Think you can’t draw well? ShadowDraw will teach you how
The main thing that prevents us being global art superstars is that we can’t draw for toffee. ShadowDraw promises to help with that. If, like us, you’ve always wanted to draw but haven’t been taught how, or if you just don’t feel really confident, it’s a great way to bring out your inner Degas or Dürer.
The app is designed for absolute beginners, and it takes you step by step through the process of turning an idea into an artwork. Rather than tell you how to draw something, it shows you; you’ll see the pen or brush strokes of an artist on your iPad’s screen, and you learn how to draw by copying the artist’s own moves. Get it right and you’ll move onto the next bit; get it wrong and you’ll be gently guided towards the correct positioning.
What it’s worth
ShadowDraw is a free app, but memberships and individual add-on packs for particular kinds of drawing are available. A guide to drawing kittens is $1.99/£1.99; it’s also $1.99/£1.99 for a guide to drawing really angry cats, and you’ll pay the same price for a guide to drawing many artists’ least favourite body part: hands.
If you’d rather pay a flat subscription, ShadowDraw is $7.99/£6.99 per month or $49.99/£52.99 per year. It supports Family Sharing so you can share the full library – up to 1,000 guides – with up to five other family members. We’d say the subscription option will work out more economic in the long run. The app is really easy to get started with, so let’s do just that…
How to Improve your drawing skills on iPad
The front page of ShadowDraw is organised into sections, with free lessons at the top and paidfor courses below. While there are lots of courses for more experienced artists, we’re going to start with the basics via Learn The Basics.
As you can see, there are lots of introductory lessons here. Let’s go with the simplest one, which will show us how to draw as well as teach us how to use ShadowDraw’s key features. Tap on Start Drawing to begin your first lesson.
ShadowDraw doesn’t tell you how
