iPastels vs Sketchbook Drawing
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
iPastels
This app offers a realistic digital painting experience with lifelike pastel simulation and interactive textures. It allows for precise color blending and adjustable stroke sizes, catering to both beginners and experienced artists. Explore your creativity without the cost of traditional art supplies.
- Lifelike pastel simulation
- Realistic paper/canvas textures
- Precise color blending
- Fingertip stroke size adjustment
- Left-handed toolbar option
- Live parameter changes
- Multiple layers
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A painting app for all artists, whether you’re experienced or just starting out. Perfect for creating beautiful works of art or a quick sketch whenever and wherever you have a burst of inspiration. You can also try out ideas and compositions before starting on a new painting in real life, or practise and refine your skills, all without the added cost of art supplies. • LIFELIKE PASTEL SIMULATION • The app features live-calculated brushes and strokes, making a realistic pastel simulation possible. Painting tools include soft pastels, oil pastels, pastel pencils, smudge tool, and more. • REALISTIC PAPER/CANVAS TEXTURES • When creating a new picture, a unique, non-repeating paper texture is generated that will interact in real-time with the live-calculated strokes you paint. You can change the default-generated texture to, for example, canvas, which goes great with oil pastels! • PRECISE COLOR BLENDING • When painting, especially with soft pastels, use Smudge or the Cotton Swab to blend and smoothen the colors right on the paper, as you would in real life. With oil pastels, in addition to smudging, the blending is often done by the pastel sticks themselves (for best results, reduce the force or use a similar or lighter color). If you use an Apple Pencil, it will feel incredibly realistic if you use the stylus to draw and use your finger to Smudge (assigned as a 2nd tool)! • FINGERTIP = STROKE SIZE • When you paint, the app measures how much of your finger is touching the screen and changes the stroke size accordingly. Apply just the corner of your fingertip for a thin line, or the whole fingerprint area for a broad stroke. A 2nd tool assigned to your finger will still use this feature, so don’t ignore it just because you have an Apple Pencil! • LEFT-HANDED? • Just swipe the toolbar over to the other side! • PARAMETERS CAN BE CHANGED LIVE • Use any buttons or controls to change/adjust color, size, force, simultaneously while painting. • UNIVERSAL PURCHASE • If you choose to buy the Pro upgrade, this one-time in-app purchase will unlock all Pro features in the app on all available platforms (iPad-iPhone-Mac)! • METAL • The engine is based on Metal, with 128-bit color and floating-point arithmetic. • SWIFT • The app was developed entirely using Swift (earlier versions used C++). • APPLE PENCIL SUPPORT • FULL SCREEN PAINTING • SEAMLESS PATTERN EDITING MODE • • DARK MODE • LANDSCAPE • PORTRAIT • WIDE COLOR • • MULTIPLE LAYERS • PHOTO TRACING MODE (Pro feature) •
Sketchbook Drawing
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Sketchbook Drawing App is the ultimate tool for anyone who loves sketching and creating digital art. With its highly customizable interface and focus on complementing your creativity, this app is a must-have for artists of all levels. With an array of tools and modes, including custom brushes, Sketchbook Drawing App allows you to create stunning works of art with ease. its customizable color palettes give you complete control over your color choices. Whether you're an experienced artist or just starting out, Sketchbook Drawing App has everything you need to bring your ideas to life. you'll always have access to the latest and greatest tools. Sketchbook Drawing App is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, so you can focus on your art instead of getting bogged down in complicated menus and settings. Whether you're using it on your iPhone or iPad, the app's streamlined interface lets you get started drawing right away. In summary, if you're looking for an app that combines powerful tools with a highly customizable interface and a focus on helping you create beautiful works of art, Sketchbook Drawing App is the perfect choice. So why wait? Download it today and start exploring the world of digital art!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Sketchbook Drawing at none against iPastels's 6. On price, 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
Both are free to download. iPastels sells 6 one-off in-app purchases. Sketchbook Drawing asks for nothing beyond the download.
| Parameter | iPastels | Sketchbook Drawing |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (2.1K ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 81.7% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 2.1K — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 24 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Norbyte | Deisy Renteria |
Bugs and requests
iPastels
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes when importing images
- Layers sometimes disappear or get lost
- Undo button deletes entire drawing sections
Requested features
6 requests- Add color picker tool
- Improve layer management and visibility
- Implement pressure-sensitive brush support
- Provide more paper/canvas texture options
- Allow saving and recalling custom palettes
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- Add undo/redo functionality for individual strokes
Sketchbook Drawing
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
iPastels
- Tip Jar: Smallest Tip$1.00
- Tip Jar: Small Tip$2.00
- Tip Jar: Medium Tip$5.00
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- Pro Upgrade$7.00
- Tip Jar: Big Tip$10.00
- Tip Jar: Biggest Tip$25.00
Sketchbook Drawing
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is iPastels free?
Is Sketchbook Drawing free?
Do iPastels or Sketchbook Drawing have ads?
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