MeshPaper vs Art Reference
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
MeshPaper
Design unique and vibrant abstract shapes to use as standalone images or overlays. This tool is perfect for creating custom wallpapers and adding artistic flair to your photos.
- Create unique shapes
- Add shapes on top of images
- Save shapes as standalone images
- Design custom wallpapers
- Generate colorful abstract designs
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Have you ever wanted to create stunning, colorful shapes? Now with MeshPaper, you can! MeshPaper is an all in one app that allows you to create unique and beautiful shapes that you can add on top of images, or save by themselves. It’s great for making wallpapers and a whole lot more!
Art Reference
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Art Reference: Value Study helps painters, illustrators, and traditional artists see any reference more clearly. Study values, simplify light and shadow, overlay grids, and paint side-by-side with your canvas. A value (or tone) is how light or dark a color is. Learning to see values is one of the fastest ways to improve your drawing and painting. But it's hard to read shadows and highlights through all the color. This app makes it effortless. SEE YOUR REFERENCE IN VALUES Instantly convert any photo to grayscale, or a 7-value posterized scale. Flick between levels of detail, start in simple black and white, then build up value by value to train your eye. CROP & FRAME TO YOUR CANVAS Match your reference's composition and aspect ratio to your canvas before your first stroke. GRIDLINES Overlay grids to lay in your under-sketch with correct proportions. CURATED COLLECTIONS Don't have a reference ready? Start with dozens of hand-picked photos across Animals, Architecture, Botanical, Figure, Landscape, Portrait, Still Life, Skulls, and Master Studies from the great painters. NO AI ART Every starter reference is a real photograph or artwork, attributed to the original artist with a link to their portfolio. No AI-generated images. And your own artwork stays private in your personal iCloud, never shared online, never used to train AI models. WORKS OFFLINE No connection needed. Perfect for the studio, plein air, or anywhere you paint. CLEAN, FOCUSED, NO ADS Just the reference tools you need.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is iOS requirement: MeshPaper at 18.0 against Art Reference's 26.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
| Parameter | MeshPaper | Art Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 5.0 (1 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 100.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 1 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 6 weeks | — |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 — better | 26.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 1 MB | 181 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | MCRICH LLC | Gil Osborne |
In-app purchases
MeshPaper
No in-app purchases
Art Reference
No in-app purchases









