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The 11 best iPad Pro Artists
When you enter the App Store in search of suitable drawing apps for painting and drawing you can easily spend hours scouring the myriad descriptions of these apps. We will save you some time in that venture and dedicate this blog post to artists who have carved a niche for themselves in the c of digital art on the iPad and who are tremendously successful.
Over the past years, an increasing number of artists, graphic designers, and calligraphers have taken advantage of the artistic potential of the iPad and the Apple Pencil and have realized a fantastic array of astonishing works of art. The migration from brush and painter’s palette to the digital studio goes hand in hand with an increase in productivity and mobility for the visual arts. We have selected the top iPad artists for you, and we will tell you which drawing apps they used for their masterpieces.
1. Stefan de Groot
THE DUTCH ILLUSTRATOR AND THE CHILDREN’S BOOKS
Stefan de Groot, also known as Stayf Draws, his YouTube pseudonym, is an artist from the Netherlands who has dedicated over twenty years to his passion, painting. Hg Apple Pencil and iPad Pro for the past year. Recently, he has been invited by Apple to host a public store event with the objective o drawing apps like ProCreate together with Apple Pencil and iPad Pro to a broader audience.
Meanwhile, he has converted to realizing most of his drawings with ProCreate and the majority of his animations with Moho and Adobe Flash. In addition to workshops for analog drawing, he also uploads tutorials for drawing and animating on YouTube. It was on YouTube that we discovered his impressive illustrations. His current project, the children’s book “Cubby the Lion“ will be published as an animated e-book. All of his video tutorials are available on iBooks.
2. ERIC MERCED
A Cartoonist, Marvel, and DC
Eric Merced is a young, fully immersed American cartoonist. His passion for cartoons and his prolific youth, which he dedicated e to drawing, brought the artist to his enviable position and his many successes. Among others, he got to work as a professional Illustrator for Marvel and DC, the creators of Spiderman, Batman, the Incredible Hulk, and many other cult figures. Ls, he started with analog paper and pencil drawings. Oars, the technological advances in digital art software and hardware have allowed him to completely migrate his work to iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and several drawing apps. Eric Merced even designs custom brushes for ProCreate. He posts video tutorials regularly on his Y channel.
3. Jorge Colombo
The New Yorker Illustrator and the Drawing apps – since 2009
The Portuguese graphic designer, illustrator, and photographer Jorge Colombo, a New York City resident since 1998, has been illustrating and drawing for big names in the magazine and newspaper industry for over 30 years. Until 2009 he focused his art around ink and watercolor pencils, but as soon as the first art drawing apps for iPhone and iPad were launched, he experienced a paradigm shift and started pioneering in this media with his celebrated digital finger painting techniques. His digital finger paintings are available in high gloss prints.
The release of Apple Pencil and iPad Pro, as well as dozens of professional drawing apps in 2015 created an entirely reinvented basis for digital drawing. The cover of the January edition of “The New Yorker“ was the first cover ever created exclusively by Apple Pencil and the art app ProCreate.
4. Mike Henry
Zatransis – designer and illustrator for the gaming world
Mike Henry i another artist who has embraced digital art and exclusively draws and illustrates with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. He works at a German software company and designs characters, gameplay, and layouts for browser games. Under his pseudonym Zatransis he portrays his creations in PDF-image collections not only to present his own works of art but also to provide inspiration to others. Most recently, he has started to post some excellent video tutorials about drawing on the iPad on YouTube under his real name Mike Henry.
5. David Hockney
Master Hockney and the bigger picture
David Hockney has been a celebrated artist in watercolors for decades, and his series of pool pictures as well as his masterpiece “A bigger splash“ (1967), brought him worldwide recognition. His artistic endeavors on the iPad, which he has been embarking on since 2011, stirred great curiosity in the art world.
His series “The Arrival of Spring“ is an impressive testimony to the possibilities that the iPad and the art app Brushes puts at your disposal. While initially drawing his pictures with his finger on his iPhone, he now uses the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to digitally capture his volume-speaking Hockney stills.
6. Kyle Lambert
Kyle Lambert and the L.A. movie industry
The British national Kyle Lambert is making a very impressive career for himself. More than a decade ago, Kyle Lambert studied to paint in oils, but the revolutionary advancements of technology in the arena of digital art captured his interest, and over time, he migrated from analog to digital art. His pioneering role in using the iPad to sketch and eventually to realize entire paintings harvested international acclaim.
Initially, he used his fingers, but he eventually found tools that met his demand, especially with the launch of the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil. The U.S. movie industry soon became aware of the young talent and hired him for TV- and movie productions such as Star Trek and Super 8. Meanwhile, Kyle Lambert has become a resident of L.A. and is unquestionably one of the leaders in iPad Pro art. He exclusively created the official cover for the new Netflix original series Stranger Things on his iPad Pro.
