Image rights: Adobe Inc.
Layer support
and management
is powerful but
easy to use.
Customize and save brushes, and access hundreds more online.
ADOBE FRESCO
Live Brushes, especially oils, are
incredible
Excellent, usable design
Integration with Creative Cloud
The pricing model might put some off
EXCELLENT
touch and something you don’t
see much on iOS devices. It
really makes it pleasurable to
work in the app, as does the
full screen mode that helps to
remove distractions.
Documents can be exported
in multiple formats as well as
saved in your Creative Cloud
and opened with other Adobe
apps on the desktop, like
Illustrator. Although you need
to pay heftily to unlock some
essential features, Fresco is an
incredible tool for creating
professional artwork on iPad.
THE BOTTOM LINE. Fresco
is a truly impressive digital
painting app for iPad, with Live
Brushes a particular standout.
HOLLIN JONES
Your subscription gets you
access to a collection of over
1,800 brushes designed by
artist Kyle Webster, and these
are relatively easy to import
into the app. Realistically, you
will probably have a few that
you use regularly and these can
be assigned as your favorites.
The brush panels can be
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algorithms to simulate the
behavior of oil and watercolor-
based paints, all of course
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in terms of size, pressure, and
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touch can also be customized
to suit your style, and it’s
perfectly possible to create
art without owning an Apple
Pencil, even if more
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one useful. Pixel and vector
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conventional — if no less
useful — alternative ways to
paint. Every single aspect of
each tool can be controlled
precisely, and although there
are a lot of options for
behaviors, they never feel
overwhelming.
One of the most impressive
things is the way Fresco works
with oil paints. They really do
feel like oils in a way that is
totally unexpected on a digital
device. It’s almost tactile the
way the brushes behave, and
you can mix oils together to
create blends and new colors in
a way that feels revolutionary
on an iPad.
maclife.com DEC 2019 57