Lake is a free ASMR art app packed with coloring book sheets - in all different styles - from artists all over the world. Simply coloring can make for a creative and relaxing afternoon.
Not everything you create in an art app has to be a massive endeavor that ends with a masterpiece.
Premium gives you full access to over 150 brushes, 3D paint, fluid watercolor, the ability to layer and use masks, enable a "wet canvas," drawing guides like symmetry, shapes, filling and dozens of other ways to customize your workspace.
If you tap on a locked item, Art Set will ask if you want to upgrade and unlock everything.
When you explore the app, any items that require Premium Pro will be locked. You can choose burlap styles, cardboard and grids without messing up a drawing you've already done. It's also nice that you can swap between multicolored paper styles like canvas and the rough surface of heavyweight, cold press sheets for watercolor. Something I really like about Art Set 4 is the ease with which even the free tools work together in a piece. It's also fun if you just want to doodle. If you're overwhelmed by the idea of going into a more complex app like Procreate or Autodesk, the Art Set 4 drawing tool is a good one to get started with. This app would be best if you're brand new to digital illustration - it feels similar to having physical tools and paper in front of you. It's free to download, but most of its tools are unlocked through the Premium Pro features, which cost $10. The image imports with a transparent background so you can immediately get to work in the app.Īrt Set 4 is one of the more basic, realistic drawing apps. Your camera doubles as a scanner so you can import your art. You might've done cool sketching in a notebook, and with Autodesk, you don't have to redraw the sketch in the app. One of my favorite parts of Sketchbook is the focus on making the transition from paper to screen easy. I also liked that, even when extensively zoomed in, the app didn't lose its "drawing" feel by letting you see the pixels in your stroke. Even with a typical learning curve of a new drawing app, the toolbar is pretty easy to figure out.
When you download the sketch app, it'll give you a quick tutorial of where all the basic tools are.Īutodesk has an extensive, well-organized brush library, and with its customizable brushes, it's easy to adjust settings like brush size, opacity and pressure. It's a little less intimidating than Procreate when you're starting off your digital art journey. You can use the free version for seven days and then you'll be asked to make an Autodesk ID, which is also free. Added Kindle, Microsoft OneNote, TickTick, Friendly for Twitter, Tweetdeck, and PhotoFeed - for Instagram.The Autodesk Sketchbook app is free, but is surprisingly packed with art tools that aren't blocked by paywalls. If you don't see your favorite free Mac app on this list, please add it in the comments section with your reason for why it stands out (Remember: It has to be truly free, or the free version of an otherwise premium app that is noteworthy.)Īugust 2019: Removed apps that are no longer free or available. There are just too many free apps available for the Mac to include everything. Though this list is long, it is by no means complete. WeatherBug Lite is the perfect little at-a-glance weather app because it's always on. If you really want to get into the nitty-gritty, click on a stat to open WeatherBug on the web, where you can find out about windshield, sunrise, rainfall, and more. If you want more information, you can click on the Menu bar widget to get an hourly forecast and a current weather radar. It is a Menu bar app that always shows the current temperature and weather condition. If you just want a quick glance at the current temperature, WeatherBug Lite is just what you need. (Remember: It has to be truly free or the free version of an otherwise premium app that is noteworthy.) If you don't see your favorite free Mac app on this list, please add it in the comments section with your reason for why it stands out. There are just too many free Mac apps available to include everything. That's because some of the best apps in a given category are so much better than any Mac App Store counterpart that I couldn't exclude them. I've included some apps that are not available in the Mac App Store. Since this is a list of apps, I'm not including services that only have websites without a dedicated app (there are two exceptions to this rule on the list, but they are totally worthy of rule-bending).