Water Color Pencil 4+

I'll probably keep this app around for a while, in the hopes for future updates, but when you compare it to the pro grade drawing apps that are available for the iPad (ArtRage, procreate...) it doesn't really hold up, and it's not that much cheaper back at full price.

The interface is very clunky: having to always press a button to open the interface when you want to change brush sizes or colours is a soul draining experience when you are sitting for an hour with app working on a painting. The fact that it only gives you brush size increments to work with (eg 10, 20, 30px) is extremely limiting, especially in the smaller sizes, though one might argue that it speeds things up. And the fact that none of the brushes appear to be anti-aliased means that the pixels will always be showing whenever you zoom in - makes it really hard to create HD quality images with this app.

Additionally, the UI was clearly created for iPad2, and then up sampled for the retina display - all the icons are blurry and jagged. I suppose one should be thankful that it isn't upsampled from the iPhone version!

Limitations and blunders aside, I like the simple way you pick colours, but selecting the appropriately coloured pencil, brush etc. a few other apps do this, but because this one mixes colours nicely on the canvas, it seems to work better than others.

What this app does very well, with the new update, is the fluid dynamics mixing. I still feel that Auryn Ink does a far better job of simulating watercolour, but, anti-aliasing issues aside, this does a good job, though you don't get the texture of the paper or the roughness of the brush. What this app has over Auryn are the other drawing tools, so you can mix media, or lightly sketch your study before inking it in. Layers, of course, would be very helpful here, but they are conspicuously absent.

All in all, a fun purchase, but if you are looking for state of the art drawing on the iPad, keep looking. Consider spending the $2 more for a pro grade app like Procreate or ArtRage and do check out Auryn Ink if you want the best watercolour experience on iOS.

A massive update?

App has many pencils, features and works smoothly.