Mirukaku Support Page

Mirukaku is a 10–15 minute drawing practice for iPad and Apple Pencil. You draw from a 3D object shown on screen, against the clock.

A session runs in three stages.

  1. Warm-up — short drills to loosen your hand: straight lines, ellipses, symmetry
  2. Draw fast — a short time limit, so you concentrate on catching the shape
  3. Draw slowly — take your time and work all the way into the shading

Contents

Will it work for me

How the practice works

Keeping and exporting your drawings

When something goes wrong

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an Apple Pencil?

No — a finger works. Apple Pencil is easier to draw with, though, because Mirukaku responds to pressure and tilt.

Does it run on iPhone?

Mirukaku is iPad only, and needs iPadOS 17.0 or later. The screen is split into two panes — the subject on one side, your canvas on the other — so it is built around an iPad-sized display.

What can I draw?

There are 21 subjects, grouped into five levels from easiest to hardest.

  • Flat shapes (square, circle, ellipse)
  • Basic solids (cube, cylinder, sphere)
  • Polyhedra (triangular pyramid, square pyramid, cone, prism, octahedron, dodecahedron)
  • Compound (compound cylinder, intersecting solids)
  • Human form (three head models)

You choose which subjects appear. Two subjects can also be posed together in one drawing.

Can I change how the solid looks?

Yes. The button at the bottom of the screen — it shows the mode you are currently in — cycles through four modes.

  • Silhouette — outline only. For blocking in the shape
  • Planes — each face shaded differently. For reading which way the solid is turned
  • Shading — a matte, plaster-cast look. For following the gradient of the shadows
  • Texture — a surface with material in it

Your choice carries over to the next drawing and to your next session. You do not have to pick it again each time.

Separately, the Cross contours button overlays guides that slice the solid into sections. Each tap cycles through off / contours / contours plus bounding guides.

Can I turn the solid myself?

Yes — drag the subject with a finger to rotate it. From a finished drawing, Try this angle again brings back the same composition, angle, orientation and display mode so you can draw it a second time.

I want to compare my drawing against the reference

Tap Overlay on the drawing screen to lay the reference solid over your own drawing. In settings you can choose whether it shows only while held, or toggles on each tap.

Where are my drawings stored?

Only on your iPad. Nothing is sent to an external server.

Please note that deleting the app also deletes your drawings and your practice records. See the next question for how to keep your drawings before that happens.

Can I get my drawings out of the app?

Yes — you can take them out as PNG images through the Files app.

  1. Open the Files app
  2. Go to On My iPad → Mirukaku
  3. Your drawings are inside DrawingTrainer → drawings, in a folder per date

Copy them anywhere you like — iCloud Drive, another folder. If you copy this folder before deleting the app, your drawings stay with you. (Reinstalling will not bring your practice records back, but the drawings themselves are safe.)

Can I keep working on an exported drawing in another app?

Yes. Import the exported PNG into your drawing app as an image.

A common way to work is to put the Mirukaku drawing on a lower layer and draw over it. Mirukaku is a practice app for catching form under time pressure, so it suits a workflow where you block in the construction here and finish the piece somewhere else.

Drawings are exported on a white background. When using one as an underlay, lower the layer’s opacity or set it to multiply so only the lines remain.

Can I remove the ads?

There is a Focus Pass. Watch one video ad through to the end from the home screen and ads stay away for 24 hours — banner, full-screen and app-open alike.

Finish one practice session while it is active and it extends by another day, up to three days. This is not a purchase. Mirukaku has no in-app purchases.

Can I change what a session contains?

Yes — from the settings below Start practice on the home screen.

  • Session volume (how many warm-up drills, how many fast drawings, how many slow drawings)
  • Which warm-ups are in rotation (seven categories — straight lines, curves, circles & ellipses, rectangles, symmetry, hatching, texture — 37 drills in all)
  • Which subjects are in rotation (21, selectable by level)
  • Composition (grounded on the floor, or floating in space)
  • Lens (how strong the perspective is — telephoto, standard, wide)
  • Guides (grid, horizon and others)
  • Screen layout (split left/right or top/bottom, canvas on your drawing hand’s side)

My practice records disappeared

If an app update changes how data is stored, your records can be reset. Your drawings themselves are still on the device, and you can rebuild the records from them.

  1. Scroll to the bottom of the home screen and open Credits
  2. Tap Rebuild records from images

Each drawing carries its own record inside the image, so the display mode, practice time and the angle it was posed at all come back. Your streak and lifetime total return too.

(For drawings made in the very earliest versions, only the date and the subject come back. Those records will not reproduce the same composition with Try this angle again.)

This rebuild depends on the image files still being on your iPad. Deleting the app deletes the drawings with it, and then there is nothing to rebuild from. (Your drawings live only on your iPad — we keep no copy on any server.)

⚠️ If it does not work, please email us before deleting and reinstalling.

Your drawings are included in your iPad’s backups. If you have already deleted the app, restoring the iPad from an iCloud or computer backup brings the drawings back, and Rebuild records from images will then rebuild the practice records.

If you would rather not rely on that, follow the steps under Can I get my drawings out of the app? and keep a copy yourself.

Contact

For questions or bug reports, please email:

support(a)manimani-works.jp （replace (a) with @）

We read everything that comes in. Mirukaku is developed and run by one person, so a reply may take some time.

When reporting a bug

Three things make the cause much easier to find:

  • Which iPad you are using (Settings → General → About → Model Name)
  • Your iPadOS version
  • Which screen you were on, and what you were doing when it happened

Privacy

Mirukaku uses Google AdMob to serve ads. See the Privacy Policy for details.

ManiMani Works