Introduction
Paint programs, although they overlap in functions, are really a different class of product from raster editors such as Adobe Photoshop and the GIMP. Both the aforementioned apply artistic filter effects to photos and transform them to look like works of art. Vector-graphics drawing software, such as CorelDRAW and Inkscape, which are programs that have freehand illustration tools with the ability to render images at any size, also differ. Even traditional 2D animation programs like Toon Boom Studio and Pencil, that use both raster/vector imaging, are more concerned with animation rather than paint manipulation.
A paint software application is supposed to mimic traditional painting mediums and effects more than just a bitmap drawing program like Microsoft Paint. My only two requirements are graphic tablet support and the feel of natural paint on a digital canvas. All artists at one time or another dream of doing a comic book and cartoon animation, so if it supports animation or booklet pages, it's a plus. WOW, these free paint programs are truly a fantastic work of art. Any one of these will definitely satisfy the inner artist in you. Listed in favorite order:
Discussion
Project DogWaffle is surprisingly full featured. It has a comprehensive set of tools, including fully customizable brushes, lots of filters and effects, multiple color selection options, a good set of color gradients, animation aids and more. On the downside the program runs slowly on older PCs, has limited layer support, has a clunky cut and paste mechanism and only handles BMP and Targa files. Don't let its appearance or unfamiliar menu controls fool you, this is a great totally artistic program to get.
Krita is an open source painting and drawing program, previously a part of KOffice bundle now available as a separate program. It is packed with rich tools like artistic text, calligraphy, fill and gradient, various shapes, outline, fill, zoom pan, layer management, channel management, undo, scripts etc. It supports various filters such as kaleidoscope, stereographic projection, phong bumpmap, sobel, edge detection, sectorize, roundify, hipno, tunnel, random pick, HSV adjustment, etc. Also, it supports various file formats like .kra, EXR, OpenRaster document, PSD image, Gimp image, PPM, PGM, PBM, PNG, JPEG-2000, PDF, ODG draw, BMP Windows, XPM, GIF, XBM, Krita Flipbook, Adobe DNG negative and Camera RAW. And it is capable of saving output to .kra, OpenRaster document, PSD image, PPM, PGM, PBM, PNG, JPEG-2000, JPEG, BMP Windows, XBM, TIFF, EXR and even PDF. Krita is available for Windows vista and up, and various Linux distributions. The main con in Krita is its big download size about 115 MB.
MyPaint is a fast and easy graphics application for digital painters. It lets you focus on the art instead of the program. It comes with a large brush collection including charcoal and ink to emulate natural painting. If you want to look deeper, MyPaint is built around a highly configurable brush engine. This allows you to experiment with your own brushes and with not-quite-so-natural painting.
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 Realworld Paint is a super painting program which supports drawing natural, digital and animation images and has features for retouching photos. All the features are nicely placed in its user interface. Some of the main features it is packed with include animation support, Fill, Shapes with/without effects, brushes with/without effects, crop, magic wand, red eye removal, watermark support and more. Brushes and other effects are highly configurable. It supports Psd, jpeg, gif, png, xcf, pdn, webp etc photo formats. The best part I like about this program is its compatibility with major industry standard products like Photoshop and Gimp, which means you can import/export files between these with ease. If we talk about the downside, the biggest one about this product is its development. Unfortunately the latest stable version of this program is approximately 2 years old. But still, it is a good choice for painting, photo retouching and even for animation/web designing. |
 PictBear is an excellent paint program and is packed with comprehensive set of tools and features. Its user interface is very convenient or conventional and all the tools are quite easy to understand and use from newbie to advanced and experienced artists. Some of the advanced features PictBear is packed with include: layers, gradients, good range of brushes & plug-ins, image and mask editing, cascade, tiles and tab support with multi tasking capabilities, script support, cut/copy/paste/fill/zoom/eraser/dropper/various shapes tools, etc., which make it a brilliant paint program. PictBear supports lots of picture formats including: gif, jpg, bmp, png, psd, pbx, tiff, pcx, ras, tga, wmf, jsf and j2k. On the other hand, if we talk about the downside, the biggest one this product has is its development is finished. |
SmoothDraw is a feature rich natural painting program for free-hand drawing artists. It includes features like layers, various effects, fill, move, select, hand tool, advance undo/redo, various brushes and tools, paper texture, ink flow, grain, etc. It supports high configuration of brushes and tools like configuration of brush/tool size and ink-flow, which make it best for natural drawings. In addition to this, it supports various photo file formats like png, jpeg, sddoc, etc. It is a nice choice for natural drawing and free-hand artists.
PS: Thanks to Panzer for suggesting this cool program. ;)
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 Pixia is the English version of a popular Japanese painting and retouching software for full color graphics. It supports masks, layers and many other editing functions. You can use your own customized brush tips and even use an image file as a brush tip to create unique effects. With the new engine the paint feels smooth like ArtRage. It has lots of free plug-ins, and filter downloads that make this program quite unique and different from other tools. This is well worth picking up for painting on photographs. |
 TwistedBrush has one of the most versatile and powerful brush engines in existence, yet it was designed from day one to be easy to use. “Simplicity without sacrifice, powerful enough for the professional artist, yet simple enough for the novice” as noted on their website. The quick start guide is a nice intro to the program's abilities. TwistedBrush Open Studio is designed for all realms of digital art including natural media fine art and even has all the great features of TwistedBrush Pro Studio, albeit just a handful of the very fine brushes are included and without any brush editing ability. |
Tux Paint is basically a program designed for children but it has some nice tools and supports different brushes that forced me to add this program in this category. Its user interface is really simple, neat and clean. The set of tools are really easy to use because it is designed for children. The scope of using Tux Paint is endless; anyone can use it because of the wide features it supports. Some of the features Tux Paint is packed with are shapes, stamps, advance undo/redo, brushes, magic brush with various magic stroke (special effects), slides, starters options, Text and Label tools and more. The features I liked most in Tux Paint are funny sounds on click and Parental & Teacher Controls.
