5 Best Surface Pro Drawing Apps in 2024

By pairing the best Surface Pro drawing app with the Surface Pen, you can create masterpieces on your PC. The Surface Pen acts as both a mouse and a keyboard, but it can easily replace a mouse.

If you have a Surface device and are looking for a decent digital painting program, our article will come in handy. Since there is a large variety of programs today, we have selected the most reliable options to help you choose the best Surface Pro drawing app.

Top 5 Surface Pro Drawing Apps

  1. Adobe Illustrator - For vector
  2. Corel Painter - Greatly improved performance
  3. Clip Studio Paint - Drawing flexibility
  4. Adobe Photoshop - Working with multiple formats
  5. Autodesk Sketchbook - Impressive brush selections

Using the Surface Pen, you can create more natural drawings, which makes this tool better than a traditional mouse.

Many illustrators choose Microsoft Surface devices. With a good Surface Pro drawing program, you will have access to a variety of tools that will help you refine your pictures. We have compiled a list of the best software compatible with Microsoft Surface devices.

1. Adobe Illustrator - Our Choice

For vector
  • Allows for in-panel editing
  • Create resizable images
  • Completely scalable
  • Huge learning curve

Verdict: Adobe Illustrator is a powerful and flexible graphics drawing program for both the beginners and the experts. One of the most important and popular features that makes Illustrator is the complete compatibility with a wide variety of formats, while providing seamless performance.

This is not only true for the professional and experienced Adobe Illustrator users but even a beginner would also face some difficulty in working with the software, especially when it comes to working with multiple formats. In order to ensure that Illustrator meets all your needs while providing you with seamless performance and ease of use while using multiple formats, here are some of the tips that you can follow to get the best out of this amazing program.

adobe illustrator interface

2. Corel Painter

Greatly improved performance
  • Professional blank canvas
  • Selection adjustor tool
  • Adjustable color wheel
  • Performance issues on weak computers

Verdict: Corel Painter, the professional drawing and painting app from Corel is definitely a drawing solution that can meet your needs in the best possible way. With this amazing drawing and art tool, you get to enjoy many options which can help you create great looking artwork on the screen, all the while saving a lot of your hard earned resources in the process.

You can simply draw anything in your mind with the aid of this amazing application - it has an excellent array of tools and modes of operations that let you explore all the possibilities. This drawing software gives you the ability to create complex images and illustrations, and share them with your friends easily using various social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

corel painter interface

3. Clip Studio Paint

Drawing flexibility
  • 3D capability
  • Frame-by-frame animation
  • Familiar and modular UI
  • Too many options

Verdict: Clip Studio Paint is a special drawing program that allows its users to draw on a variety of different formats, including but not limited to: PSD, bitmap, PDF and JPEG. The drawing features of this amazing drawing program also includes support for multiple formats, which in simple terms means that you can use it on your Mac OS X system to share your artwork with other people, or just for fun.

While many programs offer similar features in the drawing arena today, Clip Studio Paint is definitely a class apart from the rest. It can also be used to convert PSD format drawings into a variety of other graphics formats such as JPEG and so on.

clip studio paint surface pro drawing apps interface

4. Adobe Photoshop

Working with multiple formats
  • Combine images for fine art applications
  • 3D design capability
  • Tools for mobile and web design
  • No perpetual-license option

Verdict: Photoshop provides professional results along with the maximum user control. With the new improved performance and tools of Adobe Photoshop, even complete novices can create stunning images. You can also edit and modify your images easily with the powerful tools available in the program.

Adobe Photoshop has always been an exemplary drawing tool and one of the most popular amongst professionals. Even if you do not want to take professional tutorials to learn how to draw, you can still learn from the program itself. The program also includes plenty of templates and guides that can be used to design graphics and images.

adobe photoshop surface pro drawing apps interface

5. Autodesk Sketchbook

Impressive brush selections
  • Professional tools
  • 190+ customizable brushes
  • Camera scanning
  • Not for pros

Verdict: Autodesk Sketchbook is a drawing application designed for both desktop and the tablet. The latest version of the program has been improved with the support of multiple screen resolutions, and improved performance. The improved drawing performance is certainly one of the best selling points of the software, as it allows you to draw on any size piece of paper - whether it's a traditional A4 page or a full-sized poster - without worrying about how the end result looks.

Another great improvement in Autodesk Sketchbook is the option of using both vector and bitmap drawing formats. You can import your artwork from many different sources, including traditional raster art, such as JPEG or PSD, as well as vector formats, which include Illustrator, Photoshop and PNGs.

autodesk sketchbook surface pro drawing apps interface
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