If you are like me, then your best drawing doesn't get any more complex than the simplest of stick figures. Crooked lines and a lop-sided circle usually plague my drawn characters, and I’m not afraid to admit that. I absolutely envy those who are artistically talented, because it really seems like something that you are either born with or not. The only thing that makes me feel a little bit better is the fact that there are others who are struggling just like me (I’m sorry -- I definitely feel your pain).

Recently, however, I felt the need to try to improve my drawing skills, and have looked around the Internet for Android apps which could help me. I have found three that have helped me quite a bit, and I hope that they are able to make some difference for you too.

How To Draw Cartoons

The first app is called “How to draw cartoons” and there’s no hiding what the app is intended to do. It is extremely simple to use and should keep the process fairly straightforward. When you open the app, you can choose from a list of cartoon characters for which the app has drawing steps. Once you choose one, it will jump right in and show you what you need to do on your paper or other drawing material. Each step will be shown in red, and everything that you should already have drawn out should be shown in blue.

Once you have completed the portion in red, just continue on to the next step until you have completely drawn the cartoon character. If you want to draw a different character, just repeat the process. It is really as simple as that, and the small steps that you complete make it easy to comprehend and to learn from.

How To Draw - Easy Lessons

The next app I’d like to recommend is called “How to Draw - Easy Lessons”. It’s actually pretty similar to the above app, except that the cartoon characters which it includes tend to be more generic. Additionally, while the steps are also shown in red with portions already completed shown in black, the steps are a bit more complex than those of the above app. Therefore, while this app is meant to give easy lessons to the user, it is still a bit more complex and uses some common art techniques, especially for faces.

The other great thing about this app is that you can practice your drawing skills right on the screen -- there’s no need to have to get out a sheet of paper. However, if you're using it on a smartphone, don't expect drawing on the app to be easy (see the screenshot from my Nexus 4).

How To Draw Manga

Last but not least I would like to recommend “How To Draw Manga”. Some people have a heightened adoration for this type of drawing and would like to get into drawing manga or anime characters. The app is not quite as good as the above two apps because it doesn’t offer step-by-step instructions which you can go through at your own pace -- instead, it provides videos which demonstrate how to draw manga characters. While it provides good step-by-step instructions along with some additional comments that the above methods cannot provide, you’ll have a slightly harder time because you will need to pause the videos if you need more time for whatever step you’re on.

Then again, that’s my opinion -- some people might actually like the video better just because it can provide more information. A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is usually 30 pictures every second. However, there are tons of high-quality videos that show you how to produce some amazing results.

Conclusion

Hopefully these three apps will be able to increase your artistic abilities by a large amount. In this case, I really think that keeping things as simple as possible for beginners or noobs like me is ideal, because you can focus on what you need to do, and not any theory behind it. Theory doesn’t really help if our ability is not good enough to turn it into something nice. So use these apps regularly, and practice a lot. With time, you will slowly get better and eventually you will not have to rely on apps like this anymore. Just remember not the get frustrated and keep trying!

For more Android goodness, don't forget to check out our Android Guide as well as our list of the Best Android Apps and Best Android Games.

How difficult is drawing for you? What Android apps do you use to help you do other stuff besides drawing? Let us know in the comments!

Image Credit: Barb Watson