I surveyed over 26 seasoned professionals in fashion, including creative designers, technical designers, fashion illustrators, etc. about their go-to fashion illustration apps. These are the top 7, including features and costs (as of 2025).

Fashion Illustration App Comparison Chart

1. Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is the top pick for making illustrations in fashion. AI is an industry standard illustration software widely used by fashion designers to create vector and graphic illustrations like technical drawings and repeating textile design patterns.

If you want to work for big fashion brands, Adobe Illustrator is always a required skill. 

Although it’s a pricier option on this list, its features, versatility and easy integration with other Adobe software makes it a top choice in the industry. 

“Illustrator is my go to.” – Sam Parkinson, Freelance Sportswear Designer

“I use Illustrator and Photoshop together. Can’t live without any of them.” – Christina Ward, Print Designer / CAD Artist / Fashion Designer

Compatibility: Mac and Windows, available for PC and tablets

Price: Subscription-based with various plans starting from $22.99/month for PC, $9.99 for tablet

2. Adobe Photoshop

Personally, in my 15+ years in fashion, I hardly ever used Adobe Photoshop for fashion design. I used it to edit photos (e.g. change a red shirt to blue for a catalog, etc.), but I hardly ever used it in the design process. Sometimes I’d pop in there for photo-realistic textile designs, but not for actual garment design.

But multiple fashion designers we surveyed mention that they use it, so I’ve included it in the list. Unlike Adobe Illustrator, which is vector-based, Photoshop is raster-based, meaning it uses pixels to create images. 

This allows you to draw free-hand sketches, unlike in AI, where you have to work with the pen tool. Photoshop also makes it easy to play around with colors and textures, making it great for rendering fabric details. 

A couple of the fashion designers and textile designers I interviewed also shared that they use Photoshop and Illustrator together. For example, creating vector technical sketches in AI and then transferring to Photoshop to render and apply fabric details, shadows, etc. 

“Illustrator and Photoshop both together. That’s [the] best combo for every fashion designer.” – Syed Salman Raza, Concept Designer / Fashion Illustrator / Apparel Design Consultant

“Depending on the project I use Photoshop or Illustrator, or both together. I love that they are compatible with each other.” – Vero Fuld, Textile Designer

“Illustrator & Photoshop all the way. 💖 I use my laptop for illustration.” – Abby Brooks, Digital Fashion Marketing Illustrator

Compatibility: Mac and Windows, available for PC and tablets

Price: Subscription-based with various plans starting from $22.99/month for PC, $9.99 for tablet

3. Procreate

Procreate is currently the top (non-Adobe) digital illustration app for iPad or iPhone. It’s known for its user-friendly interface and massive library of customizable brushes. 

Procreate is great for hand sketching ideas, fashion illustrations, and concept sketches, but I don’t recommend it for technical sketches as those are easier to do using vector-based software like AI! (Procreate is pixel-based.)

“I just downloaded ProCreate a few days ago and have been loving it!! But I’m still using Illustrator for technical drawings.” – Amanda Thomé, Freelance Knitwear Designer

“I just started playing with ProCreate about two weeks ago, and I’m loving it so far! It’s the perfect blend between digital and natural drawing that I’ve been longing for! ❤️” – Yasmin McQueen, Freelance Designer / Technical Designer 

“It’s a way to get clean lines and the automation of Illustrator but be able to hand draw everything without the hassle of the pen tool” – Samanta Lynn, Fashion Illustrator and Freelance Designer

Compatibility: iPad and iPhone

Price: One-time payment of $12.99 for iPad, $5.99 for iPhone

4. FashionDraw by Fashionary

You might have heard of Fashionary through their best-selling fashion books (like Fashionpedia and Textilepedia) but don’t know yet about FashionDraw, their fairly new app that hit the market last 2023.

It’s like Procreate where you can free-hand sketches, but it’s specifically made for fashion design. So, while you can use tons of brushes and customize your own in Procreate, FashionDraw already has built-in brushes intended for fashion design like stitch and trim brushes, along with fabric texture swatches and fashion figure templates. They also have a collection of ready-made garment technical illustrations you can use as a base when creating your sketches.

While I prefer creating flat sketches in Adobe Illustrator, and recommend apps like this for creative fashion illustrations rather than flats, some of the designers I’ve talked with shared that they enjoy creating free-hand tech sketches using this app. 

“FashionDraw app! They have a variety of templates to choose from. Male, female, kids, plus size. Also a lot of fashion brushes like leather texture, stitching, etc.” – Jolleen Gabriel, Lingerie and Swimwear Designer

“The FashionDraw app by Fashionary is my favourite illustration app by far. It has been designed specifically for fashion designers so it’s kitted out with stitch and trim brushes like zips, buttons and studs etc. it has a huge range of fabric textures ready to re-colour, change scale etc. But most importantly it provides their huge range of beautifully proportioned figure templates, garment shapes and hems etc. to use as [a] starting point to draw your own designs. – Erica Horne, CAD for Fashion Trainer

Compatibility: iPad

Price: FREE for basic use

In-App Purchase of $5.99 for the monthly plan, $24.99 for the yearly plan, and $39.99 for the life-time purchase.

