Top 15 Free Mac Apps for Graphic Designers. Build native-looking apps for iOS. The Mac Skype App menu with CSS3 and jQuery. 50+ pictures of amazingly colourful insects. Flash Web Roundup - Great tutorials and experiments. A Walkthrough on Creating Icons with Photoshop. Blender is certainly one of the best programs to use on a Mac. It is free, open-source and provides 3D modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, motion tracking, video editing, and game creation. All of these great tools can be used to create animated movies, visual effects but also great 3D printed models. Adobe Photoshop. Check Out Photoshop. Price: $9.99/mo Platforms: Mac, Windows. Adobe Photoshop is the most popular and widely used software for digital art. It’s feature-heavy, regularly updated, and you can use it to create everything from concept thumbnails to comic book pages or even photobashed pieces.

Pixel art has seen a big resurgence in popularity. New generations of artists and designers have taken up the digital brush to create modern pixel art masterpieces.

And as popularity for the pixel has grown, so has the number of tools for making it.

1. Top 17 Free Drawing Software. Top Drawing Software. Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator Draw, Adobe Lightroom, CorelDRAW, Photoshop Sketch, Adobe Illustrator, Astropad Studio, Affinity. Adobe Photoshop. Illustrator Draw. Adobe Lightroom.
2. So, if you are looking for the best free drawing software for your next project, here’s a comprehensive list for you. Microsoft Expression Design 4 Specially built for professionals and developers, Expression Design 4, helps you to create graphics for the web, user interfaces of applications, and for any other platform.
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Choosing which tools you want to learn can be a challenge. So to help you decide which program to pick we’ve compiled a list of the best software for creating pixel art.

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Whether you’re just starting out or looking to expand your skills, our guide will help you find the best pixel art software to fit with your needs.

Photoshop

Price: $9.99/mo
Platforms: Mac, Windows

Adobe Photoshop is the leading software for graphics editing & digital painting.

It should come as no surprise that it’s also a popular choice among pixel artists. While not made specifically for pixel art, Photoshop contains all the tools necessary to create professional quality pixel art and animations(and so much more).

Photoshop can be somewhat cumbersome for beginners as it is feature-heavy.

But there are plenty of tutorials available on setting up the program for making pixel art.

If you plan to create high resolution images or textures then it’s worth it to start in Photoshop so your skills are concentrated in one program. This is much better than having to learn multiple workflows for many different programs.

One of the biggest benefits to Photoshop is the volume of resources available.

There’s a tutorial for pretty much anything you could image as well as free scripts and plugins for even more flexibility.

If you’re working towards a career in game development or design then it’s worth noting Photoshop is an industry standard. Having knowledge of the software will be a big help in landing a gig at a studio.

But this is also nice if you just want to make your own indie pixel art for fun. Photoshop really is the bee’s knees for brilliant pixel art.

Krita

Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

Krita is a free and open source professional painting program aimed at digital painters, cartoonists, illustrators, and concept artists.

With some minor configuration changes Krita can be used for beautiful & professional pixel art.

Because the program is tailor-made for painters, many artists will find the workflow is very natural and easy to learn.

Krita is perfect for those with a traditional background in painting who want to transition into digital art. In 2015 the Krita community crowdfunded for an animation feature making it fully capable of adding motion into your pixel artwork.

While not as feature-rich as Photoshop or GIMP, Krita has many tools that you won’t find in programs dedicated to pixel art creation alone.

Depending on your needs this may be a benefit.

If you’re looking for a program that can handle both pixel art and high-resolution illustration work, and even animation, then Krita might be exactly what you’re looking for.

When it comes to a digital painting program Krita is hard to match—especially for the price of free.

On the other hand, Krita’s documentation is lackluster or missing in some areas, especially those features that have been recently added. Although you can find plenty of great tutorials online for free.

As a niche tool it also lacks the robust communities that you’ll find around some other software.

But with its easy-to-use and customizable layout Krita is solid choice for beginners and experienced artists alike.

GIMP

Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

GIMP is an open source image editor probably best known as the “free alternative” to Photoshop.

