SketchBook Mobile review

Mark Mackay

We review SketchBook Mobile, a drawing app for the iPhone that has finally got it right

Published on Oct 28, 2009

We've seen many a drawing app that turns the iPhone's touchscreen into a blank canvas and provides a few tools that you can use to fill it.

Sadly though, the majority have fallen short, a fact mainly down to the fact that a clumsy finger on the touchscreen is no substitute for a sharp pencil and paper. However we've finally found that one simply nails it.

Sketchbook Mobile's opening screen shows a very cool drawing of a robot which has been accurately drawn and coloured. The first thing that goes through your mind when you see it is that it couldn't have been done on the app.

However when you first put your virtual pencil to paper, it becomes clear that it may just have been. The developers have done a great job in simulating a pencil stroke, with the lines starting off opaque and tapered.

The lines are drawn thin, sharp and precise and you can zoom in on areas that require more detail. These simple qualities are some of the reasons that drawings look so good on the app and that's before you so much as open the tool box.

A subtle icon in the bottom centre of the screen opens up a neatly designed circle tools menu.

Here you can select eight tools including the usual pencil and airbrush and eraser tools. While most airbrush tools are par for the course, the Sketchbook Mobile one is perfect. It's very subtle, allowing you to build up accurate layers of colour.

One of the things that makes this app stand out is the brush editor. You can select from a wide range of shapes and types of strokes from flared or tapered ends, brush sizes and a whole range of opacity options. The brush menu is incredibly dynamic.

The second major thing to the invaluable addition of layers. Much like in Adobe's Photoshop, you can have several different layers in a drawing and then manage them individually, making them invisible to allow you to work on others or change the opacity.

You can also import photos from your library or a fresh snap from the camera and add the shot into the individual layers.

In addition to the 30 colours in the app's pallet you can pick your colours from a colour wheel. This allows you to select any shade in between the primary colours and black and white.

Sketchbook Mobile app is a cinch to use, has a great interface, the brush strokes look awesome and the diversity of the tools is second to nothing we've seen on the iPhone to date. This app is going to take some serious beating.