---

BRIDGING TRADITION AND TECHNOLOGY IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE:

In the ever-evolving field of landscape architecture, the tools we use to imagine, communicate, and represent space are rapidly transforming. The once-clear divide between traditional hand-drawing and digital illustration is growing thinner by the day. For many designers, especially those of us who began our creative journeys with rolls of trace paper, graphite smudges on our fingers, and that unmistakable rhythm of pen to page the transition to digital tools comes with hesitation. Would we lose the spontaneity of a freehand sketch? The textured gradients of pencil shading? The subtle bleed of ink or watercolor that gives life to a rendering?

A GENTLE DIGITAL SHIFT:

Adobe Fresco is the answer to the hesitation many old-school landscape architects feel about going digital. Adobe Fresco, an app originally built with illustrators and digital painters in mind, but surprisingly well-suited to the nuanced needs of landscape architects. Unlike many digital platforms that prioritize precision over personality, Fresco invites expressiveness. Its live brushes mimic the behavior of real paint and pigment with uncanny realism: watercolor strokes bleed into one another, oil textures build with depth, and each mark feels alive. More than just a drawing tool, Fresco serves as a creative bridge, allowing us to combine the organic richness of traditional media with the efficiency and adaptability of digital workflows.

It’s this balance—between emotion and control, art and architecture—that makes Adobe Fresco such a powerful ally in landscape design. Whether you’re capturing the mood of a natural setting, diagramming site strategies, or creating layered visual narratives, Fresco provides a platform that respects your hand as much as your vision.

ABOUT THE APPLICATION:

Best For: Watercolor & oil painting effects
Platform: iOS & Windows

CORE FEATURES THAT MAKE ADOBE FRESCO AN IDEAL TOOL FOR LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS

LIVE BRUSHES (WATERCOLOUR & OIL EFFECTS):
Adobe Fresco’s standout feature is its Live Brushes, which simulate the behavior of real paint in an incredibly realistic way:
1. Watercolor brushes naturally bleed into the canvas and blend with nearby colors, allowing architects to create fluid, expressive washes that are perfect for rendering natural elements like terrain, sky, and bodies of water.
2. Oil brushes provide a rich, textured painting experience that mimics the build-up of paint layers and brush bristle marks.

These tools are particularly effective when representing natural materials or highlighting light and shadow in landscape sections or perspectives and help bridge the gap between digital precision and the organic quality of traditional media.

VECTOR AND RASTOR SUPPORT:
Adobe Fresco is unique in offering both raster and vector brushes within the same project. This allows for maximum flexibility as:
1. Raster brushes give you expressive, textured strokes ideal for sketching, shading, and rendering soft elements like foliage or topography.
2. Vector brushes produce clean, scalable lines that are perfect for hardscapes, outlines, or diagrammatic overlays.

These can be exported into Illustrator or other vector-based apps for further detailing or integration. This dual-mode system is extremely useful for landscape architects who need both hand-rendered aesthetics and technical clarity in their work.

SEAMLESS INTEGRATION WITH ADOBE CREATIVE CLOUD:
As part of the Adobe ecosystem, Fresco syncs effortlessly with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Creative Cloud libraries. The seamless integration allows to:
1. Start a sketch in Fresco and finish it in Photoshop.
2. Export vector lines into Illustrator for precise annotations or presentation layout.
3. Share color palettes, brushes, and assets across apps—great for maintaining design consistency across your workflow.
This interoperability is a huge advantage for professionals working in multi-platform environments.

PRESSURE AND TILT SENSITIVITY:
When used with the Apple Pencil or a stylus on Windows tablets, Fresco responds to pressure and tilt, allowing for expressive, natural drawing. This is especially beneficial for mimicking brush softness or pencil hardness, creating depth in vegetation renderings or contour sketches.

EXTENSIVE BRUSH LIBRARY:
In addition to Live Brushes and built-in tools, Fresco allows access to thousands of Photoshop brushes via Adobe’s Creative Cloud. Landscape architects can find brushes for textures like stone, bark, grass, or clouds, making it easier to represent different site elements with nuance.

CLOUD BASED AUTOSAVE AND CROSS DEVICE ACCESS:
Fresco projects are automatically saved to the cloud, so you can pick up your work on another device without missing a beat. This is ideal for professionals who move between the office, client meetings, and the field.

