All done by hand: Finger painting on a tablet

The selection is huge: Among the (seemingly) millions of apps for the iPad – and similarly for other tablets – there are also plenty of programs for creating images.
Let's sort through the photo editing software, many of which are superfluous, some funny, and some really useful – then there's still an almost unmanageable number of apps that promise you can actually draw with them.

But which one should I choose?

Our recommendation: Start with all the free ones. That way you can try out for yourself whether you like the pictures you draw on the glass with your finger.
(And here it is, the next question: finger or pen? In our small selection, we limited ourselves to the finger – not least because a good pen costs money:)
Yes, there are also inexpensive styluses under ten euros, but the rubber tip is usually quite thick, and in the worst case, it doesn't glide across the screen but actually slows down the stroke. The really expensive styluses, on the other hand, promise Bluetooth connectivity and pressure sensitivity, allowing you to work almost like on paper. That's all well and good, but you'll hardly find one for under 50 euros.

Just search in the App Store (or the Google Play Store). We found a lot of great apps and downloaded many, many programs to our iPad.
(Next question: Why an iPad? Well, because it was handy. The other reason, however, is that Android apps often want to know more about you than just your name – so you should definitely check carefully whether downloading an app also means handing over your contacts and your entire user profile to the app developer. You can say what you like about Apple's restrictive stance – in this respect, it's helpful.)

We would like to introduce four of these apps to you in more detail.
Let's start with one of the most popular applications right now:

Paper by 53

The free app comes with a black pen that draws thick or thin lines depending on the speed. A paintbox-like palette offers around 20 colors to choose from, which can also be picked up with the "brush" and then applied to the "paper" in a watercolor-like manner. The app is ideal for quick and lively sketches. However, really precise work isn't its forte – the watercolor strokes are sometimes simply too broad and difficult to control.
Of course, you can also share the images on social networks or save them to your iPad's photo library. And at the latest when you visit the online gallery where Paper users upload their work, you'll quickly want to buy a few more tools. The colored pencil makes delicate lines, the marker marks—what else?—a fineliner is for writing, and the mixing tray is a must-have.
But "Paper" also has its weaknesses: The magnifying function (left in the image) and the correction function require skillful pinching and dragging of two fingers. It's easy to accidentally draw a line where one should be removed. Nevertheless, Paper by 53 is fun. And with a little practice, you can create beautiful pictures.

Harmonious

Harmonius is an app that (like many similar ones) takes away your control in an appealing way.

Besides the clear-line option "Simple," you can also choose enigmatic terms like "Long Fur" or "Sketchy." The result is lines that connect with already drawn ones to form a charming, fine network, suddenly appearing as short or even long fur, or even composed entirely of squares if desired…
Colors and backgrounds can be mixed, and you can also add the images to your iPad collection or even an online gallery. Harmonious is only suitable for those who are open to being surprised by their drawings – but that surprise can be very appealing.

If you enjoy painting, then you should try the following apps:

Brushes

This app is also free and offers a wide variety of textures, allowing you to apply color to the screen in various ways: cloudy, streaky, or even stippled. You can adjust the line width and opacity, and colors are freely mixable… – the real highlight is the ability to work with layers, whose opacity and even size can be adjusted.

(Tip for cheaters: You can also place a photo on the bottom layer and then "trace" it.) Finally, you can even watch a video: each of your steps – including the sneaky ones – has been recorded and now plays back in fast motion until the finished image. It's something you'll want to share, for example on Twitter.

For those who want to know all the details, go to:

Adobe Ideas

The free app Adobe Ideas is, in a sense, Brushes in an exact version: It also features (zoomable, of course) layers, and various brush tips whose width, opacity, and color you can freely choose. But here, every line is converted into a path (=vector), so you could have the final result printed the size of a football field without any loss of quality: All edges are razor-sharp. However, this also means that you can only simulate blurring and softening by repeatedly going over the same area with low opacity.
Incidentally, Adobe also offers the option of uploading your data – because that's what your images are – to the cloud for a fee, so that you can later work on them on your computer, for example.
For professionals, this is certainly a useful service – but it also works via email.

And? Enough? Definitely not. Once you start experimenting, you'll probably keep going for a while until you find your ideal tool. One thing became clear to us very quickly – working on a screen is completely different from working with traditional painting and drawing materials. And it's an interesting alternative.

Editorial team: Neuland
Illustrations: Thies Thiessen