Handy Art Reference Tool
Artists wanting to use decent hand reference on the go, this app is for you!
App info
App description
Android App Analysis and Review: Handy Art Reference Tool, Developed by Belief Engine. Listed in Comics Category. Current Version Is 5.1, Updated On 14/10/2025 . According to users reviews on Google Play: Handy Art Reference Tool. Achieved Over 78 thousand Installs. Handy Art Reference Tool Currently Has 4 thousand Reviews, Average Rating 4.7 Stars
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/
What's New
Handy users, thank you for your support!
- Some important maintenance & security updates to keep Handy up to date with Google Play requirements
- Fixed an issue where the rotation UI would not be aligned correctly on certain devices with skinnier aspect ratios
- Fixed issue where purchasing one of the IAP items could possibly lock up Handy if the purchase is deferred.
- Some important maintenance & security updates to keep Handy up to date with Google Play requirements
- Fixed an issue where the rotation UI would not be aligned correctly on certain devices with skinnier aspect ratios
- Fixed issue where purchasing one of the IAP items could possibly lock up Handy if the purchase is deferred.
Rate and review on Google Play store
Total number of ratings
Total number of active users rated for: Handy Art Reference ToolTotal number of installs (*estimated)
Estimation of total number of installs on Google Play, Approximated from number of ratings and install bounds achieved on Google Play.
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Recent Comments
Lucas Galarneau
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.
Craig Knights
Fantastic app for referencing when I'm painting mini's! Would love to see more shapes added in the future for further references, such as half-pipes, basic shapes with sections missing/raised areas (think something textural, bumpy, or full of holes). Keep it up! Will recommend on my YouTube channel when I do a deep dive on certain techniques.
Hay Jay
I like the app. It has basic objects to use. A female skull should be included if there is a male skull. I like the basic 3D shapes. I rotate them to practice perspective. The fact I had to buy the app, but also have to buy the foot models is slightly disappointing but it's called handy so..... But it's not expensive. Just a dollar. Adding Torso's would be nice. Other amazing features like changing lighting & surface types/material and how it effects the models differently is great for learning.
Natalie Stone
It's good, it works as a lighting reference too, though there's microtransactions if you want feet and animal skulls references in this (paid) app, which is unfair in my opinion. You can't change the head models' facial expressions to my knowledge, which limits the usability a bit, I also ended up rotating the figure so that it's tilted and don't know how to fix it. So nice app overall, needs a decent amount of work though.
Sky P
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!
benjamin delong
I really don't know why people say this is a great app. It has no "free" things to make it worthwhile. It doesn't change skin tone even tho I change the setting. It doesn't "bend at all the joints" like one reviewer said and honestly it's the same tired boring poses and references that most free apps have. Save your money and buy poseit or the proko app. You'll get more for your hard earned dollar. If I could return this app I certainly would. Very very disappointing.
BeanLightGames
EDIT: Fixed all my issues, 100% recommend to everyone! --- Original review: Great, but I do have a huge pet peeve. This is an incredibly useful app because you have a 2nd screen (your phone or tablet) told hold your own poseable hands, feet, and heads! Lots of presets, and a way to pose fingers and toes, and have it bend realistically or far passed it. One major issue I have that can really make posing fingers SUPER frustrating is that the controls disappear after a second if you're not constantly adjusting them. The only way to bring it back is tapping on the joint you were working on, but if you're at an angle where there are several joints on top of each other, you can easily tap other joints or fingers by accident and have to rotate the camera until you can see it and move the camera back to how you had it. I still REALLY love this app, but I am really wishing for an update that either has an option to easily select joints (like a mini-map kinda thing in a bottom corner that shows up when you tap the screen), or have the controls for the joint you're currently editing come back up too when you tap the screen.
A Google user
There is not a better made artist assistant app than this. You can bend at every joint! They have heads, animal skulls, feet! You can move the lighting, change colors of the lighting, set shadows! The 3d models are incredibly intricate, and the coding is sublime. You people working on this app, thank you! P.s. a tiny thing that I think might just be with my phone, the opening selection screen is now sideways, it no longer fits along my screen normally, still works perfectly though! Oneplus6