Use realistic painting and drawing tools in Adobe Photoshop Sketch on your mobile device to achieve natural media effects. Share your sketches on Behance, or send to Photoshop for further editing.
To get started with Sketch, sign in with your Adobe ID or create one for free. We’re using Sketch on an iPad Pro. Some features and the user interface may vary between iPad, iPad Pro, iPhone, and Android devices.
Start a new project
See all your projects in Work view. Tap (+) to create a new project, and then tap a Document Preset to select a format. Tap (+) and choose an Image Layer to place an image from your Camera Roll. You can also choose a reference image from other sources like Adobe Stock. See Quickly find and buy Adobe Stock assets to learn more.
Use a two-finger pinch to zoom, and then tap the Image Layer and reduce the opacity. Tip: You can add more image layers to create a more complex illustration.
Sketch with your choice of brushes
Tap the Graphite Pencil in the toolbar. Drag up or down over the Size control to set the brush tip size, and then do the same for Flow to control the amount applied with each stroke. Tap Color and pick from built-in color themes, or mix a color using the color Picker. Finally, refine additional settings and start sketching.
Long-press any brush to choose from 14 built-in brushes. You can swap in new brushes, or change the properties of any brush to create a personalized toolset. Bonus: Import Photoshop brushes to extend your toolset. View Use Photoshop brushes in Adobe Photoshop Sketch to learn how.
Choose colors from the image and add some expressive marks
When you’re done tracing, double-tap the Image Layer to hide the reference image.
Select the Watercolor brush. Long-press on Color and drag an eyedropper to sample color from your artwork. Adjust the brush size and flow, and then start painting. You can achieve watercolor-style wet-on-wet bleeding effects. At any point, use the fan to quickly dry your paint strokes. Visit the Photoshop Sketch FAQ to see which devices support the Watercolor brush.
Place elements on separate layers
Tap the shape icon at the top to add straight lines, curves, and shapes. Drag along the edge of a shape to trace a portion, or double-tap inside the shape to stamp it. On a previously created layer, we masked our paint strokes in a perfect circle by using the Eraser tool (on the main toolbar).
You can manage your artwork better by placing any new element and special brush effect on its own layer. Tap a layer to view more options — adjust the layer’s opacity and Blend Mode (which controls how colors interact with layers below it), and rename the layer to identify it at a glance.
Save your artwork and share it
Sketch auto-saves your project as you make refinements. Tap Close at any time to return to Project view. Tap (+) to add another document to your project. You can duplicate, delete, or move documents from one project to another by tapping “…” and selecting the document you want to affect. You can do the same with entire projects in Work view.
In Document view, tap the share icon to explore ways to export and share your work. You can refine your artwork on the desktop (Adobe Desktop Apps > Photoshop), publish your project to Behance in one step, or add it to your Camera Roll (Image > Save Image). Alternatively, save a PSD or PDF file (Creative Cloud Files as PSD/PDF) and generate a sharable link (Link to Project).
If you haven’t purchased an Adobe Creative Cloud plan, or if your plan doesn’t include Photoshop, you can download a free trial.
View what others have created with Photoshop Sketch
Visit our curated Adobe Photoshop Sketch Gallery to get inspired.