Common Sense Media Review
By Amanda Bindel
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Impressive creation tool for teens serious about art.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Download
Videos and Photos
Autodesk Sketchbook
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Privacy Rating
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Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
Privacy Rating
Our expert evaluators create our privacy ratings. The ratings are designed to help you understand how apps use your data for commercial purposes.
Pass
Meets our minimum requirements for privacy and security practices.
Warning
Does not meet our recommendations for privacy and security practices.
Fail
Does not have a privacy policy and should not be used.
What's It About?
SKETCHBOOK PRO is a fully featured app with an arsenal of tools for creating digital art. Kids can choose brushes and colors, draw using mirror image, move and rotate and arrange objects, and work with layers. They can choose the resolution size to save creations. Teens can store works-in-progress and complete them later as well export their works (including PSD export) or share them over email or social media. There are some differences in features across platforms; for example, the iOS version of the app has a smudge tool while the Android version does not at the time of the review.
Is It Any Good?
Sketchbook Pro is a serious digital art tool not to be mistaken for the many simple drawing apps available. It is an excellent, professional-caliber tool designed by Autodesk, developers with a history of well-regarded apps for designers, engineers, and architects. The app offers tools available in the desktop version with the ease of a sketchbook on the tablet.
Teens familiar with the desktop version of Sketchbook Pro will pick up the tablet version with no problems, but others will require some instruction and exploration to get comfortable. The controls are exhaustive and intuitive, and maneuvering with both fingers and a stylus offers some ease in creation. The app does offer an option for pen only, which lets artists use the stylus without hand pressure registering on the screen, so teens can draw with precision. The options for tools, pens, and stamps are outstanding. Teens can pin their most-used tools to their canvas and reset them easily in the settings, making pinning tools for specific projects easy. It would be nice to see a few improvements (such as a select tool, and for the Android version, a smudge tool), but all in all, it's an excellent tool. Sketchbook Pro includes more tools than Procreate, another professional-level creation app, though not as many options for canvas-size and resolution.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Start younger kids on more basic drawing apps like Bord, Nick Jr Draw & Play, or Drawing Pad.
Encourage tweens and teens to look at and appreciate a variety of art styles.
Allow teens to view Sketchbook Pro tutorials on YouTube.
App Details
- Devices : iPad , Android , Kindle Fire , Windows app
- Subjects : Arts : drawing , painting
- Skills : Tech Skills : digital creation , using and applying technology , Creativity : imagination , making new creations
- Pricing structure : Free to try
- Release date : March 11, 2013
- Genre : Productivity
- Topics : Arts
- Publisher : Autodesk Inc.
- Version : 2.6
- Minimum software requirements : Android 2.0 and up; iOS 5.0 or later
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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