Download these games to hone your drawing skills and unleash your imagination.
If you want to improve your drawing, then you need to spend some time practising. But it needn't all be serious, hard work. Every now and then, it's good to kick back and do something fun and relaxing. And these excellent drawing games are a great way to do just that.
Along the way, some will help improve your ability to draw straight lines, curves or circles, and if you need some more help, be sure to check out our more in-depth how to draw tutorials. Other apps will help boost your imagination. And some are just plain fun, and a way to de-stress after a hard day's creative work.
Read on as we reveal our favourite drawing games on the market for iOS and Android users right now.
Drawing games that build your technical skills
Do you want to work on your basic motor skills but in a fun way? Learn the principles of symmetry, how to draw complex symbols at speed, and the all-important skill of drawing a perfect circle with these great digital drawing games, all free to download.
01. Circle Draw
Draw a circle and your efforts will be rated by a cute cat!
Learning to draw a perfect circle freehand is one of the most useful skills an artist can develop, and this game trains you to do just that. Not only do you get a score each time you draw a circle, you get a cute cat to comment on it too.
It’s a simple idea, but this iOS drawing game by Thomas Denney executes it perfectly. And while it might not sound that exciting, it’s actually extremely addictive!
02. Draw Tile
Complete the design based on the principles of symmetry
Draw Tile is another game that helps you develop your motor skills in drawing simple shapes. Each picture is divided into four squares, or tiles, and the first one is already filled in. You simply have to follow the guidelines in the other four squares to complete the picture, based on the principles of symmetry (vertical axis, horizontal axis, dual axial and radial).
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It sounds simple, but depending on the steadiness of your hand and your manual dexterity, it can be quite tricky, and the app will only let you proceed to the next picture once you’ve done a good enough job.
There are 490 levels, and the images get more and more complex as you progress. Again, it’s a surprisingly addictive challenge.
03. Impossible Draw
Complex symbols appear as you zoom through 3D environments, and you need to replicate them quickly
Want a drawing game that’s a bit more challenging? Impossible Draw asks you to copy a series of symbols as you zoom through a 3D sci-fi style environment. It’s a great way to practise drawing a series of unique and unusual shapes accurately and quickly (you only have seconds to spare).
Because you barely have time to think, it’s a great way to internalise your drawing lines and shapes precisely skills. The app is free to download, and although you can pay for extra graphics, music and effects, you don’t really need them.
Drawing games: 'Draw and guess'
We’ve all enjoyed a classic game of Pictionary in our time: drawing something against the clock and challenging others to guess it. Well, these apps all offer the same experience but in a digital environment, without any need to clear up a tree’s worth of paper from the floor afterwards.
04. Draw and Guess
Draw and Guess lets you play a Pictionary-style game with players around the world
Draw and Guess is a fun drawing game created by Danijel Lombarovic and inspired by Pictionary. You’re offered three words to choose from, and your task is to draw one of them, while the other players guess what it is.
There are multiple game modes, so you have the option of playing with friends, playing with other players from around the world, drawing words for practice, or just guessing what others’ drawings are. Also note that you can play in either English or German.
05. Draw Something Classic
Draw Something Classic is played by millions around the world
Probably the world’s best-known social drawing game, this classic app has been responsible for more than seven billion drawings since it was first released in 2012. You can play with friends and family or people around the globe, and it’s all very colourful and a lot of fun. However, do be warned that there are lots of ads and solicitations, which can be distracting.
We’re not sure what took they so long, but a good five years after 'Draw Something' (above) had dominated the drawing game space, Pictionary themselves finally released a digital version of their iconic game. While it’s similar to other copycat games, the unique thing about Pictionary, as in the physical version, is the challenge of drawing esoteric words and phrases like ‘cool as a cucumber’ or ‘dignity’.
Note, though, that there’s no multiplayer mode and, as with Draw Something, there are an awful lot of irritating ads.
07. SketchParty TV
SketchParty TV is a Pictionary-style game for Apple TV users
SketchParty TV is a Pictionary-like drawing game for the Apple TV. Typically, each player gets five words to draw in two minutes, while others guess. You draw on your iPhone or iPad, and the results appear up on your smart television.
