Name: Adobe Fresco: Painting Studio
Rating: 4.6852 (40048 reviews)

User Reviews for Adobe Fresco: Painting Studio

4.69 out of 5

40K Ratings

5 years ago, Abhisek Jana

The best painting experience ( free version )

I am a student and learning painting as a hobby. I have been painting when I was 3 years old, I am not professional however drawing/painting has been part of my life for nearly 4 decades. I am trying to move to digital painting for sometime now and used different softwares like photoshop with stylus, procreate etc. I wanted an app which can provide real painting/drawing experience and adobe fresco fulfills that dream. The live brushes are just amazing. There are reviews which talk about not having many tools but I don’t think we really need them unless you are working on a time constraint production. Real painting is not about having multiple tools, it’s about the experience. I am glad that there is a eraser option as in real media you don’t even have that luxury. I used procreate it’s a great app for digital artists but does not mimic the experience of real painting. So don’t go by the bad reviews and try out this app. I really really don’t want adobe to kill this app just for bad reviews. Also there has been a lot of feedback on high prices, however I think they are just for professionals who are mostly already paying for creative cloud. I just have the free app ( didn’t register for 6 months ) and I have access to all the tools I need to learn and practice. I believe adobe did a great job here and should be appreciated.

4 years ago, Cousinike

Another amazing Adobe app, that will become the standard.

I’m an amateur artist. Have been drawing/sketching since I was a kid. I got an iPad Pro a little a year ago, because I had become temporarily disabled, and needed something to keep me busy, for I would be confined to a bed for a long time. I of course got an Apple Pencil, and started doing the “paint by numbers” apps on here. Then of course, I downloaded the the Adobe Sketch app. It was okay. I literally have no idea what was/am doing, so I was very limited. Then Fresco was released. At first it still felt like the Sketch app, just a bit more customizable. Then when you guys finally released the big update after the 6 month trial, it opened a whole new world for me. Everything became more streamlined, and super easy to understand. Adding Brushes from PS super easy, but still limited. But over time, with more updates, it has become something special and unique. I bought and tried Procreate, several times, but I always end up going back to Fresco. Watching, and experiencing this app evolve, while I’m learning and evolving with it, has been amazing, and with so much time in the future to refine it, and better integrate PS with it, it will become the new standard. I’m so excited to see it happen, knowing I started from the very beginning. Thank you to the whole team over there! SeanieDee

3 years ago, super annoyd

Now I know how the pros do it.

Hi there! I just recently downloaded this app, (as in, yesterday) and I am a aspiring 10 year old artist. I want to specialize in the Japanese art, anime and this helps a bunch! All though I can draw on paper easily, I’m still trying to find what suits ME, so I went on a adventure throughout the App Store, and came out empty. One day I was watching TV and your commercial came up for photoshop, so I searched up Adobe, and got this. I download the app and it was surprisingly easy to navigate. I thought all the techniques would be hard to use, but I was wrong. It was actually really simple. Everything was easy to use. I kinda wish, and I know y’all have to make money somehow, but I wish it was all free. Like the Manga and Comic features so I can practice that (I also would like to be a author) but it wasn’t free and I’m using my school account so I can’t access it. Going into 5th grade art is gonna be my elective, so this will be really helpful. I wanna be a pro some day, so this is probably gonna be a keeper until I get more advanced. If I have anything else to say, or anymore comments or concerns, I’ll edit… If not then I will leave it. Until then, happy creating aspiring artist like me, or good luck out there ya pros!!! Bye bye!!

11 months ago, a cool person 234

Really good but has issues

I’m no Stranger, to animating and drawling I’m not new to any of that. In fact, I’ve tried my fair share of stuff in the past and from my experience this is really good for anyone who is starting out because it’s beginner friendly it doesn’t have too much complicated stuff. It’s easy to get used to and has its fair share of cool features, different brush types and anyone new or just looking for a good program so just start doodling I would recommend this app to anyone in that category but like the title says it has its fair share of issues sometimes off I’ll be drawling end it just won’t pick up my movement. It won’t draw anything just straight up water erase anything, these are super big issues and I haven’t kind of often every once in a while when I use it, I would mainly use this app for just drawling and not anything too big I don’t know if everyone else has the same experience but if you did, I would keep the drawings that you use for this app, simple and sweet that’s what I do and it works the best for me so if anyone is listening to this anyone at all and he want to take my advice you could do that I don’t care overall good app would recommend to beginners and people just looking to have a little fun with a drawing app would recommend it.

2 years ago, Dyun27

Should Be Better

What originally attracted me to Adobe Fresco was the easy & familiar interface and vector drawing, but what I didn’t realize is that you have to also have an Adobe Illustrator subscription to be able to export your finished files as vectors! I’ve had a Fresco subscription for about a year now and I’m still waiting for them to deliver the symmetry drawing & brush creation features they’ve been promising for longer than that. Even while working on one of the most recent iPad Pro models, some of the brushes are laggy, some to the point that you have to wait for them to catch up to continue your work. So far no update has improved the usability of those brushes. Adobe on a subscription model can’t seem to provide the kind of basics that Procreate can for a one-time fee of about $10. The brushes are smoother, you can use a bigger canvas, symmetry drawing works great, you can create your own brushes, etc. Adobe is a bigger company collecting more money than Procreate could ever dream of, and yet they fall behind in the basics. Vector drawing is a waste of time if you can’t export your file without an additional monthly fee for Illustrator. I was trying to be patient in hopes that Fresco would give us a bit more for the money, but I’m pretty disappointed with their lack of progress. Due to poor brush performance, I stopped bothering with it.

4 months ago, Wash-DG

Worth Learning

I’m pretty new to digital art. I started with Ibis Paint X. I decided to learn how to use Fresco. It is intimidating for a newb like me but I’ve already been able to learn enough to know that I can learn more and keep getting more proficient with the features. It isn’t so intimidating anymore. Lots of tutorials on line. Getting through the frustration of not knowing what all the options are or what they’re for or how to use them is not easy. It gets very frustrating especially when you realize that you just ruined your image messing around with tools that you’re not familiar with but if you want to be able to create images that look great and save time doing it then you need to just keep at it and learn the tools. So many of the tools solve problems that you normally would’ve dealt with by spending a ton of time on. Like keeping shading in one area and erasing where you went over the edges. There’s a tool for that! Like I said, I’m a newb but sticking with Fresco and learning all of the tools is totally worth the temporary frustration of feeling totally lost and overwhelmed by how complicated it appears at first. Layers and tools are your friends.

