Slowly and steadily MS Paint and Adobe Photoshop are being replaced by stronger and more popular freeware. Our list includes all the popular digital painting software, free download links as well as professional painting software, free download sources.

1. Best Drawing Software For Mac Free
2. Best Drawing Software For Macbook Pro
3. Best Drawing Software For Mac

These help you either convert digital images into paintings or make your own paintings from scratch using the latest tools and techs.

To help you choose the best digital art tool for you, we are bringing a list of the 20 best drawing programs for PC and Mac you should check out in 2020. Note: If you are a Chromebook user you should check out our separate article on best drawing apps for Chromebook. Best Drawing Programs for PC and Mac (2020) For an artist, a tool is a huge asset. The best 3D modeling software will vary based on your needs, but there plenty of options available, including for free. Here are our favorite software picks. Photoshop is one of the best drawing apps for Mac and PC; they also provide accessory apps for mobile devices and tablets. The biggest drawback of Adobe’s offerings, especially for beginners, is that you now must purchase a subscription to use these apps.

1. PowerPaint

A sound replacement of MS Paint and other well known but cumbersome photo editing software programs, this one is a complete image editor with all the tools and presets required to edit photos, images and add loads of textures to them too.

• Compatible with almost all current Windows OS versions.
• Includes a separate Image Dropdown menu with a plethora of features.
• Pre-set shapes, lines, banners and charts.
• Tons of graