We've traditionally divided the best digital art software into 2D and 3D. We even have a dedicated guide to the best 3D modelling apps for iPad. But in 2025, the line between 2D and 3D art is becoming increasingly blurred.
One program that demonstrates this well is Feather, an iPad app that allows 2D artists to 'draw' in 3D. Now fully offline, Sketchsoft's app has been getting attention thanks to viral videos from artists demonstrating how it can be used to create in 3D space with traditional brushes.
What is the Feather app?
Sketchsoft describes its Feather iPad app as a "next-generation 3D drawing application" that reimagines traditional pressure-sensitive 2D brushes for 3D space. The app allows users to freely navigate 3D space and to draw from any perspective on a spatial canvas – and files can be exported in 3D formats.
It also aims to make editing feel "more like gaming" by allowing users to move, rotate, and scale using a joystick. Other features include lighting effects, a virtual mirror, the ability to import reference images to a clipboard, an AR View and iCloud Support. Users can also sketch and animate storyboards.
The app is now in version 1.0. The latest update adds new brush styles and patterns, geometric primitives for drawing on spheres, cylinders, cones, or rings as a base, plus a 3D Liquify tool that allows strokes to be pulled and pushed, which can serve to adjust how objects appear in reflections or underwater.
The app's power has been demonstrated in a series of viral videos by Sketchsoft's in-house artist Ram (@bodam.sketch). The pieces appear to blur dimensions, making it hard to know if we're looking at a 2D painting or a 3D model.
Feather is available for iPad from the Apple App Store priced at $14.99.
If you're wondering which iPad to use it on, see our guide to choosing the best iPad for drawing.