It boasts a powerful set of general image editing tools and painting tools.

Because of the easy-to-use layout and highly customizable interface, GIMP is a popular choice for artists of all backgrounds and styles.

GIMP comes with all the tools you’ll need to make professional pixel art. There’s even a built-in timeline and animation player much like Photoshop.

This makes it a great choice for those who are looking for a one-size-fits-all solution to image editing. It will be easy to transfer your pixel art skills to photo manipulation and graphic design if you choose to do so.

Because of its popularity GIMP enjoys the support of a large community of creators and you’ll find plenty of tutorials for the program as well as a plethora of plugins to suit your needs.

It’s a great choice for those on a budget looking for something that can handle pixel art along with image editing, painting, graphics design, and more.

Aseprite

Price: $15
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

Aseprite is a very popular and highly recommended program designed for pixel art.

It’s well worth the $15 price tag for the final software. But those with some tech skills will be happy to learn that Aseprite is available for free if you’re willing to compile it yourself.

Now Aseprite is popular for good reason.

Many artists love the streamlined interface and pixel art aesthetic. It’s a lightweight but fully capable program that is extremely easy to learn.

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It comes with features like onion skinning – the ability to overlay frames before and after the one you’re working on – that make animation a breeze. And the timeline itself is very accessible for beginners.

Aseprite can also automatically convert fonts to pixel art which is very handy for game development and user interface design.

There is a wrapping tool that makes it crazy easy to design tiles so that they repeat on the edges. This is a big deal in pixel art.

Aseprite has some of the best sprite sheet exporting tools I’ve seen in any software, making it a must-try for those who are serious about creating pixel art for video games.

Pyxel Edit

Price: $9
Platforms: Mac,Windows

Pyxel Edit is another popular program beloved by pixel artists worldwide.

It’s known for its ease-of-use and user-friendly interface. While there is a free version available out there, it lacks many of the features that make Pyxel Edit a worthy choice.

The elegant interface is a big selling point for Pyxel Edit.

The program contains all the features necessary for creating static and animated images, including animation onion skinning which lets you overlay sequential frames in your pixel art.

At only $9 Pyxel Edit may be the perfect choice for those working with a low budget.

Pyxel Edit is best known for its powerful tileset creation tools.

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Working with tilemaps can be a tedious process for any artist, but Pyxel Edit is here to help with a set of tools designed to speed up the workflow. Tilesets can be easily imported and exported or converted to XML or JSON filetypes for use in game engines.

Game designers working on multiple tilemaps might find that Pyxel Edit saves them a lot of time and hassle. It’s just a great tool for anyone serious about(or getting into) pixel art.

GraphicsGale

Price: Free
Platforms: Windows

GraphicsGale has an old-school aesthetic to the GUI. But don’t let that fool you since it packs quite a punch!

Not only is it available for free, but it comes with all the features you’d expect from a program dedicated to pixel art.

It supports drawing, animation, layering, palette control, and much more.

GraphicsGale can export to several file formats too. It can handle both GIFs and sprite sheets making the program flexible enough to fit most workflows.

With GraphicsGale you can preview your animations in real time, which can greatly speed up the animation process if you’re into that kinda thing.

Another great feature is the ability to import images directly from a scanner or a camera using TWAIN imaging. This is great for artists who prefer to lay out their ideas on paper and then digitize them.

Unfortunately GraphicsGale is only available on Windows. It’s also missing some hotkey support compared to other programs.

This could be a problem for some artists but if you’re on a Windows machine then GraphicsGale is worth checking out.

Paint.NET

Price: Free
Platforms: Windows

Paint.NET is widely used as an alternative to Photoshop and GIMP by the Windows crowd. It should run on all versions of Windows from XP to Win10 and beyond with frequent updates from the team.

While not as robust as either GIMP or Photoshop, I do think Paint.NET is easy to use once you get past the interface.

It’ll also handle basic image editing so it’s a good choice for pixel artist who are looking for a lightweight program that can handle more than pixel art.

