penmanship
Create digital calligraphy artworks with a realistic pointed pen experience. Adjust pressure and smoothness for elegant shades and fine strokes. Learn and practice lettering with guided exercises and decorative elements.
- Realistic pointed pen simulation
- Adjustable pressure and smoothness
- Stroke-by-stroke learning exercises
- Letter tracing with guide lines
- Ornamental frame creation
- Text typing with embellishments
- Gradient and alternated color effects
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Most of penmen use only a pointed pen to create all their artworks. This seems incredible to realize digitally on a mobile device. Except if you have in hands the appropriate tool and an excellent app. Calligraphy Penmanship is bringing the best experience ever to calligraphers and letters lovers to create digital artworks on a famous mobile device. Just use it like a pointed ink pen. A tiny variation of your hand pressure will create elegant and majestic shades. We have added a bonus to your freehand drawing: the ability to adjust to your hand the pressure and smoothness of the pen. The fineness of the strokes is really surprising. We have found some advantages of the digital Penmanship: - You don't need to reload your pen with ink. - You don't need to clean your pen nibs when changing the colors. - The undo function let you create a great number of variation of a single stroke. Free your imagination without pain. Main features: - Flourished hands to learn and practice Penmanship. The most important technique to master is to push or pull your pencil in order to create thin and fat lines in one single stroke. - Learning: you can evaluate your progress with stroke by stroke exercises. Try your best to trace the models and hit the high scores. This is the best way to understand the anatomy of each letter. and each decorative curve. - Training: with each letter, a full training page provides models to trace, guide lines and grids. - Learn to decorate beautifully your lettering works. You can find simple patterns to trace, to change or to improve. With this updated version, you have the ability to create ornamental frames where to insert your works. Frame creating is based on a multiple combination of different types of symmetry drawing. This function is really easy to understand and practice. - Want to create your own lettering words and quotes ? Try out the text typing keyboard. How it works: type your text, validate, then trace them with embellishments and ornaments. - A set of plain color for your pen. But also two specific effects: gradient and alternated colors. This is on of our best deal for unique lettering creations. - A 3 day free trial is activated when you open the app for the first time. Enough time to have the pleasure to perform your lettering. What's your next project ? Why not sending a beautifully framed quote or invitation to a friend, entirely created with your lettering ? Warning: even you can draw with your fingers, this app offers the best experience with the Apple Pencil.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Calligraphy Penmanship at Free against ArtRage's $2.99. Calligraphy Penmanship also leads on rating (4.4 vs 3.5) and ratings volume (843 vs 171). ArtRage's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and update cadence (monthly vs every 4 months). On review sentiment, ads and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Calligraphy Penmanship is free to download; ArtRage costs $2.99 up front. Calligraphy Penmanship sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. ArtRage asks for nothing beyond the download.
Calligraphy Penmanship holds the better App Store score, 4.4 against 3.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 171 and 843 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 57% of ArtRage's written reviews are positive against 56% of Calligraphy Penmanship's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
ArtRage ships an update monthly, Calligraphy Penmanship every 4 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | ArtRage | Calligraphy Penmanship |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.5 (171 ratings) | 4.4 (843 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 57.3% of reviews — better | 55.8% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 171 | 843 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly — better | Every 4 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | #143 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 | 9.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 62 MB | 306 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Ambient Design Ltd. | Etienne Nguyen Tan Hon |
Customer experience
ArtRage
Calligraphy Penmanship
User reviews
ArtRage
From 171 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎨 Realistic paint simulation
- 👍 Intuitive and easy-to-use interface
- 💡 Variety of tools and customization options
- 🎨 Blending and mixing of colors works well
- 🎨 Simulates traditional media like oil, watercolor, and pastels
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and freezes
- 🐛 Laggy performance, especially with larger brushes
- 🔍 Limited canvas size and resolution
- 🐛 Bugs with layer handling and saving progress
- 🔍 Missing some basic features like shapes and text
Calligraphy Penmanship
From 843 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great for practicing calligraphy
- 💡 Variety of fonts and styles
- 🚀 Responsive with Apple Pencil
- 😊 Enjoyable and relaxing to use
Room to improve
- 🐛 Lag and delay when writing
- 💰 Paid version required to access full features
- 🤔 Unclear trial period and payment model
- 👨🦰 Not very user-friendly for left-handed users
Bugs and requests
ArtRage
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes and loss of unsaved work
- Bugs with color picker and blending tools
- Inconsistent behavior when switching between tools
Requested features
5 requests- Ability to resize and rotate canvas
- Improved palm rejection and touch controls
- Larger brush sizes and more customization options
- Support for higher resolution canvases and export
- Autosave and cloud sync functionality
Calligraphy Penmanship
Reported bugs
3 issues- Frequent crashes and app freezes
- Issues with in-app purchases and restoring purchases
- Incompatibility with certain devices and iOS versions
Requested features
4 requests- More font and style options
- Ability to move and resize letter guides
- Improved pressure sensitivity and responsiveness
- Option to switch sidebar to right side for lefties
In-app purchases
ArtRage
No in-app purchases
Calligraphy Penmanship
- The Old School French Cursive Hand$1.99
- Copperplate Hand$1.99
- Unlock tools and 6 basic alphabets$3.99
Questions
Is ArtRage free?
Is Calligraphy Penmanship free?
Which has better reviews, ArtRage or Calligraphy Penmanship?
Do ArtRage or Calligraphy Penmanship have ads?
Which is updated more often, ArtRage or Calligraphy Penmanship?
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