After a lengthy search for good freeware that would serve as a decent outlet for sketching urges on the go, I’ve found PocketPicture.

I think the hardest thing about finding the right mobile drawing software is striking a balance between having enough features and simplicity. You need enough so you don’t work harder than you have to, but too many tools and it gets unusable.

An example of software that’s too simple is MiTo Team Paint. Small and easy to use, it unfortunately faces the problem
of being hard to customise. You can set new shades for use but they aren’t put into a palette so you can’t recover them again. It also only has one brush, which is too inflexible.

On the other end of this spectrum is something like VsPainter LE. It offers slightly more advanced tools like brush effects, but navigating the limited screen real estate of mobile devices makes this somewhat clunky to use for casual sketching.

So far, PocketPicture is a decent choice. The only thing limiting about it is my drawing ability unfortunately. But then again that can’t be instantly remedied, I’m afraid. If only.

These pictures were doodled during my last work trip to Miami. More photos and digital sketches in this Flickr set of the trip.

Anyone has other suggestions for good mobile drawing editors? I’m willing to buy a good one as well if it’s worth the ticket price.