1 month ago, Romell Trujillo

Love it, but…

Honestly, this is one of the best drawing/animating apps out there. I scoured the internet and App Store trying to find something easy to use and this is app is truly incredible. So easy to use, even the animating feature! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat and struggled to comprehend how the heck the animating functions on other apps work. The only thing that makes me give it an 4 star review is the constant bugs. Sometimes I’ll be drawing and the app will simply crash. When I get back on, the work I’de done a few seconds before the crash was erased, but I never really minded. One day though, I exited the app after a full two hours of using it, and the next day, when I got on the app, it seemed to still be trying to save the work I’d done the day before. The app wouldn’t load for a while, and when it did load, all the work I’d done the day before had been erased. I was frustrated obviously, but thankfully the deleted work had only been unfinished sketches, but I can imagine how enraging this could be to someone who had so completed there work only to have it erased the next time they get in the app. This app is wonderful, and one of the best apps I’ve ever used. But please fix this bug! I don’t want any of my more important work to be erased!

6 months ago, Joshua D.

2.6GB Canvas

Response To Developer Reply: I’m not giving you my email address. Why don’t you just explain in your review reply why this stupid feature exists please? I suspect it has something to do with the validity of a user’s email address whenever signing up for an Adobe account. And that’s why you won’t explain the stupid canvas storage space creation problem and why you want me to email you instead, so you can have my email address. You’ve given the exact same reply to every single other person who mentioned this same problem that I did. That’s telling if you ask me and means you’re being dishonest and up to no good I’m pretty positive. I have more than enough free storage space on my device to create a blank canvas that would only amount to a couple of megabytes in default total. The fact that you programmed the app this way says you’re up to something shady. Explain the issue in more detail here. I’m not emailing you and I would advise other users facing this same issue who also got the same copy and pasted reply, to not email Adobe either. Either wait for their explanation here or just stick to your low star rating. Original Review: The app keeps telling me that I need an additional 2.6GB of storage space to create a canvas. I don't understand that for a second. Very bizarre and disappointing app in my opinion. Definitely would not recommend this program to anyone for that reason.

1 year ago, A Berean 1711

Great app, aweful storage options

I’ve enjoyed painting many things in this app. Wish I could approximate Bob Ross paintings better (nothing seems to match the capabilities of his brush strokes), but still a good app, love it. The major snag I just hit is with storage. Adobe asset manager only allows download of one file at a time, and that’s IF they are synced. If you make a few high fidelity paintings you maybe have 5 that will upload in their storage. Past that the files won’t sync. So just use Google drive right? Think again! Google drive can’t see Fresco files. “The artwork is stored only in the cloud”. Which means Fresco doesn’t play nicely with other cloud providers, they expect you to buy their storage or else. So factor in $120\year for storage costs if you plan to make multiple paintings and want a plan for if someone steals your iPad. I’m disappointed and hoping Adobe makes an easier way to use other storage providers. Most apps allow their files to be freely accessed. Stop the file hostage option Adobe! If I’m wrong let me know and I can update review. Update: you can export as PSD through the app, then save to files and choose storage provider. Then repeat as many times as you have files, wait for them to upload and then delete them.. whew. Exhausting file management if you’re not willing to pay a subscription fee.

3 years ago, Kaletbh

Not user-friendly

This app is not ANYWHERE near as user-friendly as Adobe Draw was. The only reason I installed it in the first place was because Draw was discontinued and merged with this one. I thought this would be fine because all of my old files from Adobe Draw were carried over to this app, but when I went to continue a project I was previously working on, the features were completely different and much more difficult to navigate than Adobe Draw ever was. For example, you can't easily use the color picker tool on a single layer without selecting all the other layers you have created, meaning you can't easily create other layers to begin with. The double tap features from Adobe Draw are also completely gone, so if you want to single out or access certain options on layers, you have to go through an entire toolbar to do so. In summary, it's WAY more complicated and essentially a lot less user-friendly. In the end, I made a single mistake on one layer that ended up compromising an entire project, because I couldn't properly merge or un-merge the layers I was working in. Which means I'm now going to have to start over from scratch. I don't know what the purpose was for transitioning Adobe Draw to Adobe Fresco, but I wish we had the option to change over instead of being forced to use this app instead, since it ruined all of my progress on an important piece of work.

3 years ago, fromadesigner

Great with a huge BUT WHERE ARE THE EXPORTS

I love Adobe products and have relied on this company for all of my professional career. The fact that they would take the time to flesh out a “Vector Based” platform and not include Vector File Format Exports is beyond me. You only have the option to export as rasterized files or send to Illustrator ** HUGE CAVEAT ** on desktop. What is the point of spending all of your time with the limited selection of “Vector Brushes” if you can’t finish the file in the same platform? The reason I am giving this 3 Stars is because it does have potential to be fantastic. This is ONLY if Adobe adds in vector file export options. Ideally, they would add in SVG, EPS, and Ai file export options with full functionality. For artists who are reliant on a tablet, mainly iPad Pro, and cannot afford to buy a new laptop this will not work for them if they are trying to create package ready VECTOR files for clients. Which if I understand the brand identity for Adobe Fresco, was the main purpose. If this matters to anyone, I am 28 and this is the first review I have ever posted on any platform. I am an understanding person who loves a good beta testing platform, but we are out of beta and I am tired of spending 10x the effort trying to get my hard work of Fresco vector files into an actual vector format.

