Adobe's New Painting App Fresco Is Now Available (UPDATE)

UPDATE (September 24, 2019): Adobe has announced that its new Fresco painting and drawing software is available globally on the iPad beginning today. Those interested in trying out the new app can download it for free on the App Store. In-app purchases are available for those who wish to upgrade.

ORIGINAL STORY (June 18, 2019): Software company Adobe will be releasing a brand new art app for Apple‘s iPad called Adobe Fresco. Rivalling Savage Interactive’s already-released Procreate, Fresco is targeted at art professionals, and will be the latest addition to Adobe’s Creative Cloud Suite, providing iPad users with a sophisticated painting app that combines dynamic, vector, and raster brushes as well as the ability to synch their preferences and presets with Photoshop. Adding to the roster of tools will be a wide array of brushes designed by famed illustrator, designer and digital brush maker Kyle Webster. Files will also be automatically saved on the Creative Cloud, providing easy access on the move.

Creative Cloud’s executive vice president Scott Belsky posted on a blog recently that for Fresco, “Adobe scientists have studied the chemistry of common real-world pigments like cobalt and ochre. They’ve looked at the physics of how watercolors are absorbed into thick, cotton-based paper. And they’ve examined the ways that a thick slash of oil paint dries to add dimension to a painting.” The research led to a new feature called “Live Brushes,” a tool that mimics how real oil and watercolor paints react on canvasses.

The new Adobe Fresco for iPad is now available via private beta testing. For a preview of the app, check out the video above. The app will be available on the App Store later this year, so artists, designers and creators should definitely keep an eye out when it drops.

In other Adobe projects, the company has designed a tool to help people spot Photoshopped faces.