Handy Art Reference Tool vs Skelly
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
Skelly
This app provides artists with a fully poseable, anatomically correct skeleton model for reference. Easily create custom poses, adjust lighting, and view from any angle to improve your drawing, sculpting, and illustration skills.
- Anatomically correct skeleton
- Poseable joints
- Pose library
- Movable camera
- Adjustable light source
- Simplified 'Robo Skelly' model
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Hey artists! Tired of scouring the internet for reference material? Does the NSA think you’re a weirdo for looking up all those skeleton pictures? Got no-body to pose for you? Its going tibia ok, the Skelly app is just what you need! With the Skelly app you can literally pull the inspiration you need right out of your pocket anywhere, anytime! Skelly is a fully poseable, anatomically correct reference skeleton for artists. A simplified version of the skeleton is also included, named “Robo-Skelly”. These figures were created to make the study of anatomy easier and more enjoyable for students and professionals without leaving your wallets bone dry. They can also be used to inspire poses for drawing, painting, sculpting, illustration, animation, comics, manga, storyboarding, twerking, and to fully understand the anatomy of the human skeleton. No need for super gluteus, Skelly comes pre-assembled and ready to pose as soon as you launch the app! Learning the structure of the human body is the skeleton key to drawing the figure in an anatomically correct manner without having to clear your browser history to avoid awkward conversations with your loved ones. Whether you want to make works like Michelangelo or Miyazaki, Skelly will help you focus on your art and let you personalize his poses, rather than searching for reference material and hiring models. Learn to draw the skeleton from any angle without the inconvenient and morally questionable need to go grave robbing. FEATURES: Anatomically correct skeleton Simplified “Robo Skelly” Proportions based on the teachings of Dr. Paul Richer Skull fits perfectly into a “Loomis Head” as taught by Andrew Loomis Poseable joints Pose Library - choose from pre made poses and save your own Movable camera Adjustable light source Choose light or dark background Reset to neutral “Anatomical Pose” PEOPLE LOVE IT: James Gurney, author of ‘Color and Light’ and ‘Imaginative Realism’ Says: "Bend him, twist him, contort him! The Skelly app lets you put a virtual human skeleton into any pose, and to see him from any angle, and in any lighting. It’s a great tool for art students or professionals wondering what the skeleton is really doing beneath a life pose, or for anyone wanting to visualize a pose from scratch. The interface is intuitive to learn and easy to use, without sacrificing any of the nuances of the human body’s complex range of movement. Skelly is a big improvement over the old wooden mannikin." - Chris Oatley, Director Of The Oatley Academy Of Visual Storytelling Says: "Skelly is the fastest, most fluid anatomical reference I have ever seen. I was shocked at how easy it is to pose the figure and direct the light source. Finally! It’s the app visual artists have been waiting for." Have any questions? CONTACT US: skelly@proko.com
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Handy Art Reference Tool at 4.8 against Skelly's 3.8. Handy Art Reference Tool also leads on price ($1.99 vs $6.99) and review sentiment (85% vs 69%). Skelly's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 15.0). On update cadence, ads 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
Handy Art Reference Tool costs $1.99 and Skelly $6.99 up front. Handy Art Reference Tool sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Skelly asks for nothing beyond the download.
Handy Art Reference Tool holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Handy Art Reference Tool has 1.2K ratings behind it against 117, 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 69% of Skelly's.
Handy Art Reference Tool ships an update every 5 months, Skelly every 8 months. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.
| Parameter | Handy Art Reference Tool | Skelly |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1.99 — better | $6.99 |
| Rating | 4.8 (1.2K ratings) — better | 3.8 (117 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 85.0% of reviews — better | 69.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 1.2K — better | 117 |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months — better | Every 8 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Best chart rank | #105 — better | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 361 MB | 104 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Belief Engine | Proko |
Customer experience
Handy Art Reference Tool
Skelly
User reviews
Handy Art Reference Tool
From 1.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Helpful for drawing reference
- 🔍 Useful for lighting and shading
- 🎨 Great for hands and heads
- 💡 Customizable lighting and poses
- 🎨 Diverse skin tone options
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes or freezes on some devices
- 💰 In-app purchases for additional content
- 🤔 Limited model variety (no full bodies)
- 🤔 Difficulty with precise positioning
- 🤔 Lighting controls could be improved
Skelly
From 117 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Intuitive and easy-to-use posing controls
- 💡 Excellent reference tool for artists and anatomists
- 🎨 Ability to switch between skeleton and basic shapes
- 💡 Adjustable lighting and viewing angles
- 🌟 High-quality, accurate anatomical model
Room to improve
- ❌ Cannot pose individual fingers or toes
- ❌ Cannot articulate the jaw
- ❌ Unrealistic joint rotation limits (360-degree movement)
- ❌ Poor camera controls and navigation
- ❌ Limited field of view options
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 moreShow fewer
- Improve lighting controls and options
Skelly
Reported bugs
10 issues- Camera controls are unintuitive and frustrating
- Selecting one bone sometimes selects a different bone
- Zoom function accidentally rotates the model
- Hip rotation rotates entire skeleton instead of just hips
- iPad Pro UI elements are too large and obstruct view
Show 5 moreShow fewer
- Save/export image function broken
- App slows down with 7+ saved poses
- Lighting quality poor on Retina displays
- Controls operate in opposite direction of intended movement
- iPad split-screen multitasking incompatibility
Requested features
26 requests- Posable fingers and toes with individual joint control
- Movable jaw with open/close functionality
- Undo/redo functionality
- Physics toggle to prevent unrealistic poses
- Female skeleton model with different proportions
Show 21 moreShow fewer
- Muscle layer visualization
- Adjustable limb lengths for different body types
- Multiple skeleton models at once
- Photo overlay/underlay for pose matching
- Customizable field of view (focal length)
- Preset hand gestures (fist, relaxed, etc.)
- Inverse kinematics (IK) rigging for limbs
- Ground plane and perspective plane options
- Joint locking capability
- Anatomically-correct range of motion limits
- Export with transparent background (PNG)
- White background option
- Front/side/top/bottom orthographic views
- Multiple light sources with color control
- Articulated hand-only or skull-only modes
- Child, adolescent, and infant skeleton options
- Background upload capability
- Animation/keyframe support
- Improved hip/pelvis posing controls
- Elbow side-to-side rotation
- Thoracic spine articulation
In-app purchases
Handy Art Reference Tool
- Feet Models$1.99
- Animal Skull Pack$1.99
Skelly
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Handy Art Reference Tool free?
Is Skelly free?
Which has better reviews, Handy Art Reference Tool or Skelly?
Do Handy Art Reference Tool or Skelly have ads?
Which is updated more often, Handy Art Reference Tool or Skelly?
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