The Apple Pencil changed the game for a lot of artists around the world, giving them acess to full-blown graphical drawing tablets you normally had to shell out thousands of dollars for. And when Catalina rolled in, and we got the chance to use the same tech with sidecar, Wacom no doubt started sweating and wringing its hands. The iPad/Pencil combo was suddenly something akin to a freakin’ Cintiq. And the Pencil wasn’t just great for digital painting anymore — you could suddenly use it for things like 3D sculpting in non-iOS software like Blender or 3DS Max.
But when you’re done doing your work for the day, your clients are happy, and you feel like switching off, what are some of the low key things you can do with the pencil? The less flashy stuff? Well, there just so happens to be a variety of drawing games, not just apps, that you can take a stab at with that shiny Pencil of yours.
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Draw Something Classic
- Released: February 2012
- Developer: OMGPOP
- Platform: iOS/Android
- Price: Free
Draw Something Classic is sort of the OG of the App Store’s drawing games aisle. There are now two paid versions alongside the free Classic we’re talking about here, and many of you may have already taken a crack of its awkward finger-painting mechanic. Know that the apple pencil makes little difference in terms of stroke quality.
Like most other drawing games, it does not feature pressure sensitivity so the only way to achieve any form of tapering is by erasing away the edges of the linework. Which sort of defeats the purpose of gestural, energetic lines, but is pretty much inescapable. The Pencil does however allow you an unobstructed FOV, and of course, feels better than finger painting.
For the uninitiated, gameplay works a lot like Scrabble or Words with Friends 2. Players get a word, they draw it the best they can at their own pace, and send it to another player who will, in turn, make a guess and their own attempt at drawing a random word. It goes back and forth, with both players free to pick it up and put it down at will, making the game great for the super casual player who just wants an excuse to draw.
Draw Something’s biggest feature over similar games like is, while it doesn’t have pressure sensitivity (none of them seem to), it does have better line tracing. It uses more input points to create smoother, less jagged curves.
Download Draw Something Classic:Â iOS | Android
Draw Climber
- Released: January 2020
- Developer: VOODOO
- Platform: iOS/Android
- Price: Free
The game surprised us with colorful, 3D rendered graphics, but seems to pay a price with frequent freezing. Nothing that makes the game crash, though.
The game is less of a drawing and game, and more a creative and surprisingly fun racing game. Players are nothing more than a block in desperate need of a pair of legs — which is where the drawing comes in.
You draw the legs, in whatever 2-dimensional shape you think is appropriate, which are then attached to axles on the block and spun like a wheel as your block sets off into a varied racecourse full of slopes, stairs, and other obstacles. You’re free to redraw your legs throughout the race to best contend with whatever you run into, making it a fun, active, and creative game.
There is, however, a surprisingly large number of ads, which seems to be a recurring theme across these drawing games. There is one after every single match, and considering they last as long if not longer than the incredibly short matches, it’s a bit of a turnoff. Sure, it’s a free game, but damn.Â
Download Draw Climber: iOS | Android
Draw It
- Released: March 2019
- Developer: Kwalee
- Platform: iOS/Android
- Price: Free
In ‘Draw It’, you face off against a couple of other players to draw something that looks enough like something to convince some algorithm. It’s a weird way to conceptualize drawing, especially for those with some training who try to construct realistic forms rather than relying on the symbolic drawing.
You get coins depending on your ranking which can be spent on word packs, increasing the number of words available for you to draw — which may add some variety to the player experience but probably won’t do anything to improve actual gameplay, should it be important to you.
The games are more fast-faced than Draw Something Classic, which increases the frequency of ads. There are a lot of them.
Download Draw It: iOS | Android
Draw Joust
https://youtu.be/h4lgqJDToZ0
- Released: February 2020
- Developer: VOODOO
- Platform: iOS/Android
- Price: Free
An interesting concept. You’re giving a finite amount of ink with which to draw yourself a jousting cart that supports your rider, connects your seat to wheels, and offers some semblance of protection when you guys lock horns.
Conceptually, it’s a lot of fun. There are a few battle-bots style add-ons that seem to randomly appear in your cart editor, like plows and cannons, that make the super simple gameplay unique. It’s less of a creative endeavor and more an interesting gameplay mechanic, but hey, it’s fun.
But for all the novelty of its concept, Draw Joust suffers the same problem as Draw Climber in the form of incredibly intrusive ads. Drawing takes a couple of seconds, and the matches aren’t much longer — so sitting down to play for 10 minutes involves at least 5 minutes of ads. Which is…. annoying, makes it hard to enjoy the game, and
Download Draw Joust: iOS | Android
Drawize
- Released: November 2018
- Developer: Lomboos
- Platform: iOS/Android
- Price: Free
While Drawize certainly sports the best interface, with some nice textures and even some actual drawings in the way of a few characters, we were somewhat let down by the fact that we were shown an ad before ever getting to enjoy an actual game.
The game is actually more drawing oriented than the other games, with a couple minutes to complete a piece based on a random word, while other players watch, stroke by stroke, guessing at what it is. This, at least, incentivizes higher quality, more technical drawing skills rather than symbols and allows more creative freedom.
Guessing is actually just as fun as drawing. The online play seems well conceptualized: instead of a game like Draw It, where you’re essentially locked into a speed drawing contest, the competitive side is about who can correctly guess the word first — which feels much more natural.
Download Drawize: iOS | Android
Draw N Guess Multiplayer
- Released: July 2018
- Developer: Lomboos
- Platform: iOS/Android
- Price: Free
Draw N Guess is, as the name suggests, another game where players choose from 1-3 words, ordered by supposed ‘difficulty’, and made to draw them before sending it off to another player to guess at.
It operates almost exactly like Draw Something, where players have the freedom to pick it up when they want and draw for as long as they like. There are no time limits. There are also much fewer bugs than Draw Something Classic, so anyone looking for a free app with the same gameplay might be better inclined to go with Draw N Guess.
Where the game falls short is its line construction. It seems to use fewer points to record strokes, resulting in more jagged lines, especially when trying to implement any level of subtle detail. For many, this won’t matter. It easily allows players to make large, symbolic drawings to get their specific word across. But those looking for more artistic freedom, it finds itself lacking.
Download Draw N Guess: iOS | Android
There! Six ways to show off any meager grasp of the fundamentals you have to strangers and children across the internet. Let us know if any of these did the trick for you.
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