Paint.NET has a great community with plenty of tutorials and an active user base that can help you get started making your own sprites and other images.

Support for advanced features are available through plugins making the program more flexible than some of its competitors.

Compared to Photoshop and GIMP, Paint.NET is very easy to learn and will not require much time to pick up.

There are, however, a few major limitations.

For one, Paint.NET is only available on Windows. In addition Paint.NET doesn’t support multi-image editing, meaning you can only have one image open at a time.

This can be a big hindrance no matter what you’re using this for.

Despite these drawbacks Paint.NET is still a fun choice to try for budding pixel artists working in the Microsoft ecosystem.

Piskel

Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, Online

Piskel is a streamlined program dedicated to creating pixel art and animation.

It’s an excellent choice for artists looking for a free, bare-bones solution to their pixel art needs.

Not only is it offered as a free download, but there’s a web version available so you can try it out in your browser!

The clean interface means you can get up and running with Piskel in no time. There’s an animation previewer that provides real time playback which makes animating your sprites a breeze.

It packs enough features to meet most of your needs while being simple enough that beginners can easily learn the tools.

Piskel can export static images, GIF animations, and Spritesheets. Or all three!

I’ve seen some artist complain that Piskel is a little too limited.

And while it does lack certain advanced features, I think that may be part of the appeal for many of its fans. Sometimes minimalism is exactly what you’re looking for.

Piskel is a fantastic tool for those artists looking for a no-clutter program that puts nothing between them and their art.

Pixie Engine Editor

Price: Free
Platforms: Online

The Pixie Engine Editor is a free online tool that offers the very basic features necessary for making pixel art.

Most artists will find this program too limited for professional work. But beginners might enjoy it as a hassle free starting point for learning pixel art.

Unfortunately you can’t do much more than draw static images, but it does have a full color palette and the ability to save and open images.

There’s a community gallery on the site for browsing the work of other artists which is a great way to study others and learn.

The Pixie Engine Editor also comes with a Tune composer which is handy for game developers looking to make some music or sound effects for their games.

As it stands I could see this editor being useful for game jams or prototypes where speed is more important than beauty.

The source code for the Pixie Engine is also available for free on GitHub if you’d like to fork the repository and use it as a base for your own pixel art creator.

GrafX2

Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

GrafX2 is a bitmap image editor inspired by Amiga Deluxe Paint. The original version was released over 20 years ago but the source code was later released as an open source project.

It has since been rebooted for contemporary machines and updated with brand new features.

GrafX2 is a fan favorite not only because of its retro origins, but because it boasts a powerful toolset and an intuitive interface.

It has everything you’d expect in a drawing program plus many unique features that make it a popular choice for artists.

There’s a “Spline” tool which allows for drawing perfect curves and a “Merge” tool which merges colors based on averages.

The “Histogram” tool will show a pallet of all colors used in an image and how many pixels they populate.

GrafX2 is scriptable in Lua which allows for automation and custom functionality. It also has features for working with repeat tilesets.

Because of its age, GrafX2 also has a large community and plenty of learning resources on sites like YouTube.

Not only does GrafX2 have a wide set of tools and effects, but its supports frame animation as well.

And despite having so many features GrafX2 is very easy to learn. Beginners can be up and running in a matter of hours. The software is also totally open sourced meaning it’s free to use, copy, and modify on all platforms.

The only complaints I’ve seen of GrafX2 is that the user interface looks ancient.

Personally I find the retro aesthetic charming and suitable to the art of pixel design, but that’s just me. Even with that drawback, the amount of features you get with this free program make it a must-try for any pixel artist.

iDraw

Price: Free
Platforms: Windows

iDraw is another simple pixel art editor that is mostly used by the RPG Maker community.

It comes with all the basic features you’d expect: selection tools, drawing tools, a customizable palette, etc. iDraw is popular among pixel artist who work mainly in the JRPG style that was popular in the 90’s.

Many years ago it was not unusual to see people using pirated copies of RPG Maker 2003 and iDraw to create their own RPG’s with custom sprites.

