Comparison

Art Reference Board vs Art Reference

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side β€” with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Art Reference Board

Features
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Your references should stay as close as your next brushstroke. Mica is an art reference board built for illustrators, painters, animators, concept artists, character designers, tattoo artists, art students, and anyone who thinks visually. Gather images, photos, GIFs, WebP animations, video, and PDFs on an infinite canvas. Then study color, value, shape, pose, and motion without breaking your creative flow. BUILD THE BOARD YOUR ART NEEDS β€’ Import from Photos, Files, folders, camera, document scanner, or clipboard β€’ Drag and drop on iPad and Mac β€’ Save references from other apps with the system share sheet β€’ Send new ideas to Capture Inbox and organize them later β€’ Reuse original images from your asset library across multiple boards STUDYβ€”DON’T JUST COLLECT β€’ Generate six- or twelve-color palettes from the dominant colors in your references β€’ Combine grayscale with two-, three-, four-, or six-level posterization for value studies β€’ Crop, flip, rotate, resize, and adjust opacity β€’ Play GIF and WebP animation, inspect timelines, and step frame by frame β€’ Step precisely through video and save useful frames to your canvas β€’ Run timed reference studies with interval and shuffle controls β€’ Annotate, highlight, measure, and sketch with Apple Pencil KEEP REFERENCES BESIDE YOUR WORK β€’ Work beside your drawing or painting app on iPad β€’ Float a reference with Picture in Picture on iPhone and iPad β€’ Keep an always-on-top reference window on Mac β€’ Enter focus or presentation mode when you want the interface to disappear ORGANIZE SERIOUS CREATIVE PROJECTS β€’ Build boards with pages and layers β€’ Arrange references in rows, columns, or a masonry-style grid β€’ Group, lock, hide, duplicate, snap, and reorder canvas items β€’ Add folders, tags, notes, sticky notes, styled text, and saved canvas regions β€’ Search reusable assets by name or tag, filter by dominant color, and find boards with Spotlight β€’ Keep favorites, recent work, reusable assets, and captured ideas within reach PRIVATE, PORTABLE, AND YOURS β€’ Work offline by default β€’ Protect private boards and folders with a passcode or supported biometrics β€’ Restore an earlier local board version without overwriting your current work β€’ Export pages as PNG or PDF, share selected references, or export original files β€’ Move a complete project with Mica’s portable .refboard archive Collect what inspires you. Study what matters. Keep creating. Start free with one board, one page and up to 12 items. Advanced features require Mica Pro. Available purchases and any eligible trial are shown in the app. Privacy Policy: https://rezonating.app/privacy.html?id=mica Terms of Service: https://rezonating.app/terms.html?id=mica

About

Art Reference

Features
Read full description

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

Art Reference Board4 screens
Art Reference4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Art Reference at none against Art Reference Board's 2. On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price Β· Rating Β· Positive reviews Β· Number of ratings Β· Update frequency Β· Ads Β· In-app purchases Β· Monetization Β· Best chart rank Β· Devices Β· Requires iOS

CostPrice Β· In-app purchases Β· Ads Β· Monetization

Both are free to download. Art Reference Board sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month. Art Reference asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard1 real difference Β· 5 level
Art Reference Board versus Art Reference: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterArt Reference BoardArt Reference
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 daysβ€”
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo β€” better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size44 MB181 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRezonating Apps, LLCGil Osborne

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Art Reference Board

Subscriptions1
  • Mica Pro - Monthly3 Days trial$1.991 Month
One-time1
  • Mica Pro - Lifetime$5.99
None

Art Reference

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Art Reference Board free?
Art Reference Board is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Art Reference free?
Art Reference is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Art Reference Board or Art Reference have ads?
Neither Art Reference Board nor Art Reference shows ads.

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