Handy Art Reference Tool vs 9VAe
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Handy Art Reference Tool
This app provides artists with rotatable 3D models of hands, heads, and feet for drawing reference. Customize poses and lighting to achieve realistic results for your artwork. Additional packs for animal skulls and foot rigs are available for purchase.
- Rotatable 3D limb models
- Customizable poses
- Adjustable 3-point lighting
- 3D head busts
- Animal skull reference pack
- Material editing
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"Thanks to this useful app, drawing realistic hands can become a whole lot easier" - ImagineFX "Pencillers, inkers, and colorists should all give this a look!" - Tony Moore, co-creator of The Walking Dead If you're an artist and ever wanted just quick and easy drawing reference for hands, heads, or even feet (IAP) without having to awkwardly pose your limbs in front of a mirror, this app is for you! HANDY® is an artist's reference tool, consisting of several rotatable 3D limbs with a variety of poses useful for drawing. You can also customize and edit your own poses for hands, feet, and skulls. Fully adjustable 3-point lighting means you can get easy lighting reference when using any of the 10+ included 3D head busts. Handy if you’re painting and need to know what shadows the head casts from a certain angle! Also available is the Animal Skulls pack. With over 10 different animal species, it's great for anatomical reference or creature design inspiration. [Foot rigs and Animal Skull pack require additional purchase] NEW in Handy v5: Edit the materials of models! Selectively turn off their textures, adjust their specularity, or tint them a certain color. Perfect for comic book artists, painters, or just casual sketchers! Featured in ImagineFX's Top 10 Must-Have Apps! Check out the video demo: https://www.youtube.com/@handyarttool Sign up for the HANDY newsletter for information about new upcoming updates! http://www.handyarttool.com/newsletter Follow HANDY on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/handyarttool.bsky.social
9VAe
Create smooth 2D vector morphing animations with powerful tools. Import graphics, add text and photos, and export in various formats. Offers features like hand-drawn writing and multi-layer support.
- 2D vector morphing animation
- Import SVG/WMF graphics
- Export SVG/GIF/APNG
- Add text, photos, objects
- Hand-draw writing
- Multi-layer support
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- 9VAe gives you powerful tools to create smooth 2D vector morphing animation. - You can make "1 Picture Animation" with only one drawing picture. - Import SVG / WMF graphics and export SVG / GIF / APNG keyframe animation. - You can add texts, photos, animation objects in your animation. - 9VAe provides Hand-draw Writing, Blur, Shadow, Transparent Gradation, Multi layer, Path Animation, Time curve. - The Output folder is "Internal > 9VAe". Put Sound (MP3/WAV), Animation, Illustration (SVG / WMF / EVA) here, you can import them. The 9VAe is for Tablet only and cannot be used in combination with VR・MR Glass. If you want to use VR・MR Glass, please use 9VAeDangla. - Official Blog https://9vaelab.blogspot.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: 9VAe at Free against Handy Art Reference Tool's $1.99. 9VAe also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and review sentiment (100% vs 85%). Handy Art Reference Tool's advantage is ratings volume (1.2K vs 4) and device support (3 vs 1). On rating and ads 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
9VAe is free to download; Handy Art Reference Tool costs $1.99 up front. Handy Art Reference Tool sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. 9VAe asks for nothing beyond the download.
On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Handy Art Reference Tool against 4.8 for 9VAe. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Handy Art Reference Tool has 1.2K ratings behind it against 4, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 85% of Handy Art Reference Tool's written reviews are positive against 100% of 9VAe's.
Handy Art Reference Tool ships an update every 5 months, 9VAe every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 2, 2026 and September 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Handy Art Reference Tool | 9VAe |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (1.2K ratings) — better | 4.8 (4 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 85.0% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 1.2K — better | 4 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 11.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 361 MB | 17 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Belief Engine | Hologram Co.,Ltd. |
Customer experience
Handy Art Reference Tool
9VAe
Bugs and requests
Handy Art Reference Tool
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes on launch for some users
- Purchased content not unlocking
- Positioning and movement issues
Requested features
6 requests- Add full body models and poses
- Include more facial expressions and emotions
- Allow for custom hand and finger posing
- Implement ability to save custom poses
- Add more diverse skin tones and ethnicities
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- Improve lighting controls and options
9VAe
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Handy Art Reference Tool
- Feet Models$1.99
- Animal Skull Pack$1.99
9VAe
No in-app purchases
