I love to draw, paint and of course publish my art. Hmmmm, I would say this program is awesome if I didn't own ArtStudio. I love ArtStudio and use it for some time now. I assumed that if I buy Brushes which costs couple times more I can expect much more from it than from ArtStudio but now I know I was wrong. I don't really understand how one program can cost couple times less and offer more functions, options and of course provide better user experience. I guess the price is not always the best decision maker. ArtStudio should increase or Brushes should decrease its price. If you're looking for program to draw on your iPhone or iPad go with ArtStudio ($0.99) or Sketchbook ($7.99). Sketchbook has great brush variety and many more features as well.

As far as I can tell, you can't use a photo from your album to start a painting. I'm really hoping this is in the next version!!

I'm a huge fan of the original version but my fingers are too big and my eyes are too small. With the addition of photo import in the first update, Brushes for iPad is just about perfect.

This app is as full-featured as you can want at launch. The brush tools are intuitive and fell right, and the use of layers is astounding. If you want to modify a photo, use the Photoshop app. If you want to paint, use Brushes.

This is the app you want if you want to quickly capture something you're looking at or have just dreamt up, a color sketchpad or canvas. Nothing gets in your way and yet everything is there, RIGHT there. SketchPad Pro, on the other hand, is a cumbersome, complex, tiring, frustrating thing that i'm sure is terrific for people who want to tuck in and make images that somehow all end up looking like the sides of Chevy Vans from Pimp My Ride or feature panes from comic....errrrr....graphic novels. Here's something they should be advertizing tho: the PogoSketch pens that are sold by Ten One (and I think are available at Apple Stores) for use with their awesome Inkling and Autograph apps DO WORK WITH IPAD and are wonderful for use with Brushes. I love Brushes. It's one of my favorite apps of all time.

I purchased Brushes and Sketchbook Pro - and much prefer Brushes. The interface is simple, graceful and very responsive. Plus the ability to export high rez is invaluable!

Added photo import feature so I can amend this review. Thanks guys. great program!

Brushes for iPhone was always amazing, but the iPad has a much bigger drawing surface, making it a much better platform for art. Brushes for iPad takes full advantage of the larger interface. Like its iPhone counterpart, the interface is so simple and elegant, and it stays out of the way and lets you paint without thinking about much of anything app related. The high resolution redraw on Brushes desktop viewer is 1000 times more useful for the iPad app, because you are able to provide so much more detail for the redraw process to work with. Very happy with this app!

I purchased brushes & art studio. And honestly for the price I was expecting more. Art studio trumps it in everything. From interface & how it flows. One thing this app does have that artstudio does not is the gallery feature. It is perfect to showcase your art in a simplistic yet elegant way. (not worth 9.99 for this feature alone) The brushes in artstudio are sharp and smooth and Ive managed to tailored them to my needs. With this app I have tried to modify settings to bring out the sharpness but no matter what i do the strokes are not as sharp. I have messed around with the settings but Im not liking the results specially when compared to artstudios. Because I spent 9.99 I am seriously trying to like it but is just me trying to justify the 10 bucks i spent :( Liek a reviewer mentioned below how can one app charge more while the other is cheaper and provides more? I wish apple had a try and buy feature. Is beyond me why we have to resort to buying the full app to test it out.

Put the photos feature back in and get the 5 you deserve

This elegant app takes advantage of iPad's faster processing speed and big, bright screen. Tools are quickly accessible, colors can be saved in a palette -- and layers now feature various modes, such as multiply, screen, overlay and color. Send a hi-rez file in seconds by emailing actions, which sends the info as a tiny .brushes file that can be opened and expanded on the other end with Brushes Viewer.

Why does it save to Photos in the wrong orientation? Can't find a way to correct it (and, not sure why I need to). Frustrating app.

Awesome program! Thank you thank you for bringing the photo feature back! All the tools are wonderful!

Thanks for the photo import feature. Wonder why this iPad app is not more like the iPhone app. The original was so more intuitive. Also, why can't I orient the finished piece before sending it to the iPad photo album?

Really enjoying the app--it's nearly perfect. I do keep wishing I could switch layers and change brush and layer opacity without having to do so many taps, though. Direct controls for those things on the toolbars would elevate Brushes to an absolutely fantastic, effortless experience.

I like Brushes on the iPhone and now the iPad version is even nicer because it's so fluid and fast to work with. Brushes feels more natural to work with than Sketchbook from Autodesk. But that is my personal preference. The other program has a cumbersome way to pop the menu and that hurts it. Brushes is much nicer. I would like to see in the next update adding difference to the layer blend mode and gradient fills.

Good fun! Brushes keeps it simple--three different brushes, variable size, color and transparency; eraser with variable transparency diameter; the ability to select and maintain a palette of colors; use layers with transparency and copy/paste controls; read in images from Photos library to modify or trace for your painting; zoom in to 3200%. For comparison, I'm also using the pixel painting programs SketchBook Pro and ArtStudio and I agree that these are more feature laden. What is unique to Brushes is playing back a painting which is worth the price of admission for me. ArtStudio is probably the best overall value and SketchPad has the better controls (if not immediately intuitive) to facilitate rapid painting. Features I'd like to see: gesture controls for brush diameter and transparency, offset brushes (I, too, have big fingers), and a pad shake to undo your last stroke -- these would keep it simple and faster to paint with.

Other drawing apps do it better for less $!