5 years ago, kwotonz

Good app, bad price

The app is fine as far as a drawing/painting app is concerned. I like Procreate better, but the brush engine for the live brushes is impressive. Adobe’s pay monthly per app subscription model, in addition to having to pay them a subscription for CC connectivity, is the reason I no longer utilize Adobe’s ecosystem for my professional work. If this app, like Procreate or the Affinity apps, offered a $10-$20 one time purchase option (maybe more, just using those numbers because the mentioned apps are in that range) then I would absolutely pay once to add a fully featured painting app to my workflow. But alas, like the rest of Adobe’s products, I have downloaded and played with the trial of this one and cannot find anything that would motivate me to pay a monthly fee for this app let alone to then pay more to be able to have a CC account to save and export my files to. This payment model must be successful for them because they keep doing it, but it’s alienating me and a lot of their other independent/non-enterprise users. To the point where neither I nor anyone I know in my professional circle use Adobes CC products to produce their work. If anything, it has driven the people who want to continue to use Adobes programs to piracy and other ways of getting access to CS6 and the like. Good app, I will continue to avoid unnecessary nickel-and-dime subscription models like the plague.

2 years ago, appalcarp

I love this...

I can finally go a full 5 stars as Adobe has exceeded my expectations. I have worked a lot with photos as art the last 15 years but this particular product has gotten my artful creative juices flowing again so I will be working on getting familiar with this as I have always hated mice as ‘uncontrollable.’ BUT the Apple Pencil and an iPad Pro make this now workable digitally. Why? Because combining great software with the new high-tec devices is putting ease-of-use at a whole new level. I have a couple of other apps I can easily ‘prep’ my photos or even do some pre-processing then zip it into Fresco or Photoshop. I abandoned Windows long ago as I had both a laptop and a Surface and am glad to be rid of same. I didn’t like a Mac, either, so the whole idea of being ‘tied to a desk’ or table was repugnant but few choices to transit to until recently. NOW we need Apple to give us artsy types who like hands-on a 14.7” iPad Pro (I have heard 14.1") and we can take this to a new level. I choose this over Procreate though Procreate has some advantages for simplicity. I wish Fresco was a bit easier to transfer other file types used.

3 months ago, ResistanceUnit

Had to uninstall and re-install to get it to work properly

I literally had to uninstall my previous Adobe Fresco app, create a whole new account, and re-install it to get the app to work properly. And I mean I had to cancel my whole subscription and get a new one! This buggy app isn’t worth 9.99. In my previous install I couldn’t even manage my subscription. Currently the Paint Inside function is still not working as it should (it stops responding then starts then stops etc) and it was not working on my previous install (my previous install was up-to-date and was the current version). The Fill Tool is now filling much better when using the vector brushes (was barely filling to the edges before) but there are still unfilled lines inside the fill area, so have to go over missed regions. There should be a notification in the app that adjusting the fill margin for the Fill Tool does not work on vector brushes by default and stays greyed out. I don’t know why the previous install literally stopped working, but maybe adding cache-clearing or something, to the app to get rid of old user files for each user, should be implemented? My device is 1TB btw. So Adobe Fresco, you get three stars this time. I just need a drawing/painting app that works, free or paid.

4 years ago, detective JJthe cat

WOW! why aren’t all drawing apps this good?

I don’t know where to start! This app is so amazing! First it has so many different brushes that you can use for free which is really cool. I’ve used a lot of drawing apps in like 30% of them were not free so I deleted them 50% weren’t even that easy to use and they also have limited ways of drawing and brushes and about 20% of them were just absolutely horrible. When I downloaded Adobe fresco I was not expecting this much it has tutorials on masking which I think is amazing there is tutorials on sections and a tutorial on brushes which was really helpful since there’s so many and I was trying to get the hang on all of them. I also love that you can basically use the lasso select to draw inside or outside of something which is really helpful and I also really love the water colors and how they can stay wet it looks really pretty so yeah as basic as this app gets it’s really cool and I love all the features and the free version is perfect and yeah plus the not free version seems good for professionals and it’s only $10 so maybe I will get that anyways I love this app I recommended it to my friends.

2 years ago, Leena.roses

Waste of time and money

If I could give 0 stars I would, I don’t ever leave reviews but this time I had to. To start I only got this app because adobe draw was removed and this is the replacement. That being said I really tried to give it a chance, even paid the $10 yearly crap for the pro version and it’s still trash. This app is not user friendly at all if you have time to sit there and google how to do everything then go for it but I can’t believe how difficult everything is when adobe draw was so much simpler and did the same thing! Also I don’t think the quality and flow of the brushes are up to par I use the app from my phone and I never had a problem but now it’s as if I’m using a computer mouse to draw and it comes out with a bunch of jagged pixelated lines instead of a nice smooth flow if that makes sense. Only way I could see this app being useful is if it was on a iPad or something with a pen you can use, even then I’m sure you’re better off with something else seeing as you’d have to google how to do anything since its so complicated to even navigate the brush settings. Don’t waste your time I’ve already found a couple free apps that are 10 times better than this. I literally have the pro version until next year and I’m still removing it because it’s a useless waste of space on my phone.

3 years ago, Willitz

My preference over ProCreate, surprisingly

I am really surprised by this, but the more I use this, the more I realize it gives me a better and more accurate ‘feel’ while sketching and painting than ProCreate does. I think the brushes have a bit less lag on my IPad (2020 non-pro version) than I get with ProCreate using the comparable ones. Also the live brushes are just astounding; they are fun to use even if you don’t know a thing about watercolor, oils, or even making art in general. Anyhow, in this app I can sketch with what feels to me to be a more lifelike level of control than I get with ProCreate and that seems to make all the difference to me using this vs a physical sketchbook. The only downside I really can speak of is the lack of a floating reference window like ProCreate has, but I’ve been using VizRef in a side window instead. There is no reason you shouldn’t check this app out. Even if you are super comfortable with ProCreate, this is like trying out a new set of pens and paper to see what works best for you in the long run, and it works great for me.

1 year ago, cali nem

I like it! Have some suggestions

Pretty easy to navigate and offers a nice amount of digital drawing tools. This is a good app for beginners in that regard. I like that you can insert photos and that there are lots of different types of brushes and ways to adjust them individually. If you don’t have an Apple Pencil, Fresco has pressure dynamics built in! I could honestly draw on here with my finger and still have amazing results. Wish audio could be added because you can animate on here. Also wish you could convert pixels to vector because I’ve accidentally done the opposite without realizing it and had to move it over to photoshop. I’m still learning about all the different tools, but it would be nice to have a way to select line art so you can color on another layer and have it stay within the lines. Might be nice to have a way to enlarge or shrink lines without changing their thickness. I’d also like if margins could be added to make drawing comics on here easier to format. Fresco is my main drawing application, so yes I’d say I’m happy with my experience thus far despite these other things that could improve it in my opinion.

