Digital Drawing with Astropad

Here’s the big question of digital art drawing:

Can digital drawing ever offer a true alternative to drawing on paper? Some artists out there will say no, and we respect that. 

But at Astropad, we think it can … if the digital drawing software you use is carefully designed to give you the best of both worlds — the tactile truth of paper combined with the forgiving versatility of a digital drawing tablet.

Digital art drawing that feels like drawing.
→ Try Astropad Studio free for 14 days

Why is digital drawing with Astropad different?

Astropad is different because we have always understood that the physical feeling of digital drawing is just as important as the technology that drives it. 

There’s a magic to drawing on a crisp, white sheet of perfectly blank paper. The silken slide of a ball point pen as it leaves its stark, indelible mark. The subtle scrape of graphite as you feather in a blush of color, pencil barely grazing the page. 

It doesn’t matter if your tool of expression is a stylus, a brush or a digital drawing tablet, the sensation of drawing is crucial to the experience. Astropad digital drawing software doesn’t muggle that magic out of the equation. 

Make your own digital drawing tools

Astropad lets you fine-tune the pressure sensitivity of your digital drawing pad stylus down to the finest level of detail. 

• Imagine a brush drenched with thick, viscous paint. Think of the sluggish resistance your hand feels as that thick paint drags over your canvas; now picture the slow fade of paint as you carefully draw the brush back.
  
• Now contrast that with the scalpel like feel of a 9H pencil. Compare the precise line you get with pressure to the soft shadowing you can achieve when you ease off.

Our digital drawing software equips you to decide how you draw, right down to how it feels on the page. Astropad didn’t build a static one-size-fits-all digital drawing tablet. Our vision is to equip you with your own, completely customized workspace. 

Tailor your workspace to your own unique artistic quirks – every tool in easy reach, every workflow just a pen flick away. 

Forgiving and versatile workflows

It’s easy to fall in love with drawing. But paper is an unforgiving paramour. You can recover from only so many “happy little accidents” before muddying the waters. Digital art drawing with Astropad frees you up to experiment with abandon, thanks to the digital drawing software’s deep and intuitive undo history. 

• Make mistakes! Try things that might not work. Then revert back to a clean digital drawing artwork if you want to take things in a different direction.
  
• Work across your whole suite of digital drawing software applications. Digital drawing doesn’t have to lock you into one frame of view. Thanks to its iPad foundations, task switching while using Astropad is effortless.
  
• Create painlessly. If you already own an iPad, you’ll likely have a library of useful gestures already burned into your muscle memory. Why learn new ones? With Astropad, all the pressure of familiarizing yourself with a new interface is deleted from your learning curve, so you can lean into the fun stuff: Finding what it is that makes your art singular and unique.    

With its easy backtracking and smooth software transitions, digital drawing with Astropad gives you greater freedom to experiment and “learn while doing.” 

Artists in our community tell us their skills have improved faster using Astropad

They feel more confident to broaden their digital drawing to include new approaches and techniques.

We talk to a lot of artists as they transition to digital drawing. We know that taking that leap can feel scary! Our community is filled to the seams with artists who started out working exclusively with paper or canvas. 

Many worried at first that leaping across to a digital tablet might somehow compromise the essence of their artistry. One of the great joys of being part of Astropad is seeing those same artists a few months down the road, their digital toolkit bursting with new ways to be creative! 

The beauty of Astropad is that the leap is far smaller.

Why? Because you’re working with your iPad, a technology you already use and understand. 

So if you’re worried about going digital, here’s our offer for you:

Try it free for 14 days

We’re confident that digital drawing with Astropad can get you closer to your art, giving you all the tactile truth of paper or canvas with the added benefit of setting you free to creatively experiment in as many directions as your imagination can muster.