Mac has long been referred to as the “Creative’s workshop.” The idea that most graphic designers, interior designers, video animators, and architects are more drawn towards Mac may hold water to an extent. Mac attracts creatives for either of two reasons – as the traditional tool they’ve always used or its perceived high performance standards. Speaking of tradition, the first version of Photoshop was built exclusively for Macintosh users, giving Mac the first mover advantage.
HighDesign is a computer-aided design (CAD) software for Mac OS X with a modern, intuitive interface to help you rapidly transform your visions into detailed projects. Used in architecture, engineering, interior design, landscaping, mechanical drafting, and construction, HighDesign provides sophisticated tools for general 2D drafting. The Best Free CAD Software app downloads for Mac: Microspot DWG Viewer Silhouette Studio CAD File Converter M DWG/DXF Converter CAD File Converter M Z. Developer Tools Drivers Games Music.
And while the PC versus Mac might present an interesting discourse, I will be walking the safe lines, and a list of simple drawing apps for Mac is all we are talking about today.
Related: 5 of the Best Drawing Apps for Android
1. Patina
This sweet and simple drawing app is certainly closer to Microsoft Paint than Adobe Photoshop on the complexity scale, but lets you illustrate things that certainly wouldn’t have been readily doable on Paint. You won’t find any complexities like layers here, but within the one layer you do have you can do plenty.
You can use it for the basic things like cropping, rotating and making colour adjustments on images, but there are lots of other options here too when it comes to transparencies, brush types, sketching and so on.
The elegant interface makes Patina a delight to use, and it’s compatible with myriad file types like PDF and Photoshop files, alongside JPGs, PNGs and other usual suspects.
2. Markup Feature in Preview
Before going ahead and downloading a bunch of apps you’ve never heard of, you should try out macOS’s secret paint feature, hidden right there in the trusty Mac Preview app.
When you open an image in Preview, click the icon next to the search bar at the top-right to open the ‘Markup Toolbar,’ which you’ll quickly find does a whole lot more than just marking up.
This toolbar pretty much functions like a basic paint program, allowing you to draw, scribble, make shapes and annotate the image you’re previewing. There are even some mildly more advanced functions, like Smart Lasso, which lets you accurately pick out shapes in your image.
It’s simple stuff, but it does the job when it comes to everyday tasks.
3. Sketch
This Mac drawing software holds all the aces when it comes to versatility. Sketch can be used to create professional artwork, draw and design websites and so much more. Sketch is a vector-based application with several features such as a toolbar, canvas, editable shapes and so much more. I have found Sketch a bit irregular, as it may require a little background knowledge and experience in basic designing. It’s nevertheless a user-friendly tool even for newbies. You can blob, warp, and twirl your way into anything.
4. Paintbrush
Paint Brush is a painting and illustrating application for Mac. Paint Brush is quite similar to Microsoft Paint on Windows in terms of functionality and build. Paint Brush offers some of the best freehand art experience in the game. It does not come with the complexity or spec requirements of other third-party applications, but if you need to get a few illustrations made up for occasional doodling, this drawing application tool is all you need to save the day.
5. Made with Mischief
Made with Mischief is a unique, simple drawing app for Mac. This application is as easy and simple as you could ever imagine. After installation you are welcomed by a blank screen and can start drawing right away, creating the nostalgic experience of pen and paper.
Made with Mischief is neither vector-based nor pixel-based and works best on a desktop. Made with Mischief has other exciting features like allowing you to create and customize your set of brushes and pen tools. Made with Mischief is a pretty good application for beginners as it lets you draw without limiting your canvas size.
6. ArtBoard
ArtBoard is a simple Mac drawing application that enables you to create minimalist and elaborate artwork for professional and personal purposes. ArtBoard offers so much in tools, features, usability components and flexibility. You can use any of its numerous backgrounds and layouts.
