I love Heavy Paint. I was a bit late to the Procreate bandwagon, but once I started using it, there was no going back to other digital art apps on my iPad. Then I tried Heavy Paint (which a reader recommended to me at the Vertex conference earlier this year) and I just couldn't stop playing with it.
For an overview of the competition, read our review of Procreate and our guide to the best drawing apps for iPad, where we'll introduce Heavy Paint soon. And as our coverage proves, it's tough for new developers to break into the digital art space, especially on the iPad, but Heavy Paint is breaking into the field by offering something unique: a double hit of ease of use and an addictive “digital” aesthetic.
Unlike other digital painting apps for iPad, Heavy Paint focuses on simplicity. Digital Featuring paint strokes and ultra-vibrant colors, this painting app doesn't waste processing power trying to mimic the look and feel of real-world painting, chalking, and blending, but instead joyfully captures the digital, pixelated quality of painting on your iPad. The results are stylized, yet endlessly fun.
Of course, there is a simulation of the real world here, which is why it feels so good to use, but by destroying it and exposing it, we can create something abstract. ComputerizedHeavy Paint can be used to paint and blend in essentially the same way as Procreate and other digital art apps, but it also has a number of tools that expand what you can achieve.
For example, I love the Fan brush – it's an easy way to create curvy, organic shapes for repeating leaves and trees – but the fun begins when you play with the Color Jitter slider to pixelate the tones and make your painting look a bit digital (see the pink brush example above).
Other tools include Rake, which paints sharp lines around the canvas for a retro feel, and Line Blend, which lets you quickly create gradients. Each tool has further texture presets that let you sculpt or smudge your image, but speed is the key to everything with Heavy Paint. A tutorial on the developer's website promises that you can “learn Heavy Paint in 8 minutes,” and it really can.
I enjoy the simplicity of the tools and the ability to blend and clash them to create new and interesting, often retro digital-inspired yet truly modern results. I can pick up Heavy Paint, finish a sketch in minutes and feel a sense of accomplishment – it's a real confidence booster for anyone new to digital art.
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If you're looking for a brand new digital painting app that prioritizes experimentation and speed over pure realism, Heavy Paint is for you. It's perfect for doodlers, a concept artist's dream, a sketcher's and plein air artist's new friend, and I just can't stop playing with it.
I use Heavy Paint on my iPad Pro, and the mobile version is still in beta, so there are some issues like an overly sensitive eyedropper, but it doesn't ruin the fun. There are also Mac and Windows desktop editions, and an Android version. Visit the Heavy Paint website for more information.
Is Heavy Paint free?
Heavy Paint is £10 for the iPad but free for Android, so if you're not sure and you've got an iPad you can download a free trial to give it a try.