# vector drawing apps **alternatives to Adobe Illustrator for various platforms** We will be teaching [Adobe Illustrator](https://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator.html) in this class since Adobe has a market-share dominance in the creative industry. Lansing Community College purchases and provides Illustrator for our use. It is a solid program for creating vector art. You can [subscribe to the Adobe Creative Cloud](https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/buy/students.html) to get your own copy of Illustrator. There have always been other software options for creating vectors. In recent years there has been a push for the creative industry to break free of Adobe's dominance. Several new alternatives to Illustrator have appeared in the past few years. There are plenty of other vector drawing apps and sites out there in addition to the list I've compiled. Some are good for specific niche things and some are just old. It is worth a google search for vector drawing apps if you are interested, however here are some of the best options that are worth considering: - [Inkscape](https://inkscape.org/) is a free, open source vector drawing program that does the basics quite well. Inkscape is to Illustrator what GIMP is to Photoshop. Actually, [GIMP](https://www.gimp.org/) has some decent vector tools in addition to all the raster drawing options. - [Affinity Designer](https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/designer/) is my current favorite illustration program. The vector tools are sometimes even better than Illustrator, plus it has a raster drawing engine similar to Photoshop. You can draw your shapes in vector and then paint colors and textures with pixel brushes. It is much more affordable with a one-time purchase of $50. - [Gravit Designer](https://www.designer.io/en/) is a surprisingly good vector drawing program. It has all the foundation vector tools you could hope to have. The free version runs in your web browser and has limited storage space. The pro version can run offline *(much quicker)* and has less storage issues. A pro subscription will cost you about $50 a year. - [Vectr](https://vectr.com/) is a completely free alternative to Gravit that also runs in your browser. The toolset is more limited but it still decent for basic stuff. Again, it is free! - [Corel Draw](https://www.coreldraw.com/en/product/coreldraw/) is the one of the oldest and most refined vector programs out there. It was the industry standard back in the 80s & 90s before Illustrator took over. It is the program I learned to draw vectors on. Many creatives still use Corel Draw, but it is quite expensive to purchase. --- ## WEB DESIGN FOCUSED SOFTWARE We live on our devices and on the internet these days. The web is the where most of your creative work lives as well. A new category of programs has grown up around being able to design for the web. There is a very good chance your creative career will involve creating in one of the following programs instead of the Adobe Suite. Most of these programs are focused on designing mockups and prototypes for websites and mobile apps, however they usually have fairly robust vector drawing tools. - [Adobe XD](https://www.adobe.com/products/xd.html) is a free prototyping app for designing User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI). It is from Adobe and so it works quite well for integrating graphics created in Illustrator and Photoshop. There are some decent functional vector tools built-in. If you are subscribed to the Creative Cloud then you already have access to Adobe XD. - [Sketch](https://www.sketch.com/) has become the default standard when it comes to mobile app design. An entire industry has evolved focused on creating purchasable assets for Sketch. It is only available for Mac and the subscription runs $50 a year for students. - [Figma](https://www.figma.com/) is a competitor to Sketch that also focuses on prototyping. It too has pretty good vector tools. It is available for more operating systems and has a free option for trying it out. It runs for $12 a month once you've exceeded the free tier. - [InVision App](https://www.invisionapp.com/studio) is another alternative for screen-based designs. It has decent vector tools, although the focus is more on layout and animation. You can get one free project for life, but expect to pay for more projects. --- ## BROWSER-BASED TOOLS Internet connection speeds have gotten quick enough and browsers have gotten powerful enough to allow users to run design software over the internet. No need to install software at all. Here are a few solid options. - [SVG Edit](https://github.com/SVG-Edit/svgedit) is an open source tool that can be installed locally and run through a browser or hosted on a server. A fully functional preview is available to try it out. - [Janvas](https://www.janvas.com/create-draw-edit/en/svg-online-editor.html) has most of the basic vector tools you could need. It is free to use, but can also purchase accounts. - [Vectr](https://vectr.com) is pretty cool. A free account gets you a good set of tools. It feels quick and functional. - [Boxy SVG](https://boxy-svg.com/) is a fairly robust set of tools. There's a free trial to check it out. A subscription is only $10 a year for a basic account. honorable mention: [PhotoPea](https://www.photopea.com/) is a browser-based alternative to Photoshop. While the focus is mostly on raster/pixel tools, it does have the same vector capabilities as Photoshop. --- ## DRAWING TABLET TOOLS Now that tablet computers have become mainstream, it is possible to get some really good drawing apps for your iPad or Android devices. Many of the programs allow you to draw on your device and then migrate to your computer to finish up and refine. ## iOS/iPad - [Adobe Illustrator Draw](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id911156590) - sketch in vector and migrate to desktop to finish. FREE! - [Affinity Designer](https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/designer/ipad/) - the mobile version for Affinity. works surprisingly well to bounce between iPad and desktop - [Vectornator X](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vectornator-x-vector-art/id1219074514) - all the tools you would need. the files integrate with Illustrator. FREE! - [Graphic](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id363317633) - most of the tools you would find in Illustrator can be found here - [Inkpad](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/inkpad-graphic-design/id1057007769) - simple, functional vector drawing - [Concepts](https://apps.apple.com/app/concepts/id560586497#?platform=ipad) - sketching app that creates everything as editable vectors ## android There aren't as many options for vector drawing on android, but there are a few. - [Adobe Illustrator Draw](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.creativeapps.draw) - sketch in vector and migrate to desktop to finish. FREE! - [Inker](http://inker.co/) - simple vector tools. There is an online version if you want to check out the tools first --- tags: #vector #resources #apps home: [[! vector drawing resources]]