Handy Art Reference Tool

Name: Handy Art Reference Tool
Price: 1.99 USD
Rating: 4.8 (1241 reviews)
Author: Belief Engine

By: Belief Engine App

3D Lit Reference for Artists!

Overview

Version:

5.2

Last updated: 2026-08-24

Features & Capabilities

HANDY is a Chrome extension and artist’s reference tool featuring rotatable 3D limbs—hands, feet, and animal skulls—with a library of poses for fast drawing references. Create quick, accurate references without posing in front of a mirror, and customize or edit your own poses for hands, feet, and skulls. The tool also includes fully adjustable 3-point lighting and 10+ head busts to study shadows from different angles.

An Animal Skulls pack expands anatomy references for creature design (additional purchase). HANDY v5 adds material editing: toggle textures, adjust specularity, or tint colors for more realistic results. Ideal for comic artists, painters, and casual sketchers. Featured in ImagineFX's Top 10 Must-Have Apps with a video demo, newsletter, and social presence on Bluesky.

User Growth & Download Statistics

App Art Design Education

By:

Belief Engine

Rating:

4.80

(1,241) 1 ratings

Version:

5.2 Last updated: 2026-08-24

Version code:

879577793

Creation date:

2011-11-11

Compatible devices:

Size:

360.82MB

Price:

1.99

URLs:

Website ,Privacy policy

Full description:

Source:

Apple Apps Store

Data ingested on:

2026-09-24

Compare stats and ranking:

Ranking

# 49,464 ▼ 71

Other rankings

#22 in reference keyword 29 ▲ 8

Other platforms

Handy Art Reference Tool (v5.1.2)

89,266 4.69

(4,574)

For Developers

Monetize with App Pass Boost with Extension Booster

Contact the developer

Chrome-Stats does not own this Apple app. Please use these information below to contact the Apple app developer.

Developed by:

Belief Engine

Apple Apps Store

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/handy-art-reference-tool/id478643661

Website:

http://www.handyarttool.com

User Reviews

Handy Art Reference Tool is a highly valued reference for artists, especially hands, with strong lighting controls and deep customization. It’s portable and convenient for sketching anywhere. Recurring issues include startup crashes and long loading times, the perception that base price plus packs is expensive, and limited model diversity and pose options (full-body models, head rotation, demographic variety). Occasional content-pack bugs can occur. Overall, it remains a widely used reference tool when the app runs smoothly.

Pros

Extremely useful reference tool for drawing, especially hands and feet.
Excellent adjustable lighting and material settings for realistic references.
Highly customizable with diverse models and flexible posing options.
Portable and convenient to use anywhere.

Cons

Frequent instability: crashes on launch or endless loading after updates.
App price plus separate packs; in-app purchases feel overpriced.
Limited model diversity and pose options: not enough full-body models, limited head rotation, and demographic variety.
Occasional content-pack loading bugs, e.g., 'talking to the internet' screens.

Recent reviews

I just received a confirmation on my purchase that I do not even make. I got the app so when I need it for my tattooing needs I’d have it but it seems to have prematurely charged me for absolutely no reason. This may be my fault, I’m not sure if I am somehow being charged for just getting the app or what but I know for a fact I haven’t used it and I haven’t agreed to anything on it yet. I think this app would come in “handy”. But I ain’t gonna lie I’m a little upset about these apps doing things like this. And this isn’t the first time. That’s how I know I haven’t agreed to anything on it yet. I’ve learned to be very careful with these apps. I’m make sure not to agree to anything. Not even a free trial because I’ll forget and end up getting charged for it. It’s not even on my subscriptions. So I can’t even cancel it. It just charged me out of nowhere.

by #U*****, 2026-09-06

First off, Thank you so much for making this app. It’s like a Swiss Army knife for artists. Only issue I really have is the lack of an UNDO button? There were so many times when I accidentally swiped the screen or used the wrong node (especially with 3 hands), or realized I made a mistake and cannot figure out how to get back to where I was. I am using the save function, but there are still moments in between and lot of retreading. Also, the support form on your website seems to be broken. I tried submitting got back a formspree error message: ‘make sure your form has method=“POST” attribute’