★★★★★

website iTunes

iPad only

pros: custom brushes, many layers, super-fast, great design

cons: no full-document export without iTunes

This is the best drawing and painting app I've used so far - developers Savage Interactive exhibit the sort of attention to detail and obsession with perfection that yields apps that just feel right on the iOS platform, and their keen understanding of the needs of digital artists shows through as well. Procreate is designed from the ground up to live on the iPad, leveraging openGL for all rendering, and using every resource at its disposal. The 16-layer maximum is the hardware limit, and far surpasses most iOS art apps' limit of 6.