Introducing Project Gemini

Adobe’s next-generation drawing and painting app.

Calling all illustrators, painters, and drawers: Adobe is working on something new just for you.

Coming first on iPad, followed by Windows 10 and Android.

Drawing is our first relationship with creativity and the foundation for most creative workflows whether it’s visual problem solving, communicating a story or idea, or creating beauty through art. These drawn stories are told through the artist’s vision and a brush.

Since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, the ways that those stories are created has evolved to include touch-first drawing platforms; it was only two years later that, Jorge Columbo drew the cover of the New Yorker on a 3.5” iPhone screen using his fingers.

In 2010, on the day Apple launched the iPad, we launched Adobe Ideas for the iPad. Unlike any drawing app at the time, Adobe Ideas contained vector brushes that could be scaled infinitely with no loss in quality. Ideas even found fame as the first iPad app signed by a president.

When Apple introduced the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil, we were honored to be on-stage showcasing Adobe Photoshop Sketch optimized for these breakthrough tools. Since that time we’ve seen an explosion of gorgeous, professional-quality illustration completed on the iPad Pro using Sketch and Adobe Illustrator Draw—an app based on the original Adobe Ideas vector brushes.

Advancements in hardware enabled our apps to deliver even more professional features. Many of those features (like time-lapse recording, Photoshop brushes, and print-ready canvas sizes) have appeared in Photoshop Sketch and Illustrator Draw. But we realized there were so many more (e.g. selection and masking tools, combined raster and vector drawing capabilities) and knew it was time to expand the mobile drawing and painting experience. So we went back to the drawing board.

We’ve talked to hundreds of illustrators to learn the pain points of their existing workflows on the desktop on mobile. And we’ve heard from Sketch and Draw users creating professional quality work who need even more power.

Gemini’s interface is simple, but powerful.

Watercolor brushes in Project Gemini bloom and blossom like the real thing.

Today we announced Project Gemini—a focused new app focused specifically on drawing and painting. Building on Photoshop’s powerful brush engine, this new app combines powerful Photoshop brushes, precise and scalable vector brushes, and an entirely new category of groundbreaking Live oil and watercolor brushes – you’ve never seen anything like them. In addition, layers, selections, and masks enable the most modern non-destructive drawing and editing workflows.

Most importantly, though, we’ve built Project Gemini with the illustration community.

Kyle Webster, of KyleBrush.com, joined Adobe in 2017 to help build Gemini and act as an ambassador and advocate for the illustration community. Along with Kyle, a group of illustrators with diverse styles and backgrounds have been working closely with us to help Gemini achieve its potential. We are profoundly thankful to them for their time and input and look forward to continuing our fruitful partnership.

For anyone interested in being a part of Project Gemini’s iOS pre-release program, we’d love to support everyone but space is limited. Please complete this short survey to let us know your interest.

While you wait for Project Gemini to launch, follow us on Instagram. Our new Adobe Drawing Instagram channel will provide the latest updates, news, tutorials, and hand-picked inspiration from the Drawing and Painting team. We can’t wait to see what you create.