Charcoal 4+

Very nice, well-designed and thought out app.

This is a simple and elegant app. No nonsense, no ads, free. Note also the small size of the download - this is well programmed too. Very nicely (aesthetically) designed interface with well-chosen basic tools. Allows you to quickly and simply create content - for example, quick sketches and one-page handwritten notes, to-do lists, etc., using well-designed, basic tools, which you can then save/email/etc. as .png files. It is so refreshing to see a simple, well-designed, practical, useful, function-based app like this, that lets you quickly create content, control where the content is stored, and for free without the distraction and nonsense of ads or other gimmicks. … Also, note (no pun intended) that this app is different than Notes. The emphasis here seems to be on finger/stylus/Apple Pencil (I.e. free-form) input, rather than on using the keyboard or typing. That’s the main difference, it seems. Only feature I’d like to see added would be an option to save to .pdf. Anyway, this is an excellent, really nicely designed little app. Thank you to the developer.

Just a few recommendations

I like this app, because when I get tired of more complex programs like Procreate or Medibang, you can just go straight to this app and start drawing. The simplicity works very well, and I think that it’s just refreshing when you have only a few tools to work from. I think you should add a small guide for where the tools are just to the side, so you don’t need to search around for them (unless there is one) and more brush sizes. Either way, I think this is great considering you don’t have to pay anything, and you don’t see that a lot.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for the positive review and the useful feedback!

As simple as pen and paper should be

It’s incredibly refreshing to be able to draw and color well by just selecting the tool and putting them to digital paper. The pens that come with procreate are widely considered not that great and it makes it a lot more difficult to draw. But on this app I was drawing comfortably immediately. You don’t have to navigate through any menus customize any sensitivity scales when all you want is a decent artist’s pencil.

My only problem is that sometimes when I’m trying to open a previous sketch it will immediately close that sketch. And it will do that repeatedly until I close the app entirely.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for taking the time to write a review! Sorry about the issue. I’ll look into it.