CLEAN INTERFACE FOR FOCUSED CREATIVITY:
Fresco’s interface is streamlined and distraction-free, placing the focus on the canvas. Tools are tucked into intuitive menus, with quick gestures for undo, redo, and layer control thereby making it great for fast sketching sessions or in-the-moment design ideation.

LIMITATIONS (AND HOW TO WORK AROUND THEM):

While Adobe Fresco is a powerful and intuitive tool, especially for landscape architects seeking a balance between expressive sketching and digital flexibility, it does have some limitations that are worth considering:

PLATFORM LIMITATIONS:

Adobe Fresco is only available on iOS and Windows: Mac users are left out. No native Android or web version, limiting accessibility for users on non-Apple or non-Windows devices.

Tip: To overcome this limitation of Adobe Fresco, Mac users can consider running Fresco via a compatible Windows tablet or iPad synced with their Creative Cloud account. Alternatively, projects can be started in Fresco on an iPad and then continued in desktop apps like Photoshop or Illustrator on macOS.

LIMITED DESIGN FEATURES COMPARED TO PHOTOSHOP OR ILLUSTRATOR:

While great for painting and sketching, Fresco lacks advanced image editing tools, detailed type settings, or layout controls found in other Adobe apps. Not ideal for precise CAD-style drafting or technical drawings.

Tip: Use Fresco as a conceptual tool and export your files to Photoshop or Illustrator for layout, annotation, or precision edits. This combo preserves creativity while adding polish and technical accuracy.

UNPREDICTABLE LEARNING CURVE WITH BRUSHES:

Live Brushes (especially watercolors and oils) behave in a very fluid, organic way. This can be challenging for users accustomed to more controlled, predictable brush behavior. Managing brush settings (flow, bleed, texture) takes time and experimentation to master.

Tip: Begin with simpler brush presets and gradually experiment with Live Brushes.

PERFORMANCE ISSUE WITH LARGE FILES:

Fresco can start lagging or crashing with large canvases or many layers, especially on older iPads or tablets. Memory-intensive brushes like Live Brushes can slow things down.

Tip: Work in stages using smaller canvas sizes and fewer layers, then scaling up or creating composite pieces in Photoshop. Additionally, regular clearing of unused layers, simplifying assets, and updating the application version aids in reducing the performance issue with large files.

NO BUILT-IN PERSPECTIVE GRIDS:

While it has basic guides, Fresco lacks advanced perspective grid tools, which are helpful for drawing architectural scenes or site perspectives accurately.

Tip: Import a custom grid or use image layers with hand-drawn grids as a base. Alternatively, rough perspective sketches can be refined post-export in Illustrator or Photoshop using perspective tools.

LESS CONTROL OVER VECTOR OUTPUT:

Vector brushes are useful but relatively basic compared to Illustrator. Complex vector editing still requires exporting to Illustrator for refinement.

Tip: Use Fresco for expressive sketching and basic vectors and exporting the digital artwork to Illustrator for precision edits, scaling, or diagrammatic overlays thereby ensuring spontaneous linework without sacrificing control.

FILE MANAGEMENT AND COMPATIBILITY:

Files are saved as .fresco format or exported as PSD. This may limit compatibility with non-Adobe apps. Collaboration with non-Adobe users can be tricky.

Tip: Export the digital work created on Fresco in common formats like PNG, JPG, or PDF for easier sharing.

FINAL THOUGHTS: PAINTING WITH PIXELS

As landscape architects, our work exists at the intersection of art, science, and storytelling. Tools like Adobe Fresco don’t just offer convenience but they offer a new way to honor the craft of drawing while embracing the momentum of digital innovation. In a field where the tactile qualities of hand-rendering have long played a central role in design communication, Fresco provides a bridge that doesn’t ask us to compromise. It enables us to sketch with soul, render with clarity, and communicate complex ideas with an artistic touch that feels both intuitive and intentional. While it’s not without its quirks and limitations, the app encourages experimentation, rewards practice, and respects the expressive potential of the human hand. Whether you’re a student exploring visual expression for the first time or a seasoned professional seeking a more fluid digital workflow, Fresco invites you to draw like your hand still matters—because in design, it always does.

TRIED FRESCO ALREADY:

Share your favorite features, techniques, or tips in the comments. Let’s build a creative toolkit together-one brushstroke at a time.