Now that RPG Maker 2003 has been revamped and released on Steam for $5 bucks, I suspect some users will want to download iDraw to complete their nostalgia.

As far as pixel art editors go, iDraw isn’t bad. But it lacks modern features for animation and the user interface is clearly dated.

This will probably turn off a lot of newcomers looking for a more contemporary program.

On the plus side, the RPG Maker community is alive and still going strong. So you’ll find tutorials for using these programs together all over YouTube.

I expect to see a bunch of these old-school RPG’s as people rediscover the joys of RPG Maker with iDraw.

Tile Studio

Price: Free
Platforms: Windows

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Tile Studio is a graphics editor made for tile-based game art.

It contains a bitmap editor for creating tiles as well as a level editor for designing tile maps. Tile Studio will work with just about any programming language and can be customized to output maps, animation sequences, bitmaps, and color palettes to use with your own code.

This makes Tile Studio especially useful for level designers and game studios.

The program is open source and available for free on Windows.

With Tile Studio you can import tiles for existing images making it possible to reuse tiles from other programs. While the level editor is the main draw here, it also contains a fully capable bitmap editor complete with drawing tools and special effects.

Creating animations is easy and intuitive although it lacks some features compared to bigger programs.

After creating your frames you have the options of exporting them as either a sprite sheet or a tile sequence, which can be super handy for game developers.

While most of Tile Studio’s features are easy to use, some of the advanced tools can be difficult for beginners. Luckily the documentation is detailed and complete with tutorials to get you up to speed.

If you’re looking for a program designed to make tile-based level design as painless as possible then Tile Studio may be just what you’re looking for.

PikoPixel

Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Linux

Piko Pixel is a free and open source application for creating pixel art on Mac and Linux.

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The program is both easy to use and offers several features including a customizable canvas, unlimited undos, hotkey-activated popup panels, and layering.

It’s a good alternative to some of the Windows-only programs in the pixel art world.

While there are a few demos available to help you get started, the interface is so simple that I doubt you’ll need them.

Everything is self-explanatory and uncomplicated. This is very common with Mac programs but I’m surprised how well it works on Linux too.

While it lacks the advanced features of other pixel art programs, Piko can produce quality graphics in the right hands. Decent for beginners but maybe a little better for semi-experienced pixel artists.

Pixilart

Price: Free
Platforms: Online

Pixilart is much more than a drawing app. It/s marketed as a free online social platform for creative minds and game enthusiasts who want to learn about creating digital art.

It boasts over 10,000 new users a month, offers art contests, and provides a strong community geared toward getting young people involved in game design.

Founded in 2013, Pixilart set out to become THE social networking site for pixel art enthusiasts.

Even without the social aspect, Pixilart is worth checking out.

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The drawing app is a delight to use with a sleek and modern interface. It packs all the basic features you’d expect from a pixel art program as well as some advanced tools like pixel-perfect drawing, easy dithering, frame animation, pixel text support, full screen mode, an autosave feature, and so much more.

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With a plethora of settings and options Pixelart is highly customizable to suit any workflow.

Despite being geared to children and beginners, Pixelart is capable of professional work too.

In fact some pro artists will love the simplicity of the design. And because of the social aspect of the application it’s easy to find help others.

Also there’s tooltips you can toggle to guide your learning in case you’re having trouble.

Overall I found Pixelart to be one of the most impressive web-based pixel art apps available. I highly recommend it to beginners and advanced users alike. Microsoft foxpro 2.6 for ms-dos.

Lospec Pixel Editor

Price: Free
Platforms: Online

Lospec is a relatively new web-based pixel editor designed to be accessible, pixel-perfect, and intuitive for all users.

Its goal is to be simple enough for the first time pixel artist while still being powerful enough for veterans.

As of writing this article the application is still in the early stages of development, but it already shows promise with a solid interface and an easy to understand toolset.

While currently lacking many of the top features necessary for serious professional work, Lospec is a good starting point considering the price and easy access(it all works online!)

It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on as the developers continue to update the app.

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Digital art software gets better and better each year.

The right software can help you paint faster and feel better about your artwork. Each program handles brush strokes and color blending differently, and the price tags vary from expensive to free.

