Getting your art out there has never been easier than it is today. Just a few decades ago, people needed sophisticated tools and other expensive methods to show others their creative talent. Digital platforms have revolutionized this landscape and a lot of artists are getting recognized every day. However, if you’re looking for drawing apps for Mac, you can find a ton of options and it can be a little overwhelming.
In this article, we are going to streamline that list so that you can choose the best drawing app for you. Let’s jump into it.
Adobe Photoshop. What can I say about Adobe Photoshop that hasn’t been said already? Autodesk DWG Trueview is a Windows-only application and it is not available on Mac. However, there are some alternatives as mentioned in this post on Autodesk user discussion group forum. Autodesk does have some web-based solutions that can be accessed from any platform: Use the AutoCAD web app to view or edit DWG drawing files online. DWG TrueView by Autodesk is a popular program that will allow you to view, edit, and share DWG files. Since you can't use it on Mac, as there is no version of DWG TrueView for Mac, you need to look for an alternative. On this list you can find the most relevant tools that can replace all functions and feateres of DWG TrueView for Mac.
Contents
- 1 Top 10 Best Drawing Apps for Mac:
Top 10 Best Drawing Apps for Mac:
We have compiled a list of 8 best drawing apps for Mac that you can get today. The list is ranked based on which app we think is the best, but you can choose whichever app suits your art style.
1. Adobe Photoshop
What can I say about Adobe Photoshop that hasn’t been said already? Photoshop has been around for a long time and it gets new updates every year. It’s one of the most sophisticated drawing apps for Mac and will be a lot of help for a creator. You can create your own image and also edit other images to your liking. This software has a lot of love and support all over the world and it’s easy to understand why. There are a lot of videos online that’s going to help you learn Photoshop and there’s a large online community who’d be happy to help you. The newest version, Photoshop 2020, has an AI called Adobe Sensei that will help you get better selections.
Photoshop is great, but it is expensive. You will have to pay a subscription fee of $20.99/month if billed annually and you can do so here. So if you’re new to the creator scene, then I’d recommend checking out other entries.
2. Autodesk Sketchbook
If you want a professional drawing app with a lot of bells and whistles and if you want it for free, then Autodesk Sketchbook is for you. This app is so versatile and feature-rich that it will appeal to a lot of people. It has a minimalistic design and is preferred by a lot of content creators. There are over 140 brushes and you can even import brushes created by other artists. You can also get custom perspective guides among other things.
You can check out more features and download the app by clicking on this link.
3. Corel Painter
Corel Painter is an app that’s designed by creators for creators. It has a wide variety of tools you can use to propel your art to the next level. With over 900 brushes, this app is loved by many artists. Corel Painter also supports GPU acceleration so that you can get your work done much faster. Their website has hundreds of videos that will help you perform better.
Corel Painter costs $339.99 and there’s no subscription. You can download the app here.
4. Rebelle 3
If you are into realistic painting, then you will find Rebelle 3 appealing. It’s a unique app that uses realistic watercolor, acrylic paint simulations. The resulting image will look like it was made on paper with real colors and if this suits your art style, then you should definitely go for it. It makes the colors seem extremely realistic and you can even get simulated watercolor drops. This app was supposed to be an experimental software designed by Peter Blaškovič and it is popular among watercolor painters and CG artists.
You can check out Rebelle 3 and its features on its website. You can get Rebelle 3 for $89.99.
5. FireAlpaca
If you are new to digital drawing or if you have older Macs, then FireAlpaca should be a nice fit for you. It doesn’t have as many features as the earlier entries on the list, but that’s why it’s recommended to beginners. You won’t find the options overwhelming and you can worry about getting a more powerful Mac later on. It’s a small app that’s simple, easy and free to use.
You can check out the feature list of FireAlpaca on their website.
6. Preview
Preview comes pre-installed on a Mac and it can do much more than sign PDFs. If you want a simple drawing app for random doodles, the Preview should be good enough. You can open up any image on Preview and click on the Markup icon (pictured above) to access a lot more menus. It can help you doodle, make notes and even select shapes with the lasso tool. Since this is an in-built app, you don’t have to download anything.
7. Clip Studio Paint
If your dream is to become the best mangaka on Za Warudo!(means “the world” for all of my readers who are not JoJo fans), then you deserve a great manga illustrator. Clip Studio Paint is highly recommended if you draw a lot of manga panels. You can decide panel layouts and customize the tools for your art style pretty quickly. This drawing app for Mac also works great if you want to draw comics.
Clip Studio Paint is available for the free trial and you can get the standard version for $49.99. You can get the full-featured version for $219.99.
8. MediBang Paint
MediBang Paint, just like Clip Studio Paint is aimed at anime and comic-book artists. It has over 50 brushes and a large number of backgrounds that you can choose from. They have tons of tutorials for you on their website and you can snap grids and arrange the panels easily. This app is also available on iPhones and iPads. Medibang Paint is available for free and you can download it here.
9. Inkscape
Inkscape is an app that will appeal to a wide variety of creative people. It can help you create anything from sketches to website designs. It’s a versatile app that’s open-source and free to use. Inkscape also has a very helpful community that will help you use the app.
You can download Inkscape for free by clicking on this link.
10. Patina
Patina is another simple app that lets you create sketches to your heart’s content and simply moves everything else out of the way. It has a simple layout and it’s extremely simple to use. you can use it to make a lot of sketches and doodles on other images too. Patina has a lot of essential features but misses out on stuff like multiple layers. This app is, however, perfect for beginner artists.
Patina is a free app available on the App Store and you can download here.
