Start with the pictures you want in view while you draw. The koi board above is a few photographs and an anatomy diagram. It can stay that simple, or take a palette, notes, and more references as the piece goes on.
Save the source while it is on screen
Send an image to ArtDeck from another app’s Share menu, drag it in from Safari or Photos, or paste it on the board. You can also open Photos, Files, the camera, or the document scanner from inside ArtDeck.
Save a URL as a link card when the page matters as much as the picture, like an artist’s portfolio or a museum page. When you need the file itself on the canvas, import a direct image, video, or PDF link.
If the board syncs, what you save on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac is on all three.
Give each part of the piece its own region
A moodboard on iPad is mostly pictures. A reference board for a piece also holds the anatomy, the concepts, your notes, and the colors you settled on, each in its own corner. Artist references can keep a link back to the gallery or Instagram account they came from, and the studies you save from ArtDeck’s lenses go next to them.
My references for a personal project were spread across four apps, and it was annoying. That’s why all of this goes on one board in ArtDeck.
The canvas is freeform. When a cluster gets busy, group it or nest it.
Inspect the reference without changing it
ArtDeck’s study tools are five lenses that open over an item. For the koi, the question is which shapes are left once the detail goes. The Read lens blurs and groups the photograph until only the big shapes remain, and the complicated pattern comes down to four or five patches.
The other four cover the rest: Values for light and dark, Color for palettes and zones, Composition for structure, Measure for proportion. None of them changes the source file.
Keep the result on the board next to the original, or export it. A study you keep there saves you from redoing the work, and after a few projects the board holds what you noticed as well as what you saved.
You do not need a study plan to use this
If you saved a photograph because something in it worked and you couldn’t say what, the lenses are a quick way to find out. Open the Values lens and drop it to two tones. Either the composition still holds as a shape or it doesn’t, and you know right away.
Pull the palette from an image whose color you like and check the coverage. The color that carries the picture is sometimes a small part of it.
The lenses work the same whether you study for work or out of curiosity.
Keep both apps on screen
On iPadOS 26, turn on Windowed Apps in Settings, under Multitasking & Gestures, and open ArtDeck next to your drawing app. Slide Over is available on iPadOS 26.2 and later. On iPadOS 18, use Split View or Slide Over from the multitasking menu. Stage Manager also works on iPads that support it.
Side by side works better for a full board, and Slide Over is enough for two or three references.
ArtDeck’s eyedropper copies the color you sample as a hex value. Paste it into any drawing app with a hexadecimal color field. The Procreate color handoff walks through one.
If you draw in Procreate, see how this compares with its one-image Reference Companion and how to copy images from ArtDeck onto your Procreate canvas.
Draw or animate with other iPad apps
The windows come from iPadOS, so any drawing or animation app that supports Split View can sit next to the board. The notes below come from each app’s documentation, checked September 7, 2026.
Drawing in Clip Studio Paint or Adobe Fresco
Clip Studio Paint works next to ArtDeck in Split View or a multi-window layout, as Clip Studio’s official import guide shows.
In Adobe Fresco, give the canvas enough width to keep the drawing tools on screen. Adobe’s support answer about references next to Fresco says the tools disappear in a narrow split and come back when the Fresco window is wider. That answer is from 2019, so check the layout with your version of Fresco before you settle on a window size.
Animating in Procreate Dreams or ToonSquid
Procreate Dreams and ToonSquid both work next to the board. Procreate’s Dreams import guide covers Split View, and ToonSquid’s multitasking update covers Split View, Slide Over, Stage Manager, and iPadOS 26 windows.
In ArtDeck, play a reference clip or step through it frame by frame, and use onion skinning to compare nearby poses as color ghosts. The motion-reference workflow shows how.
Sharing the screen doesn’t move any files between the apps. Dragging images and pasting colors depend on the app you send them to and the format.
Common questions
Does the board need an internet connection?
No. Boards are stored on the device and work offline. With iCloud sync, every board follows you across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac, or you leave the ones you choose on one device. A board that never leaves the iPad is a normal way to use ArtDeck.
Is this a moodboard app for iPad?
It can be. A mood board on iPad is pictures arranged for a feeling, and ArtDeck does that fine. A reference board adds the anatomy, the palette, your notes, and the studies you take from the pictures, on the same canvas.
Can I use this with apps other than Procreate?
Yes. See the drawing and animation examples for Clip Studio Paint, Adobe Fresco, Procreate Dreams, and ToonSquid. The layouts you get depend on your iPadOS version and the space each app needs.
Do the lenses change my original image?
No. A lens draws over the item and leaves the saved source alone. A result you want to keep goes on the board as a separate item.
Is an iPad the best device for this?
It’s the one where you collect and draw on the same screen, which is why this workflow is written for it. A big board is easier to arrange on a Mac, and if you sync it, the same board opens on all three devices.
If you’re still choosing an iPad app, compare VizRef for images and GIFs and Freeform for a shared canvas, or see every option with its platforms and price in the reference app comparison. Coming from a desktop board? The PureRef comparison explains the platform limits and how to move your images across.