Adobe Photoshop still reigns supreme as an all-round industry standard for digital artists. Yet there’s always new software coming out to compete against Adobe’s throne.

Choosing your art software is no longer about the biggest features, but rather finding an application that suits your specific needs as an artist.

Beginners who just want to practice are better off choosing a free program compared to professionals who want to learn software for an industry job. If your goal is to work for a game studio as a concept artist then you’ll probably have a different set of goals.

In this post we’ll take an in-depth look at 7 of the most popular programs for digital drawing & painting by comparing their features and seeing how they stack up.

But if you’re in a hurry here’s a quick overview to help you decide:

• Professional Choice: Adobe Photoshop
• Free Choice: Krita
• Budget Choice: Clip Studio Paint

If you need a bit more info on these programs just keep reading.

Adobe Photoshop

Price: $9.99/mo
Platforms: Mac, Windows

Adobe Photoshop is the most popular and widely used software for digital art.

It’s feature-heavy, regularly updated, and you can use it to create everything from concept thumbnails to comic book pages or even photobashed pieces.

Photoshop started as an image-editing program for photographers. Over time it slowly became a staple for many other industries, digital art included.

With this software you have a huge variety of painting tools, brushes, filters, plugins, and layer styles.

It’s an industry standard for all digital artists across the entertainment industry because it just works. If you want a career in video games, animation, feature films, or any general production studio, knowledge of Photoshop goes a long way.

The learning curve is pretty steep here. If you are a beginner you may feel overwhelmed by all the options and get lost in technical aspects of the program. But once you’ve learned the basics, your imagination is the limit!

You can do anything in whatever style you choose and edit photos to boot!

Being the most popular software for creatives artists, there’s a mass of Photoshop tutorials available online. Adobe even released a series of up-to-date free tutorials which will take you from beginner to expert level.

If you ever have a problem or question on anything, a quick Google search will get you a video answer or helpful forum post.

Concept artists like Photoshop’s custom brushes and often create their own. Detailed layer settings, regular updates, and a sleek user interface are the driving force behind Photoshop’s continued popularity.

You can rotate your canvas naturally to mimic the rotation of paper. And you can setup grids and rulers for complex scenes, or even bring in 3D objects to paint over. PSD files(Photoshop’s native file format) play well with other Adobe programs and this file type is an industry standard.

That means you can import PSDs into almost any other art software without a hitch. GIMP and Krita both accept PSD files along with many other programs.

This is why many artists combine Photoshop with other painting software. Depending on the workflow you’re going for you could do your concept and lineart in something like Clip Studio Paint, then bring it to Photoshop for coloring and final touch-ups.

Other digital art software doesn’t try to replace Photoshop but instead tries to improve on the interface for specific types of art(ex: comics, storyboards, environment paintings, etc). Acronis true image 2014 iso free download.

Once you’ve signed up for a Creative Cloud membership you get a free, non-conditional seven-day trial version of Photoshop. This offer applies to Adobe’s other software as well. If you like Photoshop and want to buy it, there are four purchase plans to choose from.

The cheapest is the Photographers package which is $9.99(only available annually) and it includes Lightroom CC. If you want to buy a monthly plan you can get Photoshop for $29.99 a month.

If you want to go the extra mile and get the rest of Adobe’s software, the entire suite costs $74.99 monthly(or annual for $49.99 p/m).

Bonus Tip: Students 13 years and older get a 60% discount on the full Adobe suite plan!

People love Photoshop for its versatility and wealth of free knowledge online. Adobe has thrown millions of dollars into development so Photoshop isn’t going anywhere.

It’s a solid, professional choice for aspiring digital artists and concept artists.

Corel Painter

Price: $350
Platforms: Mac, Windows

Corel Painter is characterized by painterly brush strokes and a traditional artist’s feel to the interface.

Painter is for artists who love loose, messy brushwork and want to capture the beauty of traditional mediums on a digital canvas. It comes standard with 900 brushes covering every possible situation you could imagine.