1 year ago, Cre8ful1

Just wow!

This app is so powerful and very useful for the pro artist and the hobbyist. User friendly and uncluttered UI. I’m a brush and ink artist so the only thing I wish was better is the brush responsiveness. It’s always updating and hopefully in the near future the brush engine will improve, but if you like to sketch, paint, vector design, or animate, this is the app for you. Well done Adobe Fresco team👏👏👏 —Update— I bit the bullet and purchased the one year access to all the brushes in Fresco and I can’t express how glad I am. Best 10 buck$ I ever spent! With the free version of Fresco, I found maybe 4 brushes (pencils and inkers) that were close to what I needed. After upgrade, I have access to all the brushes, and the comic book brushes and downloaded “Megapack” are pure gold. I’m super stoked and looking forward to all the future updated enhancements to this application. Most humble appreciation to your work and development team🙏

5 years ago, confetticannon

Decent. Not bad, but not great

I’ve been playing around with Procreate for a while now and fresco just didn’t match the quality in their UX or execution of brushes. A lot of brushes do not pick up/mix with colors underneath. And the live ones feel more like blending brushes rather than painting brushes because they mix more of the initial color already there than they put new color down. The oil brushes have this odd bevel and emboss effect that reminded me of the early 2000s days of photoshop effects. And only like 4 brushes could tilt. I was impressed with the halftone brushes. They worked very well and is something Procreate doesn’t come with. You can buy brushes from other places for Procreate that work just as well though. The lack of blending brush mode is the most frustrating experience as that is what I use most to create my work. The eraser is just one solid circle. A massive drawback. -SUMMARY- In general the brush selection was underwhelming and not as impressive as one would hope for considering there is another app with a one time payment of $10 instead of a monthly creative cloud subscription for the rest of your life. I’m hoping as time goes by there will be major improvements in store.

3 years ago, violethyung

Needs Work

Not enough space for brushes, you can't move the icons around, icon placement makes no sense, too many useless functions, don't like brush options. The app is extremely laggy even with full bars of service/wifi. I spent 10 minutes customizing the eraser and it still functions incorrectly, it seems that the proportions of where you touch the screen to where the eraser begins erasing are slightly off of balance. These are only some of the flaws I care to list. The transition from the old app to this one was aggravating. They said that it would be possible to keep the old app and that updates would just stop being made to it, but the old app was removed. Not all of my projects transferred over. The projects that did transfer either have to be redone or trashed because they do not have the same tools that I used to create them, so I can not finish them, or edit them properly. The undo/redo buttons are very small compared to the size of the canvas, which makes it difficult to accurately press the one that I want. Perhaps this is not supposed to be a phone app? I do not see myself keeping this app unless many changes are made.

3 years ago, kristcath

Bring back Sketch

I’m sure this app is great, but this review is my plea for Adobe to bring Sketch back online. I’m a Set Designer in Chicago and when I started working here in 2017, all of the Senior Designers were still using grid paper and pencil to draw their sets. I bought myself an iPad and found Sketch and it changed everything. It was just one step above pencil & paper - very basic and intuitive and had everything we needed to get the job done. Finding Sketch lead to every designer in our company getting a iPad and going digital. Designers who have been in the business for 30+ years, who never thought they’d be able to learn a software, were confidently drawing on their iPads because it was SO easy to use. This switch will be catastrophic as it’s just too complex and the features are unnecessary for what we’re doing. I think the apps are completely different and Sketch is the perfect app for entry-level digital design or basic digital drawing. You can become familiar with a base level of Adobe vocabulary without feeling completely overwhelmed and left behind. Unfortunately Fresco will alienate half of our team and we’ll be forced to find something else :(

3 years ago, Yolorambo

Forced off of Adobe Sketch

App is all around fantastic make no mistake. The problem is that for those who have just been forced off of adobe sketch, the OS jump and tools to create things you love, is like going from a bicycle to a car at age 10. I personally think the application is great but my girlfriend who has no prior experience with large scale adobe products is left in the dust with the removal of the option to use adobe sketch here. She doesn’t have the tools and simplistic operations to create anymore. Though the application is deep with features, she really misses the simple eraser/brush/pencil/pen options to draw with and is having a very difficult time adjusting to the new application. Because of her difficulties on the new app she is actively discouraged to create any more drawn content and create her designs. I would love to see adobe sketch back on the App Store and fresco be kept for those who intend to do more professional work. Or a side application that is more suited for those with less experience with these products. For myself, as an adobe suite owner, I am disappointed to see that certain products not be kept around for those less fluent in adobe.

1 week ago, Quinn T. S.

Surprises

I like this app. I only use free apps so I downloaded this and for the longest time I ignored it because it seemed so complicated and used Sketchbook instead. But then I found out you can animate, which I had been wanting to do for a while, so that was a nice thing to discover. I also like how it comes with very helpful step by step tutorials and videos on the app itself. The app is still confusing, and there are some things I have trouble with. There seems like there’s still a LOT of new tools and tutorials and videos to go through, and I still have trouble navigating the Home Screen, but I think over time I’ll learn to understand how stuff goes. However, sometimes when I’m animating and am working on the second frame, anything I draw will automatically go to a new layer. At first I thought it was because some of the layers had been converted to pixels, but I was wrong. This is so freaking annoying can you please tell me how to turn this off and what is its purpose? Please how do you you get rid of it

3 years ago, mgh1130

biggest problem is the little storage and how much the app crashes

I love this app and it’s ability to allow me to be creative. but recently, the app began to crash multiple times. it wasn’t saving any of my drawings/artwork after crashing either which is the biggest upset. piece after piece, destroyed, unsaved, back to a blank canvas again. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to completely re-do entire art pieces. then I finally figured out it was because of the storage. the canvas sizes I use aren’t even that big, and I don’t even have many art pieces in my gallery. so that leads me to believe that the cloud storage is just small to begin with. and it’s a bit too much for me to pay $10 a month just to get more storage and free me of worry. the app has great tools and I love the features that allow me to be creative, I really do, but fresco has deleted my hard work one too many times lately. and I don’t see these issues getting fixed without me having to pay for premium. so I’m ending this review in saying I will be playing around with non-adobe apps in hopes of finding something that will always save my work for me.

