Creative alternatives today span everything from AR-assisted tracing and structured drawing practice to pro-grade iPad studios and lightweight reference utilities. Some prioritize learning and confidence-building, while others focus on speed, polish, or keeping your visual references perfectly organized.
SketchAR
SketchAR leans hard into the “augmented reality + practice” experience. It projects a virtual guide onto real surfaces so you can trace on paper or scale drawings up to walls, then pairs that with a large lesson library and creator-friendly exports. It also blends in modern creator tooling—like time-lapse capture and social sharing—so the process is as easy to publish as it is to start.
Standout capabilities include:
- AR-based projection for tracing on real surfaces (paper, boards, walls)
- Guided lesson catalog (good for repeating fundamentals without hunting for tutorials)
- Social/AR ecosystem hooks, including community prompts like sharing your masks with hashtag #sketchARmask
Best for
Beginners who want a guided on-ramp, and creators who like the idea of taking sketches from desk to wall while keeping a shareable workflow.
Guidart
Guidart is built around structure. Instead of treating drawing improvement as a grab-bag of random tutorials, it organizes practice into step-by-step exercises with a calmer, minimal flow. The maker story is explicit: it was created because learning felt
unnecessarily chaotic and needed a clearer sense of progression.
What makes it stand out:
- Step-by-step, follow-along lessons designed for consistency
- AR mode for projecting guides onto paper via the camera
- Real-time feedback loops (AI critique + progress tracking mechanics)
- A curriculum-like approach focused on confidence-building and momentum
Best for
People who want a “practice plan” feel—especially those who start drawing, stall out, and want something that keeps sessions focused. (It’s also worth noting it’s
available in some regions.)
Procreate
Procreate is the iPad workhorse for illustration: fast brush response, deep layer workflows, and an overall “studio in your backpack” vibe. It’s also a common part of hybrid pipelines—some artists will
use Procreate and then vectorize with illustrator when they want painterly freedom up front and scalable assets later.
Why it stands out:
- High-performance drawing/painting with a powerful brush engine
- Layer and blending workflows that scale from sketches to finished pieces
- Flexible exports for handoff or publishing
- Consistently strong user sentiment, reflected in top ratings from artists and other five-star reviews
Best for
Power users who want a full-featured iPad illustration environment—especially if you prefer creating directly (rather than tracing) and refining until it’s portfolio-ready.
Value Study
Value Study is a focused tool for one of the most transferable art skills: seeing and organizing light and shadow. Instead of editing references in a general photo app, it helps you quickly break an image into simplified value groups for clearer planning and stronger compositions.
Key strengths:
Best for
Painters, illustrators, and students who want cleaner value reads from reference images—especially for notan studies, thumbnails, and pre-paint planning.
PureRef
PureRef is the quiet productivity multiplier: a lightweight desktop reference board that keeps everything visible at once. Instead of juggling folders, browser tabs, and scattered windows, you build a single canvas of references—ideal for long projects where you need consistency across anatomy, materials, lighting, or style.
What makes it stand out:
- Infinite canvas moodboard for high-volume reference gathering
- Fast arranging and resizing for side-by-side comparisons
- Great fit for multi-monitor studios and “always-on” reference setups
- Strong reputation among artists, backed by consistent high ratings and another five-star user score
Best for
Artists who already have a creation tool they love (digital or traditional) and want a dedicated, frictionless way to keep references organized and visible throughout the process.