As you might guess from the name, Corel Painter is focused on painting. But this should be great for artists who only want software to draw or paint digitally.

It has a 2.5D brush toolset that mimics real-world brushes giving you full control over the final “style” of your work.

Painter has been a serious alternative to Photoshop for several years and is the company always listens to user requests. They’ve been working hard to add new features every year and have added a bunch of artist-suggested tools into their latest release.

For example, some users complained of UI sensitivity and slow response times. Those issues were fixed with the 2019 version along with an entire UI design overhaul.

Icons were redesigned to be more intuitive and the interface was changed to a darker theme.

Among all the new features with that version, the most celebrated was the pinned color wheel.

You can position the color wheel wherever you like on the screen giving an instant look at color options without swatches. This spectral feature means you can work in detail without the circular brush icon obscuring your view.

In Painter’s web series “Paint like Bob Ross” you can learn how to paint digital landscapes in 30 minutes using their brushes—a great introduction to conceptualizing landscapes for beginners.

The software is feature heavy and beginners might still feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of brush options and settings. But Corel is worth learning because it is another trusted industry staple among character designers, concept artists, and visual development artists.

Corel Painter has been around since 1992 and you can find an extensive library of free tutorials on their website. Or if you search on YouTube I’m sure you can find plenty of free tutorials there as well.

You won’t find as many resources compared to Photoshop. But Corel Painter is still a beast in the concept art world, or just the digital painting world in general, making it an awesome choice for hobbyists or newbies just picking up digital art for the first time.

As of this writing, a brand new copy of Corel Painter costs $350 making it an expensive once-off purchase. Although you can get a free 30-day trial to demo the software and see if it’s right for you.

Krita

Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

Krita is a free open source digital painting program designed for cartoonists, illustrators, concept artists, and pretty much all digital artists.

The software was initially developed as a general image editing competitor to Photoshop but focused their efforts on digital painting starting in 2009. The Krita community donates monthly to the software efforts helping it to stay free and funding development of new features

If you have a background in some other digital art software(Photoshop for example) then Krita’s tools will be a little familiar and a little not-so-familiar.

Whether you’re switching or just getting into Krita it’s worth the time to watch a few tutorials to find out how everything works.

Krita hasn’t released many official tutorial videos but they have created detailed documentation online. If it’s your first venture into digital art then start off learning about the basic UI and toolsets.

Use the pop-up pallet to select your brushes, erasers, and colors intuitively. All other tools are stored in the panels to the left and right. Krita supports PSD files so that you can switch between Photoshop and Krita with ease.

And there’s a ton of freebies online like free brush packs that mimic everything from charcoal to watercolors and so much more. The beauty of Krita is the free price tag and the immensely supportive community around this software.

Krita has been criticized by some professional artists for its lag, seemingly unintuitive design, and uneven brush softness. Although the criticism has merit, the program’s core features work well and you will learn them with practice.

Also worth noting this has to be the absolute best choice for anyone on a Linux machine. Photoshop does not support Linux outside of a virtual emulator but Krita can run natively in any Linux distro.

This is a huge +1 for Krita since it’s really the best digital painting alternative for our Linux & Unix friends.

If you don’t have the cash to burn on digital art programs Krita is the perfect choice.

Use the program while you save up some money to grab another program. Or just stick with Krita and use it free for life! Many professional artists like David Revoy create all of their work with Krita and their stuff looks amazing.

Best thing about Krita is that it’s simple for beginners to learn and it doesn’t confuse you with a ton features or fancy tools. Krita’s purpose is digital painting and that’s precisely what it does well.

Clip Studio Paint

Price: $49
Platforms: Mac, Windows

Clip Studio Paint is the most popular software for creating comics and manga artwork.

Clip Studio Paint was originally named Manga Studio but changed names in 2013. It originated in Japan as specialist software for manga, illustration, and animators.

The program has long been a worldwide affordable alternative to Photoshop for digital artists but got more recognition with the name change.

The most notable drawing difference between Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop is the brush tool. In Clip Studio the brush tool instantly corrects any minor wobble you make while drawing on a tablet, leaving you with smooth clean linework.

