7 Apps for Artists and Art Lovers

If your app usage revolves around social media, email, and transportation, you may want to breathe some fresh, creative energy into your smartphone rotation. After culling through apps that have launched or gained popularity over the past year, we selected the following seven for artists and others who are looking for new ways to embrace creativity. Ranging from an enticing digital drawing experience to social media tailored for artists, these apps will help you create and share your own art or discover the work of others, from peers to art historical masters.

Though it’s been around since 2016, the multifaceted Google Arts & Culture app shot to the top of iOS and Android charts early last year when its developers added a tool that connects art history with the zeitgeist: the “Art Selfie.” The feature uses artificial intelligence and facial-recognition software to match your face with art-historical doppelgangers (not unlike PopSugar’s more recent Twinning app that pairs people with their celebrity lookalikes). The app also offers the ability to see art that you may not be able to see in person, by browsing museum collections or taking virtual tours.

In December, Google added another innovative feature to the app: a “Pocket Gallery” that employs augmented reality to bring all 36 of the great Dutch painter

Johannes Vermeer

’s masterful paintings to you. By simply launching the app and aiming it down at a floor or a tabletop, you can peer into a cluster of seven galleries and enter them to ogle the fine details of iconic paintings—like The Milkmaid (1658–60) and Girl with a Pearl Earring (1665)—from the comfort of your home.

Named the best app of 2018 by Apple’s App Store, Procreate Pocket brings the wildly popular digital art app, long favored by artists, from the iPad to the iPhone. The Tasmania-based developers of Savage Interactive introduced the new experience this past year, including over 135 preset brushes that allow you to create masterpieces on your phone, using tools that mimic materials like gouache, vine charcoal, fresco, or turpentine (it can even create textures that emulate aged skin and flowing hair). The iOS app allows you to easily swap out brushes, undo rogue marks, develop custom color palettes, and switch between layers of canvas, while its responsive touch mimics the analog acts of drawing and painting, as pressing harder on the screen will produce heavier lines.

Awarded General Excellence in Fast Company’s 2018 Innovation By Design Awards, Are.na launched its iOS app just before the start of 2018, making its social media–slash–productivity platform accessible via iPhone and iPad. Made for and by designers and artists, Are.na helps you organize images, links, videos, and other media into collections called “channels”—essentially mood boards with a minimal aesthetic and limitless potential, but less focused on images and followers than Pinterest. You can save channels within larger channels, make them private or public, and share them easily with peers. Importantly, free from the ads, algorithms, and likes that have become synonymous with social media platforms, Are.na helps users connect with peers while keeping the focus on ideas, collaboration, and creative thinking.

Imagine you could make a giant doodle in the air with the tip of your finger, then walk around and through it. This dream becomes reality with Google’s Just a Line app, which uses augmented reality that allows you to make simple line drawings on your phone that appear to hover in the real space in front of you. You can record and share a video of your own creation process, or, if you and a friend use the app together, you can collaborate on a drawing—or just play a high-tech game of tic-tac-toe.

Daisie gained momentum in early 2018, ahead of its August 1st launch, due in large part to its famous co-founder, Maisie Williams (also known as Arya Stark of HBO’s Game of Thrones fame). The young actress teamed up with film producer Dom Santry to launch a networking tool intended to help aspiring creatives—from film, visual art, and photography to fashion and music—launch their careers.

Daisie allows users to set up a profile and add projects to their timelines, but it also places an emphasis on connecting with like-minded peers and future collaborators. “We’ve removed follow counts: Your profile grows with the amount of connections you make,” Williams explained via Twitter. One of the main features, called QTs (short for Question Time), allows users to ask industry leaders for insights and advice. “Think Reddit AMA with a splash of Masterclass,” Williams added. Though it’s currently only available for iOS, the app’s website says an Android version is on the way.

Though the quality and ease of use of the iPhone’s camera app may leave you more than satisfied, if you’re looking for something closer to the experience of using a DSLR camera, consider Obscura 2. Though it’ll cost you $4.99, the new version of the app (designed with iPhone X in mind) offers greater performance and stability, and features a clean interface, as well as the ability to capture multiple image formats at once. You can shoot highly detailed RAW images, achieve greater depth in your photos, and as you take pictures, you can seamlessly modify the exposure and focus with a few taps.

FiftyThree, the esteemed developers behind the beloved drawing app Paper, released Paste in 2017 to help you create and collaborate on beautiful slideshows (both apps were acquired by WeTransfer in August). The easy-to-use productivity app (which is available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac) allows you and your team to turn images, videos, screenshots, and other media into slides, without the tedious work of formatting. Placing the focus on creativity over busywork, Paste is an ideal tool for creating a wide range of presentations and decks, from mood boards and design proposals to portfolios and lectures.