Handy Art Reference Tool

Belief Engine

In-app purchases

About this app

If you're an artist and ever wanted just quick and easy drawing reference for hands, heads, or even feet* without having to awkwardly pose your limbs in front of a mirror, this app is for you!


HANDY® is an artist's reference tool, consisting of several rotatable 3D limbs with a variety of poses useful for drawing. You can also customize and edit your own poses for hands, feet, and skulls.


Fully adjustable 3-point lighting means you can get easy lighting reference when using any of the 10+ included 3D head busts. Handy if you’re painting and need to know what shadows the head casts from a certain angle!


Also available is the Animal Skulls pack*. With over 10 different animal species, it's great for anatomical reference or creature design inspiration.

[*Foot rigs and Animal Skull pack require additional purchase]


NEW in Handy v5: Edit the materials of models! Selectively turn off their textures, adjust their specularity, or tint them a certain color.


Perfect for comic book artists, painters, or just casual sketchers!
Featured in ImagineFX's Top 10 Must-Have Apps!


Check out the video demo:
http://handyarttool.com/


Sign up for the HANDY newsletter for information about new upcoming updates!
http://www.handyarttool.com/newsletter

Follow HANDY on Bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/handyarttool.bsky.social

Follow HANDY on X
http://twitter.com/HandyArtTool/

Ratings and reviews

I love the lighting options and positioning for the head and hands, however, I before purchasing the app I thought that I would be able to move a full body model! There are no full body poseable models in the app, just heads, hands, and feet (if you want to pay for the feet...) I am pretty decent at drawing heads and I'm getting better at hands on my own, so this app isn't exactly what I was hoping for. If it had full body models, 5 stars! I struggle with lighting against the body, not the head

I don't usually write reviews, but Handy absolutely earned it. With brand new (free!) features being added such as subsurface scattering, new high-resolution models, and ability to load multiple models in a scene, they've established themselves as one of my essential tools for digital art. I recommend it to anyone who is starting out drawing or rendering and needs that solid anatomical/lighting foundation. Can't wait to see what features they will come out with in the future!

Pretty good app! I appreciate the detailed skin texture, tendons, and veins in the hands, and the variety of head types are nice. There are things I wished were better though. The interface and controls can be a bit confusing, especially with relation to moving items and light sources. It could really use with an undo button as well. I would also appreciate more pose presets and props, especially smaller handheld props like cups, pens, and cigarettes.

What’s new

Handy users, thank you for your support!
- Fixed an issue with the Animal Skulls displaying as pink due to the updated bundle not downloading automatically.