– Adobe Fresco
Unleash your inner artist with this app
Free (premium $9.99/month) From Adobe, adobe.com Made for iPad Needs iOS 12.4 or higher
For a long time, Adobe’s iPad apps were essentially cut–down versions of its desktop software. More recently it has begun to develop apps specifically for the iPad, helped in no small part by advances in hardware and software technology and tools like the Apple Pencil. Fresco is just such an app, built from the ground up for iPad, with desktop versions slated to follow at some point. It runs on all recent iPads and Minis, though a more powerful Pro model will give the best experience as well as more screen real estate to work with.
Adobe has managed to take a very powerful set of graphics creation features and make them as approachable and usable as we’ve seen in an iOS app. At its heart it works with two layer types. Pixel layers work with individual pixels such as dots or splatters of ink, and Vector layers with more strictly defined, larger areas of color. There are easy–to–follow layer management tools, accessed by long pressing on the layer area — these include masking, merging down, duplicating, and so on.
Live Brushes are Fresco’s standout feature and use advanced computing
algorithms to simulate the behavior of oil and watercolorbased paints, all of course totally configurable by the user in terms of size, pressure, and so on. Apple Pencil and finger touch can also be customized to suit your style, and it’s perfectly possible to create art without owning an Apple Pencil, even if more experienced artists will find one useful. Pixel and vector brushes offer you more conventional — if no less useful — alternative ways to paint. Every single aspect of each tool can be controlled precisely, and although there are a lot of options for behaviors, they never feel overwhelming.
One of the most impressive things is the way Fresco works with oil paints. They really do feel like oils in a way that is totally unexpected on a digital device. It’s almost tactile the way the brushes behave, and you can mix oils together to create blends and new colors in a way that feels revolutionary on an iPad.
Your subscription gets you access to a collection of over 1,800 brushes designed by artist Kyle Webster, and these are relatively easy to import into the app. Realistically, you will probably have a few that you use regularly and these can be assigned as your favorites. The brush panels can be docked or floated — a nice touch and something you don’t see much on iOS devices. It really makes it pleasurable to work in the app, as does the full screen mode that helps to remove distractions.
Documents can be exported in multiple formats as well as saved in your Creative Cloud and opened with other Adobe apps on the desktop, like Illustrator. Although you need to pay heftily to unlock some essential features, Fresco is an incredible tool for creating professional artwork on iPad.
tHE bOttOM LiNE. Fresco is a truly impressive digital painting app for iPad, with Live Brushes a particular standout.