Comparison

Handy Art Reference Tool vs Custom Color Picker

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

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.

Highlights
  • Rotatable 3D limb models
  • Customizable poses
  • Adjustable 3-point lighting
  • 3D head busts
  • Animal skull reference pack
  • Material editing
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

"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

About

Custom Color Picker

This app assists artists in selecting and mixing colors for realistic drawings. Create custom palettes, scan them, and blend up to three colors for your artwork. Save and share your palettes with others.

Highlights
  • Custom color chart creation
  • Color chart scanning
  • Smart color picking
  • Mix up to 3 colors
  • Palette Cloud Backup
  • Palette sharing
Features
Read full description

Introducing “Custom Color Picker” app, a customizable color picker for all kinds of artists. Learn realistic drawings FAST AND EASY! Custom Color Picker app will help you pick the best colors for your realistic drawings using your own custom palette. Made for colored pencils artist, watercolor pencils artist, acrylics artists, pastel artist, etc.... Create your color chart -> Scan your color chart -> Begin color picking. App Features: 1. Color chart recorder 2. Smart color picker 3. Mix and blend up to 3 colors. 4. Photo grid 5. Adjustable color depth 6. Palette Cloud Backup service (You will never lose your custom palette in any platform) 7. Palette sharing via cloud (Build and share your palette with friends) Full access to all features plus Palette cloud back-up service and sharing for a one time purchase. • Link to Privacy Policy/Terms of Use: (also accessible inside the app) Terms of Use: http://www.merg3d.com/ccp/ccpTerms.pdf Privacy Policy: http://www.merg3d.com/ccp/ccpPrivacy.pdf

Screenshots

Handy Art Reference Tool4 screens
Custom Color Picker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Handy Art Reference Tool at 85% against Custom Color Picker's 23%. Handy Art Reference Tool also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.1) and ratings volume (1.2K vs 51). Custom Color Picker's advantage is price (Free vs $1.99) and update cadence (every 6 days vs every 5 months). On ads, in-app purchases, monetization model 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Custom Color Picker is free to download; Handy Art Reference Tool costs $1.99 up front. Handy Art Reference Tool sells 2 one-off in-app purchases and Custom Color Picker sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Handy Art Reference Tool holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Handy Art Reference Tool has 1.2K ratings behind it against 51, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of Handy Art Reference Tool's written reviews are positive against 23% of Custom Color Picker's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Handy Art Reference Tool ships an update every 5 months, Custom Color Picker every 6 days. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Handy Art Reference Tool versus Custom Color Picker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterHandy Art Reference ToolCustom Color Picker
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating4.8 (1.2K ratings) — better4.1 (51 ratings)
Positive reviews85.0% of reviews — better23.1% of reviews
Number of ratings1.2K — better51
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 6 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#40 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size361 MB27 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperBelief EngineKristian Olidana

Customer experience

Handy Art Reference Tool

All ratings1,237 ratings
Positive97.4%
Neutral1.1%
Negative1.5%
Written reviews380 reviews
Positive85.0%
Neutral6.8%
Negative8.2%

Custom Color Picker

All ratings51 ratings
Positive76.5%
Neutral7.8%
Negative15.7%
Written reviews13 reviews
Positive23.1%
Neutral7.7%
Negative69.2%

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
Show 1 more
  • Improve lighting controls and options

Custom Color Picker

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Handy Art Reference Tool

One-time2
  • Feet Models$1.99
  • Animal Skull Pack$1.99
1 purchases

Custom Color Picker

One-time1
  • Custom Color Picker Full$11.99

Questions

Is Handy Art Reference Tool free?
Handy Art Reference Tool costs $1.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Is Custom Color Picker free?
Custom Color Picker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Handy Art Reference Tool or Custom Color Picker?
Handy Art Reference Tool is rated higher. Handy Art Reference Tool averages 4.8 out of 5 from 1.2K ratings, while Custom Color Picker averages 4.1 from 51 ratings.
Do Handy Art Reference Tool or Custom Color Picker have ads?
Neither Handy Art Reference Tool nor Custom Color Picker shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Handy Art Reference Tool or Custom Color Picker?
Handy Art Reference Tool ships an update every 5 months, and Custom Color Picker every 6 days. Most recently, Handy Art Reference Tool was updated on October 22, 2026 and Custom Color Picker on October 8, 2026.

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