5 years ago, Lemrisin

Not Worthwhile

I’ve been around with Adobe since Photoshop CS3. And I’ve read Adobe’s responses to the people who dislike this subscription model. Adobe, you can tell us that $10 a month is ‘worthwhile’ because we also gain access to Photoshop for desktop, but I’m not buying it. You’ve done very little over the past few years to genuinely improve the brush engines in desktop Photoshop for artists or added any new feature that significantly add to the field of illustration or 2D artists. You’ve stopped innovating. While it is true the brushes in fresco are far better than anything in desktop Photoshop, that isn’t enough to warrant a monthly subscription. I will give my money to developers who let me OWN the software perpetually. No strings attached. No what ifs, and no worry if I can’t make a payment one month. As others have pointed out, what incentives DO you all have to make any improvements if people will give you a monthly infusion of cash? Ultimately, I have more faith in smaller development teams who aren’t multi million dollar companies who are out to make as much money as they can. Procreate, Infinite Painter, and Artstudio Pro are far better alternatives to this sub-par software.

5 years ago, :Lb08:

Good start...disappointing update

So Ive been eagerly awaiting the straight edge/shapes update..and I get that fresco is likely trying to differentiate themselves from procreate, but I think it’s fine to acknowledge/adopt some of the features that just work. The shapes/straight lines are much more intuitive in procreate if fresco’s solution is really this draggable ruler thing...? (Maybe I’m missing something?) I totally understand that a new app should have time to work out the kinks and update their way to a more robust tool. But this ruler interrupts the drawing flow and requires too many taps to get one simple result, tainting what is otherwise a pretty good UI. And we still can’t make a circle/arc so I guess we wait for yet another related but separate tool that could have been solved in one gesture. You guys already won me over with the vector brushes (and I’m already an Adobe user thus nothing beats an interconnected ecosystem) so there’s no need to be different for the sake of being different when the market has already shown us a more efficient solution. Please employ the drag and hold for perfected lines/shapes 🙏

3 years ago, Wademyers44

Perfect free drawing app

I’ve been using this app for about a month or so now to create a detailed map for my new dungeons and dragons world. I started using Adobe Sketch and it was so limited, but the Fresco app popped up through the Sketch and I transferred my map right over. The Fresco is so amazing because it has every tools I’m looking for. I am able to draw anything that I am capable to do myself. The lasso is super handy, as well as using the filling option, and being able to copy and paste sections and layers. The app is rather easy to use and figure out, and the interactive walkthrough answers any questions. Lately, I’ve been noticing my files taking longer to load in and even load marks or movements while working on it. I still have 94% data left on the cloud so I know it shouldn’t be a space issue. I have a lot of small details on the map, but that should cause it to run slow.

6 months ago, Brittneyann32

Love the live brushes

If you are debating getting this app for any reason GET IT!!! Hands down the best drawing app I’ve tried. The live brushes are rediculously realistic. This is the only drawing app I’ve ever seen with such realistic brushes and blending. The free version is awesome soooo many options for brushes and works so well. There is a bit of a learning curve I wish there were clearer labeling on everything but it’s easy enough to learn. I did pay for the year subscription only because I wanted to see what else there was and I enjoy some of the smudge brushes you can add. One thing I really wish was added was a dry sponge or paper towel tool on the watercolors. I am not sure why but I kind of expected it to have something to dab and thin the watercolor by drying them but there isn’t but even without something like that the live brushes are by far my favorite feature of this.

4 months ago, LeanerJester

Still no symmetry tool

This app has been out for years and there’s still no symmetry tool. I don’t think Adobe takes their iPad apps seriously. It’s been on the “Coming Soon” list for months now and every time there’s an update, it’s been brush packs, not tools to get the job done. I’ll stick to Clip Studio for now. Maybe in a few years they might have it done. I’ll change my review to three stars when the tool comes out and four stars when I feel like they take their iPad apps seriously. Update: I got a response from Adobe months ago that symmetry tool is coming soon. I’ve seen a similar dev response from well over a year ago in several feature requests for symmetry tool and other Fresco app reviews and it’s still not here. This publicly traded company is absolute garbage. There’s no way it takes this long for a company of this size to get this done and there’s absolutely no way this is an almost five star app. If all the fake reviews were removed, this would probably be close to 2.5 stars. I dropped this to one star, and it’s staying there. Adobe apps on the iPad are tragic.

4 years ago, Ghastly28

Worked good the first couple days...

Got the app on my new ipro, and the first few days it worked great, now it pauses randomly after some strokes. It also doesn’t always register the touch to step back so you keep tapping, it then catches up and goes back multiple steps...annoying. I’m using the same vector brushes and same size artwork I did with Adobe DRAW and never encountered these problems. The other day I discovered that if I hold after a curved line, I could scale and rotate!!!! My mind was blown! ....this option stopped working. HUGE PROBLEM: I spent 2 days working on a piece, went to work on it the next day and MY VECTOR ART WAS RUINED!! All my VECTOR lines became PIXEL lines. I then realized that right above the MERGE LAYERS BUTTON, Is the TURN LAYERS TO PIXEL button......are you kidding me?!? If your pencil slips and you don’t catch it, your screwed. You can’t turn them back once you close the app (possibly even before) if these items were fixed this app would be wonderful, and I wouldn’t feel bad dishing out more $$ to adobe. Also I noticed a new vector brush was added, please continue to add vector brushes, as that was my one original issue. I cant wait to rate this app 5 stars!

2 years ago, hackadoodle

Genuinely surprised I like it so much

I’ve been off the Adobe bandwagon for years, came back recently to explore new features. The Fresco app has come a long way and I find myself really enjoying it. It still has plenty of ground to cover, but I’m really excited to see it grow. I do not have a Fresco subscription, so I don’t have any premium features unlocked, but I don’t feel like I’m missing out. Great for sketching and I love how easy it is to work on the same project in all of the Adobe apps, both iPad and desktop. I have been playing with Fresco on desktop as well, but it is clearly built for tablet use and the experience on desktop suffers for it. I don’t begrudge that at all, I think it makes sense given the principle design direction of the app. Worth experimenting in, especially with the live watercolor brushes.

