Sketchbook review
A flexible sketching tool with broad platform coverage and a useful free starting point.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Sketchbook is digital drawing, painting, and sketching software for artists, illustrators, and hobbyists. Its broad platform coverage supports Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, making it suitable for users who move between desktop and mobile devices. The free mobile application includes brushes, layers, guides, rulers, and stroke tools, while the desktop applications add drawing, painting, and sketching capabilities. Pressure-sensitive stylus input, customizable brushes, symmetry, color controls, and stroke smoothing give it a wide foundation for both casual sketching and more structured illustration work.
The product’s strongest area is its drawing toolkit. Users can create and customize brushes, work with blending, grouping, and masking in the layer editor, and use Predictive Stroke or Steady Stroke to smooth marks. Guides, rulers, ellipse tools, French curves, and vertical, horizontal, and radial symmetry support technical layouts as well as freehand work. Color palettes, gradients, harmonies, and color extraction add further control, while desktop users also get Flipbook 2D animation. These features make Sketchbook more than a basic mobile sketchpad without narrowing it to a single illustration workflow.
Its freemium structure gives new users a practical entry point, but the paid offerings separate capabilities by product and platform. The Premium Bundle adds custom brush creation, advanced color management, layer grouping and masking, and additional export options. Sketchbook Pro for Mac provides a desktop drawing, painting, and sketching application with customizable brushes, layers, and blend modes. Choose Sketchbook for accessible cross-device sketching, pressure-sensitive input, and a broad set of drawing tools. Users who need every advanced capability in one consistently matched experience should review which plan and platform provide the features they require.
Sketchbook pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Free mobile application with core drawing tools
- Customizable brushes, layers, masking, and blend modes
- Available on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android
- Where it doesn't
- Advanced features are divided across paid offerings
- Flipbook 2D animation is available on desktop
- Feature availability varies by platform and app version
Sketchbook fact sheet, pricing and score →
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