Pochade vs PaintSteps

**Pochade is free to try with included sample images. Unlock importing your own photos with a single one-time purchase of $9.99. No subscription, no ads, yours forever.** Pochade is a focused reference prep app for painters. Import a photo, study its values, compose your framing, and plan your grid — all before brush hits canvas. No AI generation. No social features. No clutter. Just the reference tools painters actually need, designed for iPad. STUDY VALUES WITH CLARITY The hardest part of painting from a photo is seeing the value structure. Pochade simplifies your reference into 2–9 tonal steps so you can map out your lights and darks before you start mixing paint. A live luminance histogram shows your overall tonal distribution. Select any value bucket to isolate it with a mask overlay, making it easy to see exactly where each tone falls in your composition. COMPOSE YOUR FRAMING Crop non-destructively with preset aspect ratios (1:1, 3:2, 4:3, 5:4) or use the original framing. Your source image is never altered — adjust your composition as many times as you need. OVERLAY A PLANNING GRID Add a customizable grid overlay to plan your drawing transfer. Choose your row and column count (2–12 each), pick a color that reads well against your image, and adjust line thickness. The grid respects your crop, so what you see is what you'll paint. TOGGLE GRAYSCALE Switch to grayscale to strip away color and focus purely on value relationships — the foundation of every strong painting. BUILT FOR HOW PAINTERS WORK Your sessions save automatically as you adjust tools. Come back tomorrow or next week and pick up right where you left off. Undo and redo are built in, up to 50 steps deep. A session library keeps your references organized with thumbnail previews and tool state badges so you can see at a glance what you've done with each image. Zen mode hides all controls so you can evaluate your reference without distraction. Pan, zoom, and rotate to inspect details. BUILT NATIVELY FOR iPAD AND iPHONE Pochade is built natively for iPad and iPhone. Everything runs on-device. Your photos and sessions stay on your iPad, nothing is uploaded anywhere. Privacy Policy: [link] Terms of Use: [link]

Turn any photo into a practical, step-by-step painting guide. PaintSteps simplifies your reference into progressive color stages, helping you see what to paint first and what to add next. Choose your medium and painting order, then work through the image, palette, and mixing guidance at your own pace. CREATE FROM ANY PHOTO - Choose an image from your photo library - Crop and position it for your canvas - Adjust colors, steps, smoothing, and canvas ratio - Build dark-to-light, light-to-dark, or balanced PAINT WITH CLEAR GUIDANCE - Follow progressive painting steps - Use color numbers and an adjustable drawing grid - Pinch to zoom while guides stay aligned - Press and hold to compare with the original photo TRACE WITH LINE ART - Turn your painting into an outline drawing to transfer onto the canvas - Choose the level of detail, or let Auto pick a step that's easy to trace - Add a drawing grid and color numbers, then print it or share it as a PDF or PNG - With Pro, choose thin, medium, or bold lines MIX COLORS - View practical paint-mixing suggestions for every palette color - Choose from built-in paint sets - With Pro, use your own paints and palettes, calibrate tinting strength, and edit recipes SAVE AND EXPORT - Keep your painting projects in one library - Export complete PDF tutorials, including the line art page, or individual PNG step images with Pro The free version includes up to two saved paintings, tutorials with up to four steps, and line art. PaintSteps Pro unlocks unlimited paintings, up to eight steps, custom paints and palettes, recipe editing, export, and line art thickness. PaintSteps Pro is a one-time purchase. No subscription. Mixing results are estimates. Always test a small mix before painting.