So many of us have said, “I wish I could draw”, “I wish I could do that”, “My drawings look like stick men”. With the new “Pencil!” – Learn to Draw app on Meta Quest, those excuses disappear. This mixed reality experience blends the comfort of real pencil and paper with digital overlays that guide you step by step. Whether you’re a complete beginner or just want to sharpen your skills, Pencil makes the process approachable, interactive, and surprisingly fun.
👉 My full video review is right here at the top — but let’s break down what this app has to offer first.
Pencil – Features at a Glance
- 80+ Lessons
Covering everything from drawing basics to advanced techniques. - Academy Mode (15+ Hours)
A structured campaign with 50+ step-by-step lessons, teaching construction, perspective, shading, and more. Unlock new content as you progress. - Challenges & Rewards
Put your skills to the test with fun art challenges that make practice feel more like play. - Free-Draw Mode (3D)
- Create custom still-life scenes that project onto your page.
- Pose fully adjustable figurines to practice drawing human anatomy.
- Adjust camera angles and lighting for realistic studies.
- Collage Mode (2D)
Build collages with images, stickers, and stencils—or even import your own pictures. - Draw Anywhere, Any Size
From notebook sketches to large canvases, murals, or whiteboards, Pencil adapts to your setup. - In-App DLC
Expand your library with extra lesson packs and creative content. - Gallery Mode + Camera Access
Save your finished drawings, organize them, and build your own digital art gallery. - Experimental MX Ink Support
Draw on a virtual canvas using an MX Ink stylus or even the back of your Quest controller.
Lessons – Does Pencil Really Teach You?
Yes, I have gone through about seven of the lessons so far and they definitely do teach you. Now, keep in mind that I am an artist and teach art at school. Much of the content I’ve played through so far was review for me but there were still bits and pieces that made me look at certain concepts in different ways. This will definitely influence how I teach some of these concepts to my students.
Each of the lessons is broken down into simple steps. With each of the steps there is a simple explanation that describes why you are doing that step. It may seem like you are just tracing for some of the steps, and you might be, but each lesson focuses on larger concepts that will help you draw better. You will learn early on about value and shading, which is key to creating effective drawings later on. Needless to say, I have been impressed with the lessons thus far and can’t wait to continue through all of them.
Other Modes – 3D Model Drawing and 2D Collage Drawing
The other modes on pencil include 3D and 2D drawing. In the 3D mode, you can choose from a variety of models that you can maneuver and set onto a little stage. The model can be projected onto you paper as well to help with your drawing if you need.
I was amazed at the ability to make adjustments. Not only can you adjust the size and placement of the 3D models, but you can also change the camera angle and the lighting on the object. This allows full control of how you want to view the model and how you want the light and shadows to play on the object.
The 2D mode allows for you to select various stickers to put on a virtual drawing pad which can then be projected onto your paper to use as reference. In this mode, you can import your own images, screenshots, etc., to get projected onto your paper. It is in this mode that you can not only plan and do drawings, but you can project onto canvases and walls to plan paintings and murals. This is a very useful feature! From my experience, it did a good job at holding the projecting in place. If you are sketching out a mural, you don’t want it to move on you after you are partway finished.
Each of these “free draw” modes were great to use and definitely add to the greatness of the app.
Hand Tracking, Calibration, User-Friendliness
Hand tracking is a big part of this app as you are physically drawing with pencil on paper while the app is overlayed in MR. Overall the hand tracking worked well. Sometimes I would have to “press” buttons more than once but it wasn’t frustrating.
The calibration of the paper was very easy to do. The app does a good job of explaining how to do it. You can always go into the settings to adjust it or reset it if needed. What I really like is that there is basically no limit for how big you can make your “paper” that you are drawing on. I put it on my wall as if I was planning a mural and it filled up as much as I could reach! With the 2D mode accessing your documents/downloads, you could upload the sketch/plans to a mural or large painting and use this app to project it and sketch it out on the wall or large canvas. I didn’t have any issues with the calibration point moving while playing.
The menu is simple to understand and very user friendly. The options available are easy to figure out and navigating is simple. This is an app I feel I could show my students and they wouldn’t need a lot of hand-holding in order to figure out what to do.
How does Pencil match up against other drawing/art apps?
I have tried many of the art apps available on the Meta Store. If we look at other drawing apps or other projecting apps, none of them quite match up to Pencil in my opinion. Some other apps do have various lessons similar to Pencil that the user can work through, but from the ones I have tried, none of them break it down as simply as Pencil does. I’ve seen some other apps that try to teach just like this meme:
Pencil does a great job at really taking you step-by-step through the full drawing.
As I mentioned before, the calibration is easy to use and I never had any issues with it moving. There were two other apps specifically that I used in which the calibration was hard to place and it seemed to always shift over time.
This App is more intuitive to use, has easier menus, and honestly, just looks better and has a more charming feel than the others.
Standout Features of Pencil-Learn to Draw
There are a few features that I want to highlight here that I think make the app standout.
First, the amount of lessons and the fact that they are going to be adding more. From the lessons I’ve done and the ones that I’ve been looking ahead to, these aren’t just “learn how to draw a dog” or “learn how to draw a mountain”, the lessons are based around artistic concepts like perspective, value, shading, etc. These are concepts that will help with all of your future drawings.
Second, I enjoyed the 3D free draw mode and using models to draw from. The standout feature in this section is the ability to control the viewpoint camera and the light source camera. It is something I wouldn’t have even thought of but adds so much value to this free mode.
Third, the ability to draw on large-scale surfaces like walls and canvases. When I make large paintings, I will often use a projector on my canvas to sketch out the painting. It saves so much time instead of having to draw a grid and do it that way. It can take time to line up the projector and get it right. Now with Pencil, I can put my plan on my canvas with the app and sketch it on that way. This isn’t the only app that does that, but I’m glad they included it amongst everything else it does.
Last, but not least, the look and feel of the app. Some other drawing apps are very plain or more arcade looking. This app has a warm and charming feel from the look of the menus and buttons, the music, and the little instructor Leo. I know looks aren’t everything, but it does make me want to stay in the app because of the feeling it creates.
Where to Purchase Pencil – Learn to Draw
You can find it on the Meta Store here: https://www.meta.com/experiences/pencil-learn-to-draw/7699993220035742/
For the price of $12.99, I think it is a steal of a deal.
Should You Buy Pencil – Learn to Draw?
If you have any desire to learn how to draw, or already like drawing and want to have another way to practice, this is a 100% must buy.
I’ve already talked about why I like the app so much so I won’t repeat myself here. All I need to say is two big thumbs up!