5 years ago, Mar Goran

It’s Great! But Still No Magic😞

Good Afternoon, To All adobe fans. Yes fresco is another great adobe app with killer features and versatility, but once again they created another app where the the selection tool is still to in simplest words, basic. Not sure if there are many who can relate, but those of us who spend quite the time with line art and block out areas freehand and just want that simple, quick, right to the point deletion from an area would probably agree that Quick selection tool and the Magic Wand need to make an appearance. Now I know Fresco is new and there have been some who’ve yet had the chance to check it out, but I think quick ways to delete white space should be available on these awesome programs, meaning I should be able tap the area I want to be deleted and delete that area. Similar to the selection tool in Autodesk Sketchbook which is similar to Photoshop in so many ways it’s not even funny. Just my thoughts.

4 years ago, not original name but thats ok

Adobe

Alright im gonna say this now, dont buy this. and to the devs, make this better, period. first off, for all the good brushes, u have to pay. yes, actual money. and its 10 dollars A MONTH. NOT A ONE TIME PAY, BUT A MONTH. im not paying that much for just a drawing software. second of all. the learning stuff when u first open the app, it doesnt help. it didnt help me. it didnt help my friends. third of all, wheres the blending brush? this would be SOOOO much better if we had a blending brush. this app, ALONE, overheated my drawing ipad. thats horrible too! fourth thing, half of the stuff is copied from procreate.... in a bad way! (procreate is so much better tho). fifth, the bucket drop tool leaves white spaces in between!!! EXCUSE ME?! I mean, i mine as well draw on that crappy “paint” software thats always on computes!!!! sixth, everytime i draw a line, it goes on another layer. jesus, i dont expect every time i try to draw i get another layer!!!! and besides, half of the brushes arent even compatible with an apple pen. LIKE?!???!??!?! my god, its not that hard to make ur thing better. please PLEASSSEEE dont waste ur email, money, and time for this, costumers. i dont like this one bit.

8 months ago, Sofia Sencen

Crashed when animating

Okay his app is amazing. It’s all I ever needed for a drawing app. I wish a could give this a 4.5 but, alas. Anyways. I have used this app for a year and finally decided to try the animation tools. I made an animatic that was super simple but when I got to 70 frames the app froze. I freaked out and literally took a screen recording of my animation so I wouldn’t lose it if the page wasn’t saved because it kept telling me there was an error in the saving of the page. It took me two days of research on how to get the app working again and in the end it worked after many tries. He only problem is that whenever I open the file it takes seven whole minutes to open which is VERY annoying because I have a strict time limit. I love this app and every hog else works fine it’s just that. This app is amazing and I recommend it to artists of every level.

2 years ago, wolfstarlight

Honestly it’s amazing… but at the same time frustrating & annoying

1. I love everything it’s a pretty nice upgrade I have to admit, but. I got finished with a 2 HOUR drawing and I go to fill it in and it fills the whole page, so I go in and make sure all lines are sealed. Once that’s done I try again, it does the same thing so I fix it up one last time and this thing pops up saying something along the lines of ‘Cannot Fill in this Type of Layer’ which I get really annoyed at. So I decide to color it in with the brush, and I notice the colors start mixing. I didn’t know I had to disable ‘Water color’ or whatever. So my drawing was kinda a waste of time. So I quit getting really annoyed, though I come back some time later and try again. I start adjusting the drawing a bit and half of it disappears randomly. I couldn’t get it back, and at this point gave up for real. But like I said an amazing app but just so annoying and I wasted my time.

5 years ago, Default Itunes User

Good software.. but I'm not taking the bait anymore

Why can they not charge up front for the work they've done & that's it? I refuse to subscribe to this method of payment, although would pay more for apps developed by reputable companies than what is currently the avg. price. I know it sounds crazy but with Adobe's current offerings you could be close to a car payment or mortgage with they're monthly subscriptions. Computers used to be my thing, until this business model came along, now I use pencils & pens more often. Ironically those companies who require digital proofs or samples and insist on me digitizing my traditional work, are not companies I'm thrilled to work with and ultimately I do not submit anything to them. It's worth the extra gas, time, hassle, to drive for me to meet with the company & show them my artwork. I have yet to lose a job in which that was the case. Adobe lost me as a customer. I don't see the incentive for Adobe to innovate & update when they have a constant stream of income every month from mediocre Apps in the appstore. Come to thing of it, how many apps has Adobe abandoned in the Appstore? All the money Adobe funneled to themselves from my account while I worked that much harder in order to pay for it, I stopped & decided less is better, it saves the wear & tear on my body & I have more time for myself to enjoy life. Hell with it, I'm not going to bust my rear just to make them more money.

2 years ago, Msmrmastermind

Great for budding artists!

As an avid user of Adobe Photoshop CC among the other programs, I have always been curious to see what Adobe Fresco had to offer in terms of tools, brushes, filters, and layers. After downloading the app on my iPad, I am pleased to share that I have been nothing but impressed with the what I’ve seen! From the jump, the program offers a variety of brushes including numerous vector, pixel, and live brushes. These live brushes are a joy in particular as they accurately mimic the characteristics of physical water colors, oils, pastels, and the like. This gives the user the ability to ‘mix medias’ in a sense to create truly original pieces. Filters such as color dodge, darken, luminescence, etc., are offered as well, and artiest’s are able to sort and organize layers by creating groups and moving/merging them around. What’s more, you’re greeted with quick tips and tutorials the moment the app is opened for the first. These are thorough and do a great job describing the multiple ‘key commands’ (but with your hands) available. I would definitely suggest this program for anyone looking to get into art! It definitely shares the drawing capabilities of photoshop without all the potentially overwhelming or confusing ‘photoshopping’ elements.

