Using the app#

The manual for the drawing app, in the order it reads best: the tools first, then the gestures that make drawing quick, then everything that edits, arranges and saves what was drawn. For the essentials alone, start with the Quickstart; for every key on one page, the Cheatsheet.

The pages#

• Tools - The drawing tools, the Copic marker and its nib, the Pencil, its kit and the Smear, and the Sketch Support toolbar.
• Gestures and input - Pen, touch and mouse; pan and zoom; the straight line, the quick curve, endpoint snap and the held keys.
• Vector paths and stroke profiles - Editing anchors and handles, rounding corners, Sharpen Selection, and the four stroke profiles.
• Selecting and editing - Selecting, filling, widening, the clipboard, and what a press on a selection does.
• Transform, Rotate, Mirror, Mesh Warp, Liquify and Wipe Stacks - The Transform box, Rotate, Mirror, Mesh Warp, Liquify, the Wipe Stacks, and docking their panels.
• Effects and the Appearance panel - The Effect menu, the Appearance panel, the options of each effect, 3D Options and the gumball, and effects that follow a transform.
• Type - Typing and editing text on the canvas, in a shape and along a path too, the Type panel and its fonts, the Type menu, and the editor keys.
• Layers and the Properties panel - The Layers panel, groups, restacking, and editing a selection in the Properties panel.
• Composition Styles - Rules by layer name that restyle a page in one click: the panel, editing a style, the report, and the style file.
• Pages - The pages panel, page sizes, and the three ways to add a page.
• Import and export - What SVG, PDF and pictures arrive as, and what PNG, JPEG, SVG and PDF exports keep.
• Sharpening - Live sharpen, Sharpen all, and how the auto-sharpen engine decides what a stroke meant.
• Settings - Quick Settings and Verbose Settings, and every setting with its default and range.
• Menus and shortcuts - The menu bar, the right-click menus, every keyboard shortcut, and changing them.
• Automate - Generate Script from a file, the selected layers or the session history, and Track History.
• Animation Mode - The optional, experimental add-on that draws animation frames with an AI helper: installing it and using it.
• The .skbk file format - What a saved sketch book holds, and how older files open.
• The command line - Opening the app from a shell: every option, and the four commands that need no window.

Quickstarts by menu#

• Quickstart: drawing - Pick a tool, draw, use the quick gestures and sharpen: the Sketch menu in one sitting.
• Quickstart: transforming - Move, rotate, mirror, scale and bend a selection: the Transform menu in one sitting.
• Quickstart: layers - Name, group and restack layers, and edit a selection in the Properties panel.
• Quickstart: pages - Add pages three ways, size them, move between them, and export them all.
• Quickstart: automating - Write a script from a drawing, record a session, and draw with no window at all.

Built to be calm#

• Calm, accessible UI (WCAG-AA contrast, reduced-motion support — the page-turn animation and the symmetry-guide fade both stand still when the OS asks for reduced motion).