5. Art Set

Art Set is a great pick if you want your digital sketches to feel just like traditional drawings. Among the apps in this list, the people we surveyed said Art Set has the most realistic brushes that are great for painting and sketching. 

It’s easy to use, with a simple layout for your colors, brushes, and texture options. The app also includes several paper texture options, so you can work on different “canvases” like you would in real life. It’s like having a whole set of art tools right on your iPad!

“Art Set for the natural brushes. I always prefer to do the outline pencil and/or pen on paper then scan in to render.” – Amani Congleton, Fashion Designer & 3D Textile Artist 

Compatibility: iPad

Price: FREE for basic use

In-App Purchase of $12.99 to unlock all features

6. Adobe Fresco

The only one in this list that supports BOTH pixel and raster based illustration, Adobe Fresco is the Adobe Suite’s digital painting and drawing app. It has a similar interface to other Adobe apps like Illustrator and Photoshop and also has seamless integration across the Adobe Suite. So, if you’re already using other Adobe Apps, switching in between apps is easy. 

Another standout feature is that it doesn’t limit your layers. So, you can sketch away with as many layers as you need (Procreate users know the pain of layer limit!). 

“I enjoy Adobe Fresco. It’s a great way to quickly sketch your ideas. 💡” – Lucrecia De Los Santos Adon, Intimates Designer

“I also like Fresco! I’ve used it a few times as I get the feeling it gives me more tools than Procreate, however I may also be limited by my old IPad 6th gen here. Also elements grouped in Fresco become ‘groups’ of elements as well within .AI later.” – Alexia N., Product Designer & Developer

Compatibility: iPhone, iPad

Windows devices with Intel, Nvidia, or AMD processors

Microsoft Surface Pro X (SQ1/SQ2)and Surface Pro 9 with 5G

Price: FREE for basic use

In-App Purchase of $9.99/month to unlock all features

7. Affinity Designer

Another well-known vector graphics software, Affinity Designer, is an affordable fashion design app with professional-level tools. 

Affinity Designer is useful for creating fashion drawings, technical sketches, and detailed patterns and textures. Despite being a more basic app (compared to AI), Affinity Designer is known as a great alternative for designers who work both with Photoshop and Illustrator simultaneously. 

And the best part is, you can purchase Affinity Designer with a one-time payment. So, if you don’t want a recurring subscription-based payment, then Affinity Designer might be a good option.

“[I use] Affinity, [it’s] pretty much the same as illustrator but you don’t have to pay yearly. It’s a one off payment.” – Samora Durairajah, Design and Development Director

Compatibility: Mac and Windows, available for PC and tablets

Price: One-time payment of $69.99 for PC, $18.49 for tablet

What’s the Best Illustration App for Fashion Designers?

Best Illustration App for Technical Sketches

Without a doubt, Adobe Illustrator is still the #1 software used professionally in the fashion industry. So, if you want to work in fashion as a freelancer or employee, you need to know Adobe Illustrator. 

Applications such as Affinity Designer are a great alternative for those on a budget. But Affinity Designer is less widely used so it’s more suited for designers who do not need to work collaboratively with a client or team members that might need to edit the work. 

Industry level – Adobe Illustrator is what brands use, and that’s what will be required. It’s a very powerful and robust software that you can use to do a lot of cool things with repeating patterns, pattern brushes, and more to create realistic and accurate sketches which are required for tech packs and production. 

Compared to all the other options though, it does have a steep learning curve. But I got you covered!

Check out my FREE Ultimate Guide to Adobe Illustrator for Fashion Design to learn everything you need to know.

Best Illustration App for Hand Drawn Fashion Illustrations

Procreate was the top pick of fashion designers and illustrators we surveyed for free-hand digital illustration. It’s been the top digital illustration app for illustrators even outside of fashion for years now, and I can see why.

Procreate has a massive library of brushes, a user-friendly interface, short learning curve, and it’s just a really great and easy app to sketch with overall. I know a lot of freelance fashion designers and fashion illustrators who swear by Procreate, and offer creative fashion illustration services using the app. It’s also great for just quickly sketching random design ideas and concepts.

I do want to give a quick shout-out to FashionDraw. Despite the app being released for a little less than a year, a lot of the fashion designers I’ve talked with are raving about it and recommend it for everyone needing to make fashion illustrations. 

With all the built-in brushes, textures, and templates for fashion design, I honestly won’t be surprised if it overtakes Procreate (for fashion design) after a couple more updates! 

If you’d like to dig a little more into the survey data and read through the comments from fashion designers, technical designers, fashion illustrators, etc I surveyed, you can check out my LinkedIn post below. 

We talk all about their fave fashion illustration apps and what they love about them. Some also make the case for other (less popular) contenders that you can give a shot!