Exsto is an experimental drawing and concept-sketching tool built for artists. Explore characters, creatures, environments, compositions, and unexpected forms with expressive strokes, mirror drawing, symmetry, and three-point perspective.
Exsto is designed for the beginning of the creative process—the fast, loose stage where you test shapes, develop variations, and follow unexpected directions. Natural variation in every movement becomes part of the result, helping you find forms you might never have planned.
DRAW IN PERSPECTIVE
Position three vanishing points, select a ground or wall plane, and draw directly onto it. Exsto maps your strokes and their expressive variation into the selected plane, while an adaptive grid helps you understand the space as you pan and zoom.
EXPLORE WITH MIRROR AND SYMMETRY
Mirror your strokes in real time around an adjustable axis. Use symmetry to develop balanced characters, creatures, props, vehicles, architecture, and unexpected abstract forms.
EXPLORE SHAPE AND FORM
Exsto’s organic stroke behaviour responds to subtle variations in your movement. Work loosely, push shapes in different directions, and develop the strongest results further.
MADE FOR APPLE PENCIL
On iPad, Exsto responds to Apple Pencil pressure, tilt, speed, and movement. Subtle variations in your input influence each stroke, giving you direct control without removing the unexpected qualities that make exploration productive.
WORK ACROSS IPAD, IPHONE, AND MAC
Every Exsto canvas is an editable document. Save your work in iCloud Drive or your preferred Files-compatible cloud service, begin a concept with Apple Pencil on iPad, continue working on Mac, and keep ideas close on iPhone. You can also share the original Exsto document without flattening your artwork.
Built natively for Apple platforms using Metal and SwiftUI, Exsto delivers fluid, responsive drawing across your devices.
CONTINUE CREATING FROM THE HOME SCREEN
The interactive Creation of the Day widget lets you add strokes directly from your Home Screen. Build an image gradually throughout the day and return to Exsto when an idea begins to take shape.
MOVE IDEAS INTO YOUR WORKFLOW
Export your work as PNG, JPEG, TIFF, or SVG. Continue developing your concepts in another art tool, share exported artwork with collaborators, include it in a presentation, or use it as the foundation for a finished piece.
EXSTO UNLIMITED
Try Exsto’s drawing experience in the free Playground. Exsto Unlimited unlocks the ability to create, edit, save, and share multiple Exsto canvas documents, along with high-resolution PNG, JPEG, TIFF, and SVG exports.
Choose a recurring subscription or a one-time lifetime purchase. Both options unlock the same Exsto Unlimited features. Subscription access continues while your subscription is active. The lifetime purchase is a single payment and includes all future updates.
The app and all in-app purchases are licensed under the standard Apple terms:
https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Exsto is a rare find in the App Store. It provides an unconventional, simplified approach to sketching via a set of simple tools (colors, brushes, noise, opacity, symmetry and no undo). The Exsto approach is easy to acclimate to and quickly produce impressive results. The experience of using Exsto is peculiar due to the simultaneous tensions of physically using the tools to create the visual on the iPad screen with the Apple Pencil .. while also adjusting my mindset to embrace the unconventional approach to drawing. The result is surprisingly meditative and after just a couple hours of use I am in love with Exsto. I’m thankful to have discovered Exsto — it is a reminder that it is still possible to create a truly magical iPad app.
My new favorite activity
swimwithnat
This app unlocks a part of my brain that is creative and spontaneous, something that I rarely get to be in my everyday life. Playing with the colors and shapes is relaxing and meditative. Now when I have a spare few minutes, I can create instead of consume. The app also lets me easily share my creations with my friends and family who are all surprised I made it myself!
A Breath of Fresh, Creative Air. Update: Thank You
Joshua D.
Thanks as well for grandfathering-in people who previously purchased this app before the subscription was added. If you need to restore your purchase just do so on the subscription screen by clicking at the top left where it says “More.” I did so and as I said it restored my purchase. Thanks to developers for that very much. I was quite worried when I saw you added a subscription to the app but was glad to see the superb ethics of caring about people who bought the app earlier. Thanks, again, for that and God bless.——————————————————Thank you so very much for the new higher resolution export options! I can’t believe it! That’s the only thing I wanted so much for this already awesome app and you added. I can’t tell you how truly grateful that I am. Thank you so much! This program is perfection and so fun. The best update ever!!!————————————————————————————Thank you so much for making this app work with the iPhone as well. Can’t tell you how excited i am about this compatibility. Such a cool application, I love it ———————————————————————————— I’m really enjoying and digging, Exsto, a ton thus far. The content you can create is really wonderful I think. You can tweak the opacity and noise of its special brush and just make some wild looking brush strokes and paintings. I also like how I can zoom out or in a whole bunch. Thanks for that. I don’t know how far the limits are for zooming. But it feels infinite at the moment. Super cool stuff. I will admit that it’s quite different not having an undo/redo function in an art application. Yet, kind of like the description mentions, I believe. It does in my use seem to have the effect of making you focus a little more. But, I also found that equally it’s just cool to be okay with what you’ve done and enjoy the kind of spontaneity of the setup and system in place. I’m always too critical of my own artwork anyways. This way i have to just accept it or start over. And this is no detractor or knock against the app in me saying so, I would not ever be against adding an undo/redo function later on. Haha. I’m really okay not having it, though truthfully. It just takes a bit to get used to I think. That’s all. Still, when they are so few new and exciting painting applications released on the App Store in my opinion. Well, I’m absolutely thrilled when I come across one this fun, unique and well put together. I definitely cannot wait to see what the developer does with this program in the future. And I want to offer my sincere thanks and gratitude to the dev. for all of the hard work, time and effort no doubt put into building and maintaining this rad painting application. I would highly recommend, Exsto, too other artists, creatives or just anyone who enjoys relaxing and having a fun time. Thanks, again, too The developer of this app and God bless. iPad 12.9 (4th Generation) iOS 16.4.1 P.S. Any other painting or art creation applications you release. Just, sign me up! I’ll buy every one of them :P.
1 free drawing the subscription requirement
TruthBt0ld
Really? 1 free trial drawing then a monetary commitment is required? No. Thats all, just NO
Developer Response
Sorry to hear you had this issue. The app should have granted you the ability to create multiple drawings within a few days of first opening it. After that, you are prompted to subscribe or purchase. However, users returning after a week of inactivity are granted another short window to try things out.We will look into how we can adjust this to better facilitate exploration before purchase.
Create environments, architecture, vehicles, and concept sketches with the new three-point Perspective drawing mode.
- Draw on Ground, Left Wall, or Right Wall perspective planes while preserving the natural character of your strokes.
- Position three vanishing points with live guides, then work over an adaptive perspective grid as you pan and zoom.
- Switch planes quickly using the Mac and iPad toolbars, keyboard shortcuts, or the new Apple Pencil tap action.
- Navigate the canvas using keyboard commands for fitting artwork, zooming, panning, rotating, and straightening the view.
Version 5.2
The developer, Nil Coalescing Limited, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Seller
Nil Coalescing Limited
Size
26 MB
Category
Graphics & Design
Compatibility
Requires iOS 26.3 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 26.3 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 26.3 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 26.3 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
