Handy Art Reference Tool vs Comic Art Mastery
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
Comic Art Mastery
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Warning: This app may cause spontaneous artistic improvement, increased confidence, and people asking “Did you draw that?” Ever dream of drawing comic book characters that don’t look like soggy spaghetti noodles? Yeah, same. That’s why we built Comic Art Mastery — the mobile dojo where frustrated artists come to level up their penciling powers and stop Googling “how to draw abs.” Inside the CAM App: – Step-by-step lessons that don’t talk down to you – Sketch challenges, contests, and live draw-alongs (with bragging rights and prizes) – A global community that actually gives a crap – Real-time feedback, critiques, and mentorship – Instant access to your full course library, anywhere, anytime – Push notifications that whisper “Draw or else” (okay not really, but maybe) TLDR: This is art school for people who’d rather be sketching superheroes than writing artist statements. If you’re ready to ditch mediocrity and finally draw the characters you see in your head, tap download. Let’s get sketchy. END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Comic Art Mastery at Free against Handy Art Reference Tool's $1.99. Comic Art Mastery also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 2) and update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 5 months). Handy Art Reference Tool's advantage is chart position (#56 vs unranked). On ads, device support 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
Comic Art Mastery is free to download; Handy Art Reference Tool costs $1.99 up front. Handy Art Reference Tool sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Comic Art Mastery asks for nothing beyond the download.
Handy Art Reference Tool ships an update every 5 months, Comic Art Mastery every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and September 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Handy Art Reference Tool | Comic Art Mastery |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.8 (1.2K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 85.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1.2K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Best chart rank | #56 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 361 MB | 50 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Belief Engine | Comic Art Mastery LLC |
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
Comic Art Mastery
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
Comic Art Mastery
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Handy Art Reference Tool free?
Is Comic Art Mastery free?
Do Handy Art Reference Tool or Comic Art Mastery have ads?
Which is updated more often, Handy Art Reference Tool or Comic Art Mastery?
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