5 years ago, Alvin Oei

A Work in Progress

After hearing much talk about Fresco, I wanted to try it as an alternative to Procreate and was pleasantly surprised. The most attractive feature to me is the pencil brush and how real it feels by default. I have not been able to find something as natural with the perfect amount of noise yet for PC even though I’ve been using it for years. Yes, the default pencil is beautiful so I have been using this for ideation. I am only giving Fresco 3 stars, however, because in 2 days of using this app it has already crashed 10 times. That makes it really difficult to keep a steady workflow. The files aren’t particularly big, which makes me raise my eyebrows. Also, the lack of being able to distort or warp images in perspective, which is essential in both Photoshop and Procreate, makes it difficult for me to use this professionally. I am subscribed to CC so this comes with the bundle, but unless these very basic essentials are fixed, it will be hard to compete with Procreate 5 in my opinion.

1 year ago, IIIXDopeXIII

Can’t support renting software…

Love Adobe and because my company pays for the subscription, I use Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator, Indesign, Animate and many other Adobe apps daily for the marketing and 3D animation work I do at my job. However, I don’t want to rent software for my personnel art projects I do at home. This looks like a great drawing program but I don’t want to have to make monthly payments to access the full features of a software I will never own. A single one time purchase price for the fully functioning app would make me a customer. There are several amazing drawing apps that require a single payment to own the software and all of its features. Those companies also continue to support that software with new features and improvements for free. That’s a business model I can support. I hope that one day you will change this Adobe because I do love your software, just not enough to pay you rent in order to use a full version of the software forever.

2 years ago, cooorrrall

Fill refuses to work and crashes at least 10 times a day while I’m using it

Been using Adobe Fresco for more than a year now, as Adobe Draw (my first and still favorite drawing app) was replaced by it. Still very very mad about it, as this is nowhere near as friendly, easy to use or charming as Draw was. But still, it seems like a nice drawing app, free, professional, and had most of the features from Draw. Then, I had to stop using on my phone as I couldn’t even do one drawing without it saying I’m “out of storage”, despite the fact I had 5 open at once on there, The main problems are the storage issue, my program now crashes every few minutes, and it taking forever at times to fill, and sometimes for no reason the fill stops working altogether. Currently having to exit the program as it’s crashed for the 5th time in two hours, after waiting 10 minutes for the fill to work. After I’m done with my projects on Fresco, most likely deleting the program and finding a better.

3 years ago, sammywhy

Forced switch from Sketch

Upon opening my Adobe Sketch app this afternoon and discovering that it no longer exists, I was forced to switch to Fresco, a program advertised every time I had previously opened the Sketch app and I declined adding each time. I was frustrated to open the new Fresco app for a time sensitive project, only to find that it is not nearly as intuitive or user friendly as Sketch, the icons are not obvious, and each icon has many options within that will be time consuming to adjust to and remember. To add to the panic, all of my previous works from Sketch haven’t ‘synced’ yet so I cannot access my previously saved projects from the Sketch app which I regularly open and edit. There was no warning that the Sketch program was being removed, and the platform no longer provides the simplicity of the Sketch app that originally drew me to it. Developers- consider reinstating it or creating a simplified dashboard option on Fresco that is more like the original Sketch offerings that attracted artists to it in the first place.

3 years ago, wl2262

Adobe Draw fan

I am a huge Adobe Draw fan and felt like the user interface was so much more intuitive than Fresco. Maybe I am just so used to Draw that Fresco seems harder, but it has still taken me a while to get used to Fresco, and honestly, I’m still having a hard time. I don’t understand why you can’t save colors into your palette in Fresco, that seems like a HUGE failing on Fresco’s part. Luckily my color libraries from Draw have been saved and migrated over. I feel like the toolbar on Fresco should be more customizable, and certain gestures while drawing could and should be moved over from Draw. For example, I really miss the ability to hold down the stylus to fill/paint bucket, and double tapping layers to hide/unhide. Maybe I just haven’t discovered how to unlock those features yet in Fresco, but that’s because it’s a more difficult user interface to navigate. I just wish Adobe Draw wasnt discontinued.

4 months ago, ePhotoLA

cool features, but needs improvement

I have been enjoying Adobe Fresco, but now that I'm trying to use it for more advanced illustrations and animations...It's falling short. It would be great if I could label the layers. If you're drawing with white on the transparent background, it's very difficult to identify which layer has which drawing. The icons identifying pixel versus vector are very small and similar. I would like it if they were color coded instead. When you export from the application on the iPad and import into the desktop version of Photoshop or illustrator some of the layers do not encode properly they won't scale or transform together with other layers. If you're doing more than just a basic looping animation it becomes unwieldily. Sometimes the clipping mask doesn't work in the same way as it does in Photoshop. It should be a reference layer, but sometimes the colors on that layer actually appear in the image instead of being just a mask that another layer clips to. The watercolor brush doesn't act like an actual watercolor brush. It has some cool effects, but a real watercolor brush doesn't go outside the line and bleed. I'm forever going in and erasing areas where it bleeds over. And speaking of brushes, there are very few. I haven't spent much time in Procreate, but it is tempting to try it out for my more complex projects..

3 weeks ago, Judge juice

I recommend this to people who want to have procreate and are not ready

So hi I am going to tell you why I think this. First of all I want procreate right but I can tell you that you are not ready ( for people who have not yet experienced procreate) chose this app. Probably don't how how to stuff that's the same with procreate but a lot harder than this app. and I could tell you that this is the second choice for procreate if you are not ready for it yet. Trust me this is better than art set 4. This can help you with mixing colors and and basically helps you with art supplies in the real world and when you got the hang of it you'll start to like it and then you are most likely ready for procreate and shout out to who made this app and procreate keep making your creativity work and

2 years ago, Jaaaaai

Draw files inaccessible - years of work lost

I will start by saying I am a working artist with my income solely from logo work and illustration. All of which I did on Abobe Draw on my iPad. Years of files accumulated. One day recently I went to open Adobe Draw to transport a logo I had drawn up the day before and to do some work on a mural design I was nearly done with - only to find that Adobe Draw no longer exists and that I needed to download Fresco to access my Draw files and continue work one them. When I did.. I found them all scattered and without preview thumbnails to easily assess what was where - just blank file folders to sort through. All out of order so I had to click on each one but still couldn’t find my most recent projects. Loads of drawings that I can’t find - and the ones I do find I can’t open and get “try again later”! What am I supposed to do!? This is insane! Just crying at my desk and preparing to have to redraw months of projects and morn the loss of others. Badly done, Adobe. Help please if you can.