List of 19 Drawing Software For Macbook
Here is the total list of top Drawing tools and Apps for your Macbook.
- Adobe Photoshop
- Autodesk Sketchbook
- Corel Painter
- Rebelle 3
- FireAlpaca
- Preview
- Clip Studio Paint
- MediBang Paint
- Inkscape
- Patina
- Adobe Illustrator
- Leonardo
- Affinity Designer
- Krita
- Tayasui Sketches
- Paintbrush
- Tayasui Sketches
- Sketch
- Sip
Final Take
These are some of the best drawing apps for Mac. I hope that this article was helpful to you. If you have any doubts or if we missed your favorite app, then please let us know in the comments section down below and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
We already covered the ten free and useful CAD software for every type of platform.
Here is another ten best CAD software for Mac that will run natively on the Mac OS X operating system.
It is fully compatible with the Mac operating system and no need to use any specific emulation software or a compatibility layer to uses this software.
1 Vectorworks CAD for Mac
Vectorworks is an object-oriented CAD software for Mac OS. The software primarily uses for 2D Drafting, technical drawing, and highly effective 3D modeling.
It gives 2D, 3D, production management, and presentation capabilities for all levels of the design course.
It additionally very versatile, so designers have the complete freedom to design how they want and very handy to create, model, and present easily and precisely with one software.
Website – Vectorworks
2 AutoCAD for Mac
AutoCAD for Mac is a robust 3D free form design tool and powerful drafting capabilities for your favorite platform.
It has a simple, Intuitive graphical User interface that makes your ideas into reality.
It saves all your work into DWG format, so you can easily share files with clients, suppliers, and partners around the world, regardless of platform.
Website: AutoCAD for Mac
3 CADintosh for Mac
CADintosh for Mac is a 2D-CAD software for electrical, mechanical, and architectural drawings.
It has interactive window redrawing, where users can work at the same time as the window redrawing.
You can easily import and export your work into multiple formats such as HPGL, DXF, and PICT.
There are two types of modes provided by the software. One is Pen oriented Mode, and another one is the individual Mode.
Pen oriented Mode gives you 8 line widths/line colors/pens, and individual Mode gives you line width from 0.0 to 99.99 mm, pattern, and colors.
Website: CADintosh for Mac
4 BRL-CAD for Mac
BRL-CAD is a powerful cross-platform solid geometry (CSG) modeling system.
The software comes with interactive geometry editor, ray-tracing for rendering & geometric analyses, network distributed frame buffer support, image & signal-processing tools.
Website: BRL – CAD
5 Domus CAD – 3D Architectural CAD for Mac
Domus CAD is a 3D Architectural Parametric CAD that allows you to create a three-dimensional element without starting from a two-dimensional plane.
It provides ready elements such as walls, floors, roofs, and stairs that built from the onset in their full three-dimensional form.
You can easily see the 3D model changes in real-time as you design in your plan.
Website: Domus.Cad
6 Sailcut CAD for Mac
Sailcut CAD is a sail design and plotting software. It means that you can design and visualize your personal sail and compute the actualgrowth of all panels in flat sheets.
Sailcut CAD is ready to do cross cut, twist foot cut, vertical cut, mitre cut, and radial cut sail design as well as wing sails, all in quite a few languages.
It alsoincludes a viewer whereyou’ll be able to assemble a hull, a rig, and a set of sails to see how they match.
Sailcut CAD has been successfully used for making sails for racing and cruising yacht as well as for model boats.
Website: Sailcut CAD
7 MacDraft Pro for Mac
MacDraft Pro is the 2D CAD software that makes it easy to design floor plans, architectural drawings, and illustration simple on the Mac.
Create detailed and professional 2D drawings in moments, with this easy-to-use, powerful, and affordable drafting software.
With its precise vector tools, smart units, and fully-featured scaled atmosphere, MacDraft Pro is designed to implement an easy-to-use solution without wasting too much time to learn techniques to use more complicated software.
The latest version of MacDraft Pro contains some important changes and features that make it more intuitive, highly effective, and easy-to-use than ever before.
Adding a wide range of features not only make MacDraft Pro easier but also speed up your design process.
Website: MacDraft Pro
8 HighDesign 2D CAD for Mac
HighDesign is the alternative, fully featured 2D CAD software for Mac OS.
it’s a perfect combination of advanced drafting and design tool with a modern, performance based user interface designed to help the user in every stage of the creative process.
HighDesign offers in-depth knowledge of drawing and editing skills, from the vital drafting methods to extra superior, DXF/DWG compatibility.
parametric tools like vector hatches and patterns, smart annotations, symbols with several views, partitions, columns, windows and doors, and more.
The software is really helpful to satisfy the actual requirements of architects, engineers, and design professionals.
it allows them to design difficult projects with accuracy and strong management over several parts of the projects.
Website: HighDesign
9 QCAD for Mac
QCad is a software for computer-aided drafting in two dimensions (2D).
With QCad you’ll be able to create technical drawings such as plans for buildings, interiors, and mechanical components, or schemas and diagrams.
QCad works on Windows, Mac, and many Linux and Unix systems. The source code of the QCad community edition is launched under the GPL license.
Free Dwg For Mac
Website: QCAD
10 Graphite for Mac
Pdf To Dwg For Mac
Graphite is a 2D and 3D wireframe CAD software for Mac. The software is previously known as Vellum.
It has a simple, easy to use user interface that helps creative people to create a precision drawing and Drafting without having any knowledge.
With Graphite, the user can create 2D and 3D wireframe designs of immense complexity and precision detail.
Website: Graphite