Clip Studio is optimized for comic book creation and has various tools to speed up the process.

A canvas layout tool makes paneling quick with perspective rulers and a library of predefined formats. The pen tool lets you to work in a versatile vector format which means your creations can be scalable without quality loss.

In the most recent release there’s a new library of 3D objects and posable models. This is useful for concept artists who like to use references to get poses down quickly.

You can drop in a 3D model, pose it using an intuitive joint system, change the camera angle, make the character fat or thin, and choose between genders. After you’ve drawn over it you can use that same model’s shading as a reference for lighting.

Then when you’re done just delete it. Easy-peasy.

With CSP your art will always have a crisp digital finish as the software doesn’t strive for a traditional look. Although it’s possible to give your brush strokes a blended texture using brushes, Clip Studio Paint is not designed to mimic traditional mediums.

The standard version of Clip Studio Paint also comes with some very basic animation features. You can quickly test character movement over 24 frames without the annoyance of switching programs. But this is not really the best software for animation so it works best in conjunction with other programs for that purpose.

Now Clip Studio Paint comes in two versions: PRO(standard) and EX(full-featured).

Unless you’re planning on putting all of your projects through Clip Studio Paint and creating various manga & comic books, you’ll probably be happy with the PRO version. The EX edition has only a few extra features that would benefit expert users.

EX lets you save manga & comic pages in a ‘book’ which acts like one editable file. You can then bulk save them for printing which shaves off a ton of time and organizational effort.

The animation feature also gets an upgrade with EX and you can create an unlimited number of frames(instead of the standard 24).

EX comes with filters for 3D assets too turning them black and white for easier integration into your scenes.

Generally speaking, the PRO version is the same and EX minus the above features. It’s unlikely you’ll need those features as a digital painter or concept artist. Only serious comic and manga artists would find the EX features useful.

Try out either version with a free 30-day trial of both PRO and EX versions. If you don’t like it then just move on. The free version does give plenty to toy with so you’ll know whether you like CSP or don’t.

And it’s worth mentioning that the PRO edition is an affordable option at only $49 flat fee, while EX comes at a premium of $219.

Although sometimes you can get CSP at a discounted rate from annual sales so keep checking their prices.

GIMP

Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

GIMP is another open source program built as a free Photoshop alternative.

Back when computer graphics were slowly becoming “a thing” it was up to software developers to create graphics for companies. With Photoshop costing a lot more back then, buying it was out of the budget for many companies.

GIMP was built to fill the need for a cheaper option to digital imaging editing software.

Unlike other free digital art software, GIMP was designed to be a full replacement for Photoshop. This means you can use it for digital painting but it’s really meant for graphic design, photo editing, text effects, and similar features.

Likewise this program has all the tools you need for digital art. If you are looking for Photoshop’s functionality without the price tag you’ll be happy to with GIMP’s default functionality.

If you know a little about software development you can also add to GIMP’s code by creating your own plugins for the system. But the default setup is more than enough for artists.

Many versions of GIMP have been released over the years, but their team of volunteers hasn’t been able to keep up with the sheer financial power of Adobe. The user interface is definitely unrefined and will be very confusing to beginners.

There are loads of GIMP tutorials created by their loyal users and there’s enough content to help you learn everything you need about the software.

Although GIMP doesn’t have a dedicated support team to answer your questions, many issues are well documented on various forums and you’ll be able to troubleshoot a solution with a few Google searches.

The painting tools are reasonable, although in my opinion Krita is a stronger option if you just need painting.

Granted you can find plenty of free GIMP brushes all made for digital drawing & painting.

But really this software is the best all-round alternative to Photoshop. If you see yourself doing a bit of design work, some painting, and some photo editing, try out GIMP and see what you think.

ArtRage

Price: $79
Platforms: Mac, Windows

ArtRage is a digital painting powerhouse that’s perfect for traditional artists moving digital and for existing professional artists.

Unlike other digital art programs, ArtRage has stepped away from the complicated user interface and ditched the blocky side panels. They want your focus on the canvas creating great work.