2 years ago, Carol Campa

Review from an architect’s perspective.

I have never taken the time to write a review for an app before. I have used almost every sketch, design, digital art focused apps and have easily made the decision that Fresco is the best. As a designer that travels frequently but is required to continue to collaborate and provide design direction for 7-10 projects at a time, Fresco is the most powerful tool I utilize. The combination of Fresco and Apple’s IPad + Pen allows me to sketch with precision while controlling the artistic expressions as I see fit. I am able to integrate information, images and floor plans from my teams Revit models, computer renderings, photos of physical models, or even photos of the site into my design process through Fresco. This is my primary, most powerful design tool as an architect… by far.

4 years ago, seazona

It’ll keep getting better

I love that the market forces Adobe to first come out with a competing product, and secondly, race to be better than the competition just by sheer force. I said this about XD when it came out. It stood no chance against Sketch and now I think it’s getting so much closer to being a peer (in some ways, it’s far surpassed Sketch). Fresco is used by different types of artists, but I like whiteboarding on it with my product team using the vector tools. We can get requirements written up and then draw through flows or UI speedily. Copy and paste an element - form field, for example - and you saved even more time than if you were on an actual whiteboard. It’s been missing features like shape detection, but I’m excited to try the latest set of features which does include creating shapes in a method similar to Illustrator’s.

8 months ago, pn/leelee

Disappointed completely.

I was really disappointed at first, I was looking for an app that had a set of colors ( and a spectrum ), good range to zoom in with, and nice brushes. Firstly, the colors are great, and it has a pretty easy to use spectrum. I have absolutely no problem there. But however I wanted to be able to zoom in a LOT, which is where I got disappointed… I could only zoom in a little bit until everything was completely pixelated. In addition, there are only two brushes and they are SO intricate, tedious, and frustrating to adjust!! This is my second point of disappointment. Maybe I’m just dumb, and you literally only have two brushes that can’t be adjusted, even though that’s supposed to be the super cool main feature. I really tried to find something in this app I liked but infinity art just doesn’t work out when using this app. [ Thank you for reading ]

2 years ago, Shickity Boomba

Why discontinue Adobe Draw?

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Adobe Draw, which was perfect, was replaced by Fresco. It’s ‘merged’ with Fresco but with almost none of the Adobe Draw features that made it an amazing means of creating art. A few years ago I could grind out over 7 pieces of art a week due to its simplicity and user friendly style. Shortly before the merge I would make at least 1 a week, since then I haven’t made a single piece because of the difficulties I’ve had trying to use fresco. Also it arranged all of my files into separate folders making it a headache to even look through my previous pieces. This is a Hail Mary but please either add all of the features from Adobe Draw or bring Adobe Draw back as it was, otherwise I can’t see myself using this app to make anything. I used to praise Adobe for its diversity in creative apps but now it seems they just mashed 2 perfect apps together to make a confusing photoshop styled mess.

Description

Adobe Fresco is a free drawing and painting app designed for digital artists. Built for iPad and iPhone, with Apple Pencil Compatibility, Fresco offers a wide variety of brushes and tools to help you create your next masterpiece. Looking to take your artwork to the next level? Easily add motion with Fresco’s suite of animation and motion path tools. Paste in photos from your clipboard to add decorations or practice your form. Show off your process by exporting a time-lapse video of your piece. Explore hundreds of tutorials and inspiration pieces from the Fresco Community. Adobe Fresco reimagines essential tools for illustrators, including modernized selection and masking with a flexible UI so you can draw faster and without distractions. Brushes and projects follow you across devices so you can work wherever and whenever inspiration strikes. Subscribe to the premium version of Fresco to access thousands of premium brushes and fonts. FREE FEATURES • Brush variety — Paint with 50+ Photoshop paint brushes, vector brushes, and exclusive Live Brushes. Use built-in smudge brushes for easy blending as well as a set of pixel and vector eraser brushes. • Unlimited layers — Create like a pro and discover infinite possibilities with unlimited layers. • Snap to shape – Hold down at the end of your stroke to snap a perfect circle, polygon, line, or arc into place. • Paint inside mode – Speed up coloring by constraining your brush strokes to your line art. • Color palettes – Fresco automatically creates a color palette when you import any artwork. • Recolor your artwork — Photoshop-like adjustment layers allow you to easily test and apply changes to brightness, hue/saturation, and color balance. • Multicolor eyedrop — Pick up the elements of any piece of artwork to paint with multiple colors at once using any pixel brush or Live Brush. • Motion tools — Adding motion to your artwork is as easy as drawing a stroke. Create an animation using frame by frame or motion paths for a GIF or MP4 movie file. • Time-lapse — Export a video that replays the creation of your artwork from start to finish. • Magic wand, liquify and free transform — Easily select your artwork with the magic wand tool and use liquify and other free transform tools to alter any object. • Learn content — Strengthen your skills with step-by-step tutorials and built-in video tutorials. • Drawing aids — Trace along the edges of a ruler, circle, square or polygon with a brush or fill inside or outside of a shape with the Fill tool. • Guides & grids — Align your artwork easily, create natural-looking perspective artwork or create perspective from an imported photo. • Share your artwork — Export in popular formats like PNG, JPG and layered PSD files. • Seamless integration with Photoshop and Illustrator — Open documents in either app without importing or exporting. Send your layered vector illustrations directly to Illustrator for desktop or iPad for those finishing touches. PREMIUM FEATURES • An expanded library of 1,000+ brushes • Access to over 1,000+ premium fonts • Seasonal brush releases from Illustration evangelist Kyle T. Webster • Ability to import brushes (ABR files) • Increased Creative Cloud storage Terms & Conditions: Your use of this application is governed by the Adobe General Terms of Use http://www.adobe.com/go/terms_linkfree_en and the Adobe Privacy Policy http://www.adobe.com/go/privacy_policy_linkfree_en Do not sell or share my personal information: www.adobe.com/go/ca-rights-linkfree