Inspired by the latest update to Tayasui Blocks, we shine the spotlight on our three favorite apps from the French studio Tayasui. Each of the following has a distinct charm, but they all share a vibrancy and sense of fun that makes them worthy of your time and money.
Tayasui Blocks ($2/£2)
On the surface, Blocks looks like a kids app. And in many ways it is, filing itself under the Education category in the App Store. Don’t let that put you off though, as Blocks is fun for all ages!
Basically, this app allows you to get creative in 3D, creating blocky virtual models by stacking cubes together. Imagine LEGO with the aesthetic of Crossy Road. The result is a charming “voxel” paradise filled with colorful little trees and low-polygon people.
What we like about Blocks is that once you’ve finished building something you can either share it with the world via a friendly and creative community, or destroy your creations with a series of satisfyingly destructive tools.
The recent update adds an Augmented Reality mode that lets users place their blocky creations into the real world. It’s one of the cooler implementations of ARKit we’ve seen so far, and it’ll work on any device with iOS 11!
Tayasui Sketches ($5/£5)
Sketches is arguably the golden child of the Tayasui collection. It’s the most in-depth, useful tool featured here and it’s popular with both pro and amateur illustrators for good reason.
For digital painting, there are only a handful other apps around that can compete. Sketches combines a range of drawing tools with multiple layer support inside of a refined, streamlined interface.
Where it really shines is in its selection of pencils, pens, and paintbrushes, all of which leave surprisingly realistic strokes. The app provides a range of paints such as oils, acrylics, and watercolors, which satisfying bleed into each other to give the impression you’re working on paper.
We’ve linked to the Sketches Pro, but there’s also a free version available if you don’t mind missing out on a few features.
Tayasui Color ($3/£3)
Our final pick is a super relaxing app that builds on the recent popularity of coloring books for adults to create a satisfying digital playground for mindless coloring fun.
The app offers up some beautifully detailed line drawings from illustrator Olivia De Bona, allowing you to use the same impressive toolset from Tayasui Sketches to color in the drawing to your heart’s content.
Throw in a gentle soundtrack and a series of realistic sound effects when using the paintbrushes and other tools, and you’ve got a seriously calming, tactile experience on your hands. It’s especially good on an iPad Pro with an Apple Pencil, but even finger painting has its charms!
It might sound childish, but if you’re looking to de-stress after a hard day’s work there’s not much that can beat it!