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 Laz Paint is one of the good paint program with rich features and clean graphical user interface. It is easy to install and to use; it is packed with various superb features like Render, Filter, Gradient, Deformation, Text Mapping, advance colour selection, magic wand and more, which make it more than just a paint program. It is meant for people who want to invest their free time in painting and art. Despite of its smalll download size, it has so much to show and we can do more than just bitmap drawing which are offered by bigger programs. Best of all it is open source. |
MyPaint is a fast and easy graphics application for digital painters. It lets you focus on the art instead of the program. It comes with a large brush collection including charcoal and ink to emulate natural painting. If you want to look deeper, MyPaint is built around a highly configurable brush engine. This allows you to experiment with your own brushes and with not-quite-so-natural painting.
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| Realworld Paint is a super painting program which supports drawing natural, digital and animation images and has features for retouching photos. All the features are nicely placed in its user interface. Some of the main features it is packed with include animation support, Fill, Shapes with/without effects, brushes with/without effects, crop, magic wand, red eye removal, watermark support and more. Brushes and other effects are highly configurable. It supports Psd, jpeg, gif, png, xcf, pdn, webp etc photo formats. The best part I like about this program is its compatibility with major industry standard products like Photoshop and Gimp, which means you can import/export files between these with ease. If we talk about the downside, the biggest one about this product is its development. Unfortunately the latest stable version of this program is approximately 2 years old. But still, it is a good choice for painting, photo retouching and even for animation/web designing. | |||||||||
| PictBear is an excellent paint program and is packed with comprehensive set of tools and features. Its user interface is very convenient or conventional and all the tools are quite easy to understand and use from newbie to advanced and experienced artists. Some of the advanced features PictBear is packed with include: layers, gradients, good range of brushes & plug-ins, image and mask editing, cascade, tiles and tab support with multi tasking capabilities, script support, cut/copy/paste/fill/zoom/eraser/dropper/various shapes tools, etc., which make it a brilliant paint program. PictBear supports lots of picture formats including: gif, jpg, bmp, png, psd, pbx, tiff, pcx, ras, tga, wmf, jsf and j2k. On the other hand, if we talk about the downside, the biggest one this product has is its development is finished. | |||||||||
SmoothDraw is a feature rich natural painting program for free-hand drawing artists. It includes features like layers, various effects, fill, move, select, hand tool, advance undo/redo, various brushes and tools, paper texture, ink flow, grain, etc. It supports high configuration of brushes and tools like configuration of brush/tool size and ink-flow, which make it best for natural drawings. In addition to this, it supports various photo file formats like png, jpeg, sddoc, etc. It is a nice choice for natural drawing and free-hand artists.
PS: Thanks to Panzer for suggesting this cool program. ;)
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| Pixia is the English version of a popular Japanese painting and retouching software for full color graphics. It supports masks, layers and many other editing functions. You can use your own customized brush tips and even use an image file as a brush tip to create unique effects. With the new engine the paint feels smooth like ArtRage. It has lots of free plug-ins, and filter downloads that make this program quite unique and different from other tools. This is well worth picking up for painting on photographs. | |||||||||
| TwistedBrush has one of the most versatile and powerful brush engines in existence, yet it was designed from day one to be easy to use. “Simplicity without sacrifice, powerful enough for the professional artist, yet simple enough for the novice” as noted on their website. The quick start guide is a nice intro to the program's abilities. TwistedBrush Open Studio is designed for all realms of digital art including natural media fine art and even has all the great features of TwistedBrush Pro Studio, albeit just a handful of the very fine brushes are included and without any brush editing ability. | |||||||||
Tux Paint is basically a program designed for children but it has some nice tools and supports different brushes that forced me to add this program in this category. Its user interface is really simple, neat and clean. The set of tools are really easy to use because it is designed for children. The scope of using Tux Paint is endless; anyone can use it because of the wide features it supports. Some of the features Tux Paint is packed with are shapes, stamps, advance undo/redo, brushes, magic brush with various magic stroke (special effects), slides, starters options, Text and Label tools and more. The features I liked most in Tux Paint are funny sounds on click and Parental & Teacher Controls.
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| Laz Paint is one of the good paint program with rich features and clean graphical user interface. It is easy to install and to use; it is packed with various superb features like Render, Filter, Gradient, Deformation, Text Mapping, advance colour selection, magic wand and more, which make it more than just a paint program. It is meant for people who want to invest their free time in painting and art. Despite of its smalll download size, it has so much to show and we can do more than just bitmap drawing which are offered by bigger programs. Best of all it is open source. | |||||||||
ONLINE PAINT AND DRAWING APPS
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