ArtRage vs pixiv Sketch
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.
pixiv Sketch
This app allows users to draw and communicate with a large community of artists. It offers easy-to-use drawing tools, AI-powered coloring, and collaborative features like "Redraw" and "Reply" to interact with other users' artwork.
- Easy-to-use pens and brushes
- AI automatic coloring
- Drawing Motivator Voice
- Redraw feature for collaboration
- Reply feature for illustration conversations
- Community feed with millions of illustrations
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Over 10 million users! A drawing and communication app that makes your daily creative activities more fun! It includes a Draw feature that allows you to easily draw at any time, and a community with over 11 million illustrations posted! About pixiv Sketch pixiv Sketch is a drawing and communication app by pixiv Inc. ・The Draw feature makes drawing feel just like sketching on paper, so you'll have no trouble getting exactly the results you want. ・The app features the latest drawing support technology, including automatic coloring using AI. About pixiv Sketch's Draw feature pixiv Sketch's Draw feature is the simplest you'll find around! Enjoy drawing digitally right away, even if it's your first time. ● Easy-to-use pens and brushes ・The app comes with pens and brushes that are easy for anyone to use, including first-time painters. ・The Sketch pencil feels as smooth as a real pencil. ・The variety of available brushes covers a wide range of media, including watercolor. ● Simple and intuitive interface ・The clean UI leaves room for a wider drawing canvas. ・The app includes special layouts for both right-handed and left-handed artists. ・No menus or tools getting in the way, allowing you a smooth drawing experience. ● Unique features to enhance your drawing experience ・Color your line drawings with AI! An automatic coloring feature is available for no-hassle coloring. ・The Drawing Motivator Voice feature will let you experience a new height of motivation! ・The Redraw feature allows you to add to other people's illustrations and daily themes. Find new drawing friends with the Community feature Communicate with your drawing buddies in a community where a total of over 11 million illustrations have already been posted. ● Enjoy a constant flow of illustrations on your Timeline ・Many new illustrations are posted every day. Check them out on your very own wall! ・Interact with your favorite illustrations by leaving a heart. ・Follow artists you like and connect with them. ● The Reply feature lets you respond to an illustration with another illustration ・Reply to everyone's posts with your illustrations. ・Use the Reply feature to easily join contests or post your own interpretation of daily themes. ・Send illustrations to other artists, or even have entire conversations using only artwork; how you use the Reply feature is up to you! ● Use the Redraw feature to add to existing illustrations ・Draw on the illustrations that others have posted. ・It's a great way to collaborate with other artists, for example by joining in on the daily theme or by coloring other people's line art drawings. Notes: A pixiv account is required to use some of the features. If you have any questions or to report a problem, please contact pixiv Sketch Support. https://www.pixiv.net/support.php?mode=select_type&service=sketch
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: pixiv Sketch at Free against ArtRage's $2.99. pixiv Sketch also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.5) and review sentiment (72% vs 57%). ArtRage's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and iOS requirement (10.0 vs 16.0). On ratings volume, in-app purchases and device support 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
pixiv Sketch is free to download; ArtRage costs $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
pixiv Sketch holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 171 and 214 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 57% of ArtRage's written reviews are positive against 72% of pixiv Sketch's.
ArtRage ships an update monthly, pixiv Sketch fortnightly. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.
| Parameter | ArtRage | pixiv Sketch |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 3.5 (171 ratings) | 4.7 (214 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 57.3% of reviews | 72.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 171 | 214 — better |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 16.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 62 MB | 134 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 12+ |
| Developer | Ambient Design Ltd. | pixiv Inc. |
Customer experience
ArtRage
pixiv Sketch
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
pixiv Sketch
From 214 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- ✨ Kind and supportive community
- 🎨 Simple and fun to use
- 👍 Easy to upload art
- 🖼️ Great for showcasing artwork
- 💖 Feels safe to share art
Room to improve
- 🌐 Mostly in different languages
- 🤔 Hard to draw on
- 📉 Live stream quality is bad
- 🚫 No full screen/high quality option
- 🗣️ User base mostly Japanese
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
pixiv Sketch
Reported bugs
11 issues- App freezes when trying to sketch/stream
- App crashes when trying to remove photo layer
- App crashes on opening
- Login always failed
- Live stream quality is very bad
Show 6 moreShow fewer
- No full screen and high quality option for live stream
- Cannot save art to photos
- New update drawing feature is hard to adapt
- Cannot login with existing Pixiv account
- Verification code not sent for account creation
- Newest update: unable to see new posts, notifications, follows, followers, posted works, or liked works.
Requested features
19 requests- Add translations for non-Japanese users
- Add furigana on posts
- Add layer zooming edit tool
- Add month-by-month history section
- Improve image quality on upload
Show 14 moreShow fewer
- Better censorship options
- Add image editing options (pen, lasso, stickers)
- Add English translation feature
- Add option to choose highest quality for live stream
- Co-stream live function on iPad
- Allow importing more than one photo
- Add an eyedropper/color picker tool
- Add a mirror option for drawings
- Add landscape drawing mode
- Add finger canvas rotation
- Add image transform tool (resize on canvas)
- Add English version of the app
- Add Facebook, Twitter, and Google login options
- Add a color tool
In-app purchases
ArtRage
No in-app purchases
pixiv Sketch
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is ArtRage free?
Is pixiv Sketch free?
Which has better reviews, ArtRage or pixiv Sketch?
Do ArtRage or pixiv Sketch have ads?
Which is updated more often, ArtRage or pixiv Sketch?
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