7. Jaime Sanjuan Ocabo
The most gifted finger painter in digital arts
Hard to believe that the picture above was created entirely by finger painting on the art app ProCreate! Everything, from the tablecloth to the detail of the drop – without Apple Pencil. The artist who created this masterpiece called Tempus is Jaime Sanjuan. He created this painting in a mere 100 hours! Jaime Sanjuan is working on his master's thesis about fine arts and new technologies at the University of Saragossa. He has won numerous international awards for his creations. He calls his signature blend of oil tools and iPad Pro “Digital Oils”.
8. Sam Gilbey
From Sony Playstation, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Twitter
Sam Gilbey, a London-born Designer and Star Wars fan, is an outstanding illustrator in the field of digital art. So he got nicknamed “Sensational Sam” by “Luke Skywalker” Mark Hamill. The directors Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright are also part of his growing fan base. Gilbey has been doing his drawings since 2004 on various graphic tablets, as well as on the iPad Pro with Drawing Apps like ProCreate. His works have already been used in countless newspapers, magazines, comics, video games, movies and television. Whether for Sony Playstation, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie or Twitter, Sam Gilbeys art is admired by the audience. Since 2013, Gilbey has been touring through art exhibitions in the US, where he has lectured on digital arts.
9. Robert Generette III
Rob Zilla and the NBA
Robert Generette III is a real exception on the iPad Pro. The high school teacher from Maryland teaches photography and art, but he draws and painted since age three. Through his countless digital drawings in the area of urban culture and sport, the NBA finally became aware of him and engaged him in several projects.
Therefore Generette, aka Rob Zilla, illustrated the Oakland Warriors and Washington Wizards teams on the iPad Pro. Generette didn’t limit himself to simple portraits but showed each player in action and movement.
Generette started with Adobe Illustration on the MacBook and changed from 2011 to the iPad and the drawing apps SketchBook and Adobe Illustration Draw. His sports illustrations are not only about basketball but also about baseball and soccer teams and players.
10. Seikou Yamaoka 
Yamaoka and the great works of art history
Yamaoka is a gifted fingerpainter who has received much praise and recognition through his digital water drawings. The Japanese-born artist and office worker began to make fingerpaintings on the iPhone and later switched to the iPad mini. When the first of his drawings and videos were uploaded to the Internet, the young iPad art scene was in a bright turmoil, because Yamaoka also paints the great works of art history deceptively real by finger and iPad. According to his own statement, he produces most of his works on his way back home and uses drawing apps like ArtStudio to this day
11. David Kassan
A live portrait painter and a great artist
David Kassan is a world-famous artist who hasn’t limited his art to the iPad but appreciated digital drawing over the years. His hyperreal live portrait sessions are known scene wide. Thanks to the Brushes app, he sketched and painted people in meaningful and thoughtful poses. Just like David Hockney, Kassan is an artist who has not entirely departed from analog art, but instead sees the iPad as an extension of artistic work. Kassan draws the majority of his portraits with his finger.
Many artists use our iPad stands, which are made of oak and walnut wood. We offer a regular iPad stand and one iPad stand with an Apple Pencil holder.
FAQs
What is the best iPad for artists?
The best iPad for artists is the iPad Pro, specifically the latest model available at the time of purchase. It offers superior performance with its powerful A-series chip, ProMotion technology for a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, and excellent color accuracy. Moreover, it supports the latest Apple Pencil, which provides a natural and responsive drawing experience. The larger screen options, such as the 12.9-inch model, offer an expansive canvas for artists to create their masterpieces.
What are the best apps for artists?
The best iPad apps for artists is Procreate, which is a powerful and feature-rich digital painting app with a wide range of brushes and tools. Additionally, Adobe Illustrator Draw and Adobe Fresco are great choices for vector-based art and realistic painting, respectively. For those focused on sketching and idea generation, Concepts and Autodesk SketchBook offer versatile options. ArtRage is another noteworthy app that simulates traditional art materials for a realistic experience. Ultimately, the best app depends on an artist's specific needs and preferred art style.
What is the best iPad for drawing?
The best iPad for drawing is the iPad Pro. With its powerful hardware, including the latest A-series chip, high-resolution and color-accurate display, and compatibility with the latest Apple Pencil, the iPad Pro delivers an unparalleled drawing experience. Artists will appreciate the smooth and responsive input, minimal latency, and precise pressure sensitivity of the Apple Pencil, making it an ideal combination for creating digital art with precision and finesse.
