At first glance, Doodle Book looks like the perfect app for those who love to draw but often find they don’t have their sketchbook with them. The app offers a range of different drawing tools and types of paper. The images shown on the app store even show highly detailed and skilled drawings. All of this leads you to believe that the app could be a genuine alternative to carrying around a sketchbook and pencil case but don’t be fooled because it is definitely not.
The biggest problem with this app is that it is just not precise enough. You’re drawing appears slightly above where you put your finger and while this might not seem like a huge problem at first you quickly become frustrated when even drawing a simple square is impossible. This becomes even more annoying when the tutorial is asking you to draw exact lines and you simply can’t.[sc name=”quote” text=”This becomes even more annoying when the tutorial is asking you to draw exact lines and you simply can’t.”]
If you’re looking to create the quality of drawing you would on paper this just isn’t going to happen using this app. For those lucky enough to own an iPad pro and the use of an apple pencil, you might not have this problem but at this point you might as well just carry your sketchbook around with you.
Another issue with this app that will limit your drawing ability are the tools. In the app store, you are shown the choice of different pens and even colored drawings, these do not come with the free version of the app. For anyone wanting to add even the prime colors to their drawing they must pay for the pro version and, given the difficulty in drawing with this app, it hardly seems worth the investment.
When you become frustrated with trying to drawing even the simplest of pictures – which you will -you have two options, scroll to the next page that features a different paper type or tap the eraser and slowly start rubbing out your hard work. That’s right, you have to clear the page manually, there is no button that you can press to magically clear the page for you. If you thought you could beat the system and just keep scrolling to the next page rather than spending more time erasing than drawing, think again, because unless you pay for the pro version you are limited to just five papers.
Doodle Book does deserve credit for one thing and that is its clear and helpful tutorial, showing you how to use each tool in turn and the different finger taps needed to move around the page. This is appreciated as a lot of drawing apps feel that it is okay to just throw the user in with no guidance, leaving them unable to even zoom in. [sc name=”quote” text=”This is appreciated as a lot of drawing apps feel that it is okay to just throw the user in with no guidance, leaving them unable to even zoom in.”]
Doodle Book is an app that has so much potential but falls short in almost every way. It is by no means the sketchbook alternative that it claims to be. Honestly there are more features in the notes app that comes with iOS and the drawing precision is equal if not better. If you’re looking for an easy to use drawing app for your kids, then maybe just maybe give this app a go but even then, there are better child-friendly drawing apps out there.
[review pros=” Easy to use controls.” cons=”Limited drawing tools unless you get the pro version. No clear page options or actual control of the drawing tool.” score=2]
[appbox appstore id1315732497]
