Adobe Fresco has received multiple updates since its 2019 introduction. Since then, it has added animation, digital painting, illustration, and more to the range of Adobe mobile products.
What sets Adobe Fresco apart from the other digital art tools available?
To find out the solution to that, we are here.
After reading this comprehensive evaluation, we hope you’ll be able to see why it’s intriguing to look at and why it could be the ideal digital art program for you.
Let’s start.
Key Points
- Adobe Fresco, an application for digital painting and art, is cross-platform compatible and has two separate animation techniques.
- It uses brushes that are supported by both the desktop and iPad versions of Adobe Photoshop, including vector and pixel brushes.
- Despite the fact that Adobe Fresco is free to use, a premium subscription will provide you access to more cutting-edge tools and brushes.
Why doesn’t Adobe Fresco?
With so many options available for creating digital art, it’s easy to become lost. Adobe Fresco differs from other drawing programs since it has both vector and raster brush options.
Now, Fresco may be utilized with Photoshop and Illustrator as well as other Adobe programs. Raster and vector layers are kept separate and differentiated by different icons for easier organization.
For more information on how Adobe Fresco compares to other digital art applications, see our post here: Adobe Fresco vs. Procreate.
Fresco was developed under a freemium business model by Adobe, which is well recognized for its subscription-based business strategy. However, you’ll find that the format resolution and brush selection options are limited in the free edition. However, there are other subscription alternatives available that will enable you to upgrade and utilize the full capabilities of the program.
Just a brief reminder that Adobe Fresco is compatible with Windows, Mac, and iOS (iPhone & iPad) devices and is available for download at Adobe.com or the applicable app store before we get into the plans.
Fresco does not currently support Android smartphones.
Digital painting and illustration
Adobe Fresco is a powerful tool for digital painting and illustration because to its brush choices. More than 150 brushes are included with Fresco, and a ton more may be added by utilizing the in-app marketplace.
In Adobe Fresco, there are three different brush types:
- Your piece’s elements are made up of minuscule dots or pixels that were applied with raster or pixel brushes. This is why adding a ton of texture to your work using these brushes is so successful. Even a basic brush like the Pencil may provide a gorgeous gritty texture.
- Live brushes are one of the greatest technological achievements for digital painters. They were developed to faithfully replicate wet oil paint and watercolor thanks to Adobe Sensei’s capabilities. To create even more realistic effects with your watercolor brushes without producing a mess, you may layer your paint strokes and adjust the quantity of water that they are using.
Using vector brushes, you may produce scalable graphics without compromising on quality. Additionally, it is as simple as painting right on your canvas. This is great for novices because there is no need to plot any points. Despite the fact that vector drawings are frequently quite clean, Fresco features Jitter brushes and settings that give extra roughness to your vector strokes.
Because each type of brush has a subcategory, you may pick the brush you need with ease. - In addition to its realistic brush skills, Fresco has unique brush properties. Color dynamics allows one-stroke changes to the colors of selected pixel brushes. Change the hue of the brush and use Hue Jitter to add more color variety.
Swatches that are incorporated and come in several colors give brushes a 3D effect. Bright spheres, stripes, and stars are some of the motifs on the samples. Among other things, they are effective for creating eye-catching gradients and 3D letters. Even while many of the features only work with a limited number of Pixel brushes and Live brushes, there are still plenty of alternatives to experiment with.
Subscribers to Adobe Fresco may also access seasonal brush pack releases from Kyle T. Webster that function in both Photoshop and Fresco. Real textures were used to generate many of the brushes, and nature was typically the source of inspiration.
Animation and motion
You can do more with Adobe Fresco than just draw and paint. The two forms of animation are motion path animation and frame-by-frame animation.
The frame-by-frame tool may convert any layer into an animated timeline. The timeline animation in Photoshop is quite similar to this. When you have an animation with infinite frames, there are several ways to include dynamic movement into your work.
For those who are new to animation, there are motion paths. Thanks to this functionality, you can now have any element on your canvas follow the path of any drawn stroke. The Properties area is where you may then manage its size, movement, and other aspects.
Regardless of the sort of animation you use, each object on your timeline may be resized, rotated, and modified for greater flexibility as you work. The Settings menu contains a number of adjustment sliders that enable you change playback variables including playback type and speed.
Using Pictures
Traditional photography and illustration may complement one other effectively. The process of importing already-existing images into Adobe Fresco is made simple by choosing them from your Photo Library, Files App, or Creative Cloud. You may also take a new photo with your iPhone and upload it right away to your canvas.
Due to the fact that Adobe Fresco is a companion program to Adobe Photoshop, you will discover many of the same sorts of Transformation tools, such as Skew and Distort. Additionally, you may easily isolate certain sections of your image with selection tools like the Lasso and Magic Wand.
Fresco wasn’t intended for image editing or compositing, although it may still be used for light editing, such as distortions and selections. There are also smudge brushes and a number of liquify tools accessible. For more complicated editing, you should utilize programs like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom.
Do you require color inspiration? Based on the imported photos, you may also automatically create an extracted color palette. If you don’t want the program to automatically create these palettes, you can always turn off this feature in the App Settings.
It is easier to construct a perspective scenario because to Perspective Grid Capture’s capability to extract perspective from any image. Then, by setting your lines to snap to the Perspective Grid, you can make them perfectly match the vanishing points.
Employing Text
The use of excellent typography may enhance any form of graphic design. Any subscription to an Adobe product grants you access to the collection of thousands of fonts in the Adobe Fonts section. Adobe has collaborated with font foundries from all around the world so that you may access fonts for any project.
Having such a big library of typefaces doesn’t mean you can’t import more. You may expand your library by activating fonts via the Creative Cloud app or the Adobe Fonts website. Use the Creative Cloud app as a hub for managing all of your cloud documents, fonts, and other resources across your Adobe apps.
You may also import your own font files from the Files App on your iPad Pro by going to your Fonts panel and choosing the Add icon.
To make greater use of fonts, text layers in Adobe Fresco may be expanded into Vector graphics or converted to Pixel layers. This makes them more flexible depending on the project you’re working on.
Features & Actions
As has been the case with many digital drawing and painting tools, Adobe Fresco includes many of the conventional movements. Draw and hold to draw a straight line, three-finger touch to redo, and two-finger tap to undo are all choices (known as Snapline in Adobe Fresco). You may choose to display your adjustments in Adobe Fresco, which is useful for creating instructional videos and tutorials.
But another Adobe Fresco invention that has drawn attention is the Touch Shortcut. It’s a little button that, when pressed and held, changes how your tools operate. It’s a creative and enjoyable way to utilize your drawing program.
The Primary and Secondary functionality of the Touch Shortcut change depending on the currently selected tool. For instance, when your favourite brush is active, you may use the Touch Shortcut to turn it into an eraser. You may move it wherever you need on your screen for even more comfort and customization.
What happens if you need to draw an exact shape? Drawing aids can be used to accurately sketch squares, polygons, and other forms. There is also the ruler, which can be rotated freely and is handy for creating straight lines.
File organization, management, and storage
Organization is essential for digital artists since it makes finding and sharing resources much easier. Thankfully, Adobe Fresco makes file organization straightforward.
From the Your Files section, you may create and name folders into which you can drag and drop your work. You may also decide whether to present everything as a list or a thumbnail. You may also arrange your files according to Name, Date Modified, or Date Created.
With a premium Adobe Fresco subscription, you get 100GB of Creative Cloud storage for cloud storage. As a result, your files are automatically synchronizing and saving. Along with the option to restore deleted files, this feature will give every artist extra piece of mind.
You may also make any of your files usable when you’re offline by selecting Make Available Offline. Once your connection is restored, all of your files will update instantly.
Adobe Fresco uses the version history tool for more than just working with files. Utilizing cloud-based documents has the benefit of allowing you to retrieve previous iterations of your work. Additionally, you may bookmark certain versions to stop them from being deleted automatically.
Exporting and compatibility with platforms
In addition to the iPad, Adobe Fresco works with a range of touch devices, including Windows Surface tablets and numerous Wacom tablets. You can use Adobe Fresco’s capabilities to the fullest using a pressure-sensitive pen like an Apple Pencil.
Adobe Fresco supports the export of the following file types:
Sequence of PNG, JPG, PSD, PDF, MP4, and GIF files.
Just bear in mind that you cannot export in PSD or PDF format or with good resolution using Adobe Fresco’s free version.
You may expand your workflow by using the Open a copy feature. This will send your work to open in Adobe Illustrator on your iPad or PC. Adobe Photoshop on the iPad on the PC, which is Fresco’s companion software, allows you to access your Fresco files.
Final Thoughts
Adobe Fresco offers exceptional all-around compatibility and versatility for artists, enabling them to create just much anything they can imagine. You may benefit from Adobe Creative Cloud features without having to choose between pixels and vectors.
Fresco’s user interface is still simple enough for beginners to use, but if you are already familiar with Adobe products, using Fresco will be much simpler.