ArtBoard lets you work in layers, enabling you to work on different aspects of your drawings simultaneously. One of the most remarkable features of ArtBoard is the option of drag and drop which allows you to incorporate images straight from import. Although its lack of distortion tools and shortcomings in image conversion between vector and raster is noticeable, ArtBoard remains a top drawing tool for Mac.
Conclusion
There are certainly many simple drawing apps for Mac out there – free and paid alike. I wrote this list based on a cursory focus on the applications’ imitation of real-life drawing experience, availability of tools, simplicity, flexibility, and interface. I will not have the final word on this and earnestly look forward to your suggestions. Which of these drawing applications do you use? Kindly share your thoughts below.
This article was first published in September 2017 and was updated in June 2019.
AutoCAD is the most used computer program for people who need to create 2D and 3D drawings and diagrams, especially in industries such as architecture, interior design and engineering. Being that it is the industry standard, it is also quite an expensive program to buy. If you are looking to get into AutoCAD and this type of design work, but you are not yet certain if it is for you, there are some free AutoCAD alternatives out there that you can try which work similarly.
Also, if you need some 2D and 3D design work done and don’t have the money to spring for AutoCAD, here are some great, completely free AutoCAD alternatives to check out.
1. QCAD
Best Cad Tool For Mac
This is an application that will allow you to draft two dimensions objects. It’s a great tool for all types of technical drawings, works for Windows, Mac OS X and many Linux and Unix Systems, and of course, it is completely free. QCad is very convenient for beginners due to its easy to use interface. It offers over 40 construction and 20 modification tools as well as entity selection tools and 35 CAD fonts.
2. Creo Elements
One of the more popular choices for 3D work. It allows shifting from 2D to 3D. It is a very fast and flexible alternative to AutoCAD with many options included that AutoCAD is known for having. With Creo Elements you can create and edit your designs in real time.
3. NanoCAD
NanoCAD is claimed to be a reliable free drafting software which supports AutoCAD 2013/14 DWG files and all AutoCAD versions starting from version 11. Some of its features are enhanced 3d orbit, multiple search and auto-correct options, lineweight settings dialog and much more.
4. PadCAD
This is a free CAD mobile application that serves for small projects to medium size projects. It is convenient even for users with less experience. The only sidekick is the fact that you need to pay in order to save or export the file, but it is an one-time payment that doesn’t expire. Similar mobile app that works as a CAD editor and viewer is CAD Pockets that also works on ios and has both free and paid version.
5. OpenSCAD
This is a free architecture software for making solid 3d cad objects. It is more a 3d compiler than an interactive modeller. OpenSCAD gives their users two different modelling techniques: extrusion of 2d outlines and solid geometry.
6. BRL-CAD
A cross-platform and open source solid modeling system that has a bunch of different features to offer, including interactive geometry editing, image and signal-processing tools and large libraries for making tons of different types of geometric representations.
7. gCAD3D
This free software offers many features, including an integrated 3D-OpenGL viewer, a program interpreter for geometry and NC commands in 3D, an integrated NC processor and can be used with Windows and Linux. The website is a little sparse and confusing, but the freeware is not.
8. Archimedes
A 3D modeling application that allows you to create complex compound 3D shapes. It is touted for being one of the most functional free AutoCAD alternatives out there, when it comes to 3D modeling. Main features are Boolean and MeshGroup. Boolean feature serves for cutting and intersecting shapes, whereas MeshGroup is a module for grouping elements.
9. PythonCAD
One for the Linux users, this is a CAD package that was written in the Python programming language, hence the name. One of the best open-source CAD packages for Linux, and it’s also quite simple to use if you have any kind of prior experience with two and three dimensional modeling.
10. LibreCAD
Best Cad Software For Machining
This one is free and it can be used on Linux, Windows and Mac. It is available in more than 20 languages. This free CAD software has a free support and everyone is welcome to contribute its advancement with his development skills. This tool is perfect for designing cad drawings, it writes DXF files but other types of files can be exported as well.