Up to eight players can join a team, and by gathering everyone around the TV in this way, this is a great game for getting the whole family involved. Also, if you get bored of the word lists, you can pay extra to create your own.
Drawing games: Construction
Drawing against the clock can be fun, but sometimes you'd rather spend a bit more time crafting something more complex. These drawing games based around construction give you a great sandbox to unleash your imagination and create something truly unique and personal to you.
08. Draw Your Game 2
Draw an environment on paper, photograph it, and then play a game based on the world you've created
Want to draw your own video game? Draw Your Game 2 by Kacem Bekri lets you do just that. You draw the game environment not on a screen but using physical pens, pencils and paper. You then use the app to take a picture of your drawing, and in a few seconds your game will be playable.
You can also create on the go, by drawing inside the game, and you can share your designs with players around the world. All in all, it's a great way to stimulate artistic creativity for both children and adults.
09. Mini Metro
Design your own public transit system with this fun game
Frustrated by your commute? This quirky iOS drawing game gives you the chance to put the world to rights by penciling your own metropolitan transit system. You have plenty of options: build your home town's network in meticulous detail, make a massive city with a large fleet of trains, or construct geometric patterns and record looping gifs. It’s all very slick, and gives you a fascinating insight into the challenges of planning public transport, as well as being terrific fun.
Draw Bricks takes place in a 3D space that lets you free your imagination and create whatever you want. There are more than 200 objects that you can customise, or you can build things using LEGO-style blocks that have different textures, such as grass, wood and stone.
With the freedom to rotate the camera and art tools such as Pencil, Eraser, Paint Bucket, Move, Rotate and Character Control, this is a fun way to construct your own 3D worlds, for both kids and adults missing their childhood Lego sets.
Drawing games: Puzzles and physics
These games all involve drawing, but not pictures. Instead, you draw simple lines, curves or shapes in order to solve a puzzle or send a moving object in a particular direction. In short, they are little to do with artistic talent and will teach you little about how to draw. But they are fun, require not much brainpower and can be a marvellous way to relax!
11. One Touch Drawing
This brain training game gets you to draw lines in increasingly challenging ways
One Touch Drawing is a brain training game to help improve your concentration. The aim is to draw a set of provided figures, using only one stroke each time. The typical challenge is that you cannot draw the same line twice.
As you progress through the hundreds of levels (all free), you’re faced with extra challenges, such as a line that must be passed twice, or a one-directional line. Simple to pick up and play, this game is a great way to unwind and take your mind off things at the end of a busy day.
Draw Line: Classic is a logic puzzle drawing game where you have to pair up all the matching dots on the grid with single continuous lines. Dots have to fall at the end of each line, and lines can't branch off or cross over each other. There are more than 1,000 free levels, and you get five free hints during your first game. Early levels are quite straightforward, but the game becomes increasingly challenging as you progress.
Physics Drop is an animated puzzle in which you have to push a ball and then draw lines and/or polygons for it to travel along. The ball, lines and shapes react to the law of gravity, and it all feels quite natural, despite being a little surreal. Essentially an educational game, it features more than 100 physics problems that help you practise your problem solving skills, creative thinking and reflexes.
14. Stickman Racer Road Draw
Guide Stickman to safety by drawing lines and shapes
Stickman Racer Road Draw is a physics-based racing game by Sergey Mezhakov, in which your job is to draw the roads and keep your car safe through a series of obstacles. If you want a fun, fast-moving game that’s a bit more adrenaline-packed than the more cerebral puzzlers mentioned previously this section, this is worth a try.
Draw Your Car by Alex Naronov is similar to Stickman Racer Road Draw (above) in that you draw the lines your car drives along. As the title suggests, the twist is that you also get to draw the car you play with.
You’re sent on missions, where you collect coins, and you can save and share your car drawings. Overall, while there’s nothing hugely original in this game, it's very playable, colourful, and fun for kids and grown-ups alike.
Tom May is an award-winning journalist and editor specialising in design, photography and technology. Author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Great TED Talks: Creativity, published by Pavilion Books, Tom was previously editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine. Today, he is a regular contributor to Creative Bloq and its sister sites Digital Camera World, T3.com and Tech Radar. He also writes for Creative Boom and works on content marketing projects.