When you open the program you’ll find a semi-circular brush picker on the bottom left of the screen and a color picker on the bottom right. Both give you immediate access to the most important tools.

Small “pods” containing extra options hover just above the circles, minimizing extra clutter.

After you’ve picked your color and brush you can start drawing on the canvas. The UI automatically disappears(although this setting is optional) and without the UI you get a full screen canvas to work on without any distractions. Pretty cool!

If you’ve never used digital painting software before then ArtRage is fantastic. It’s beginner friendly and super affordable.

You can start off slow, familiarizing yourself with the various brushes, and slowly work your way up to painting full scenes and character designs. Driver genius portable full version.

If you are coming from Photoshop you’ll find the minimalist layout refreshing and easy to pick up. The brush presets are so good that you don’t need to waste time adjusting them much at all.

One of ArtRage’s most exciting features is called “real color blending”. It calculates realistic color mixing as you paint and it’s useful for digital painting in an oil or watercolor style.

If you want to try your hand at digital painting for the first time, this software will hold your hand and take you from hobbyist to professional if you put in the effort.

It doesn’t have all the gadgets and gizmos that some prominent art programs have, but it’s got all you need to make fun paintings(and a little extra).

ArtRage is budget software and friendly to those getting started. You can also use the demo version for an unlimited amount of time. The demo doesn’t let you save anything, which of course is a drag, but you can use that to familiarize yourself with the program.

If you decide you want the full version it costs $79 and you’ll receive all future updates included with your license.

If that sounds a bit expensive you could go for ArtRage Lite which is only $29.90. The lite version is great for beginners and includes all the painting features of the full version.

Think of this much like Krita but aimed for simplicity. It’s cheap enough that you could run ArtRage for life and it’s certainly refreshing when you come from a big bulky art program.

Paint Tool SAI

Price: $49
Platforms: Windows

Lastly on this list is Paint Tool SAI: a simple painting program that’s exceptionally popular among anime & manga artists.

Paint Tool SAI was first released in 2008 to a wave of popularity. It quickly spread among the art community who loved the clean brush strokes and unique interface.

SAI is a small, old program and has not been significantly updated over the years. It only runs on windows and has a limited set of features.

That being said, it’s aged remarkably well and is easy for beginners to pick up.

Many artists use SAI to achieve a digital watercolor effect where the blending modes can mimic watercolor, but the overall feel is smooth and sleek. Others use it primarily for lineart, or for creating a ton of anime.

You’ll find that Japanese artists almost exclusively use SAI for their artwork. It’s a very popular choice in Japan, likely because this software was originally developed by the Japanese Systemax Software.

SAI’s learning curve is minimal and if you’re coming from Photoshop you’ll pick it up almost instantly. It’s still very detailed though and great to use as a sketching program.

Use the pencil brush to get realistic sketches down on a textured canvas. Then switch over to brushes and color your line art to completion.

Now there are some minor limitations like that new projects are limited to 256 layers per canvas. It’s also known to slow down with larger file sizes and glitch when trying to preview .gifs in the explorer window.

They also have a weird system of brushes where you can import textures to merge with brush styles and create totally new brushes. I haven’t mastered this setup but you can find a ton of textures in this post with dozens of free brush assets for SAI users.

SAI is a Japanese program and is priced in JPY(Japanese Yen). It costs ¥5400 which roughly equates to $49.

Compared to other software on this list, SAI is a tad on the pricier side considering the last update was in 2016.

Small complaints aside, considering the price tag and the anime-centric fanbase I’d say SAI is an awesome choice for anime lovers the world over.

Get started using SAI by following some easy beginner tutorials on painting in the program. If you put in the time you’ll be a pro within a few weeks.

A fantastic program for anyone serious about anime-style art or any kind of digital painting. Biggest downside is you’ll have to be a Windows user.

Although if I had to cast a vote for the absolute best digital painting software, that title falls with Photoshop.

Here’s hoping even more digital art software comes out in the next 10 years and gives some stiff competition to Adobe’s reign.