Table of Contents
Procreate has taken the digital art world by storm in recent years. This powerful, intuitive drawing and painting app makes it easy to create professional-quality artwork on an iPad. But what if you‘re an Android user? Unfortunately, Procreate is only available on iOS and iPadOS.
The good news is that the huge popularity of Procreate has led to increased demand and development of similar apps for the Android platform. More and more high-quality drawing apps are now available that aim to replicate Procreate‘s best features and tools.
Whether you‘re a professional artist, designer, illustrator, or just enjoy sketching and doodling as a hobby, you‘ll want a full-featured app that unleashes your creativity. The ideal Procreate alternative should have an intuitive interface, natural brushes that feel like the real thing, robust layer and blend mode options, and the ability to import/export your art in various formats.
To save you time and effort sorting through the hundreds of drawing apps on the Google Play store, I‘ve put together this list of the top 10 Procreate alternatives for Android. I evaluated dozens of apps and selected these as the best of the best based on their features, ease of use, and overall performance.
1. Infinite Painter
Infinite Painter is one of the closest analogues to Procreate you‘ll find on Android. The UI is very similar, with a main toolbar at the top and brushes/tools on the left side. You get a huge selection of over 160 natural brushes, including smudge and blur effects to create paintings that look incredibly realistic.
Infinite Painter has a robust layering system supporting up to 1000 layers per project. It also includes unique features like a symmetry tool for mirrored drawing, a perspective guide for architectural sketching, and a "photo" brush that lets you paint with textures from an image.
It‘s very intuitive and easy to learn. My favorite feature is the inclusion of drawing "timelapses" – Infinite Painter automatically records your drawing process which you can export as a video to share online.
Infinite Painter offers a free 7-day trial, after which it costs a one-time payment of $9.99 to unlock the full app. Students and teachers can apply for a discount. Overall, it‘s an excellent value for the features and one of the top Procreate alternatives out there.
2. Clip Studio Paint
Clip Studio Paint is a professional-grade drawing app popular with comic artists and manga creators. It‘s more complex than Procreate with a steeper learning curve, but incredibly powerful. The app supports both raster and vector graphics – a rare feature combo.
The number of tools in CSP is staggering, with over 10,000 free brushes available. It has a highly customizable UI that you can personalize to your workflow. While it‘s overkill for simple sketches, the app shines for complex illustrations, comics, and animations.
Other standout features include a massive library of free 3D models and posable figures to use as drawing references, plus built-in comic panel templates and halftone/screentone filters for preparing print-ready artwork.
The downside of the Android version of Clip Studio Paint is that it uses a subscription model, unlike the desktop version which is a one-time purchase. You can get it for $0.99/month for the Pro version or $2.49/month for the Ex version (which adds animation tools). Still, the cost is well worth it for professional illustrators who want the best of the best.
3. Concepts
Concepts takes a different approach than most drawing apps. It‘s a vector-based sketching app designed to be an "infinite canvas" for brainstorming ideas, wireframing interfaces, and planning projects. The unique UI involves an almost entirely gesture-based navigation system.
The focus is on simplicity and speed. You won‘t find a ton of brushes or paint effects here. Instead, you get a carefully curated set of five pens and pencils that aim to replicate the feel of sketching on paper.
Concepts is fantastic for quick, casual sketching on the go. But it also has power features for serious designers, like an "infinite layers" system, shape guides, and the ability to instantly scale or rotate the canvas with multitouch gestures. Every stroke is recorded as vector curves that can be edited after the fact.
You can try Concepts free for 7 days. After that, it costs $4.99/month or $29.99/year – reasonable for professional users but a bit steep for hobbyists. Overall, it‘s a unique and valuable tool for certain use cases but not a direct Procreate replacement.
4. Sketchbook
Sketchbook (formerly Autodesk Sketchbook) is another very highly rated drawing app among Android users. It offers a clean, streamlined UI clearly inspired by Procreate. The app has a wide range of brushes, including pencils, inks, markers, and smudge brushes that interact naturally with the canvas texture.
A few features help Sketchbook stand out. In addition to standard layering and blending, you get a "symmetry" mode that‘s great for patterns or character design. There‘s a built-in "predictive stroke" tool that helps smooth and stabilize your lines. And a "Scan Sketch" feature lets you import hand-drawn linework to paint over.
Sketchbook is free to download and use. For $19.99/year, you can unlock the Pro version which offers more brush customization options, a distort/warp tool, and Magic Wand selections. Unless you need those features, the free version is a fantastic deal.
5. MediBang Paint
MediBang Paint is hugely popular with manga and anime artists. It offers an impressive array of features for comic creation and illustration. The app includes hundreds of free brushes and tones, panel templates, and pre-made backgrounds. There are also built-in pose references to help you draw characters.
While not as intuitive as Procreate, the app is quite powerful. You get unlimited layers, a full set of selection tools including lasso fill, gradient maps, cloud sync, and the ability to export timelapse recordings of your process.
MediBang is totally free to use, with no premium version. It‘s supported by occasional ads and some paid brush packs. It‘s an unbeatable value if you‘re getting started with digital art or manga illustration.
6. Krita
Krita is a little different than the other apps on this list. It‘s a full-featured, open-source painting program that originated on the desktop and was later ported to Android. That means it has a steeper learning curve compared to made-for-mobile apps like Procreate.
However, you get an incredibly robust feature set in return, on par with Adobe Photoshop. Highlights include a massive collection of over 200 brushes (with the ability to import your own), a full-featured layer system with masks and groups, HDR painting support, a pop-up color wheel and palette, and CMYK mode for print work. It also has Photoshop-like retouching tools that most drawing apps lack.
Krita is 100% free and supported by donations. The Android version is still in beta, so it can be buggy and lacks some features from the desktop version. But it‘s a very impressive app overall, especially for serious digital painters.
Other Noteworthy Apps
A few other apps are worth an honorable mention:
ArtFlow is a simple painting/drawing app with a clean UI reminiscent of Procreate. It‘s a good entry-level option.
Tayasui Sketches is designed for casual, pressure-sensitive sketching with a small set of natural media brushes. Great for quick concept art.
Adobe Fresco is Adobe‘s premiere drawing/painting app. It‘s very powerful with live brushes and great touch optimization, but requires a Creative Cloud subscription.
Clip Paint Studio is a newer app that focuses on vector drawing, comic panels, and 3D reference models. It‘s a promising alternative to Clip Studio Paint.
Summary
While it‘s hard to beat Procreate‘s fantastic iPad experience, Android users now have many great options for digital drawing. Infinite Painter is the closest direct analogue, while Clip Studio Paint leads the pack for professional illustration work. Concepts is great for vector sketching, while MediBang and Krita are top choices for manga art and comics.
Ultimately, the right app for you depends on your specific needs and budget. I recommend experimenting with a few of these to find the best fit for your creative workflow. With the right app and some practice, you can create digital art on Android that‘s every bit as polished as the best Procreate pieces!