Drawing Pad Review

“Charming” is a word that gets bandied around quite a bit in discussion of iOS apps and games. In the case of Darren Murtha’s app, Drawing Pad, it is absolutely the ideal descriptor. As an entry in a crowded field of artistically inclined apps, Drawing Pad's simplicity, whimsy, and diversity of kid-friendly features distinguish it from the pack.

At its heart, Drawing Pad is an art creation app that strives to replicate the experience of being an imaginative kid with a crate full of art supplies at your disposal. On the left-hand side of the screen is drawer of virtual art supplies that can be pulled out and shuffled through with the swipe of a finger. In the drawer, you will find everything from crayons and colored pencils to construction paper (for backgrounds) and stickers. In short, it’s like being back in kindergarten art class, without the messy fingers and clothes. Also, switching between tools is a breeze, and kids of all ages should have no problem picking up Drawing Pad and creating masterpieces within seconds.

The tool selection UI is, in a word, lovely. Selecting the colored pencil from the main tray, for example, brings up a scrollable assortment of photo-realistic pencils in every color imaginable. We especially appreciated the attention to detail here: the developers didn’t just take a single image of a pencil, only to cut and paste it in different colors. Rather, each pencil image is unique in grain, length, and degree of sharpness. Note: They all apply color in the same way, so the differences are purely aesthetic.

Drawing on the canvas is a smooth, fluid experience, and each tool is applied with realistic-looking textures and strokes. We noticed some slight delay when applying new strokes over already well-colored areas, but the problem was not a significant one.

We should mention that grown-up artistes looking for a fully-featured, professional drawing experience will likely be disappointed if they pick up Drawing Pad looking for anything more than a cute, relaxing, easy artistic diversion. In order to accommodate the needs of its key demographic, its functionality is streamlined, so there is no layering, zooming, or highly customizable brush styles. A blending tool is included, but we did not find it to be especially useful; it mostly created brown blurs and was a little difficult to manipulate.

Still, if you have a little one who loves to create refrigerator-worthy art, or if you are a kid at heart yourself, you will undoubtedly enjoy Drawing Pad. Its clever design, vibrant, kid-friendly UI--and its ability to share your work via social networks--make it an attractive addition to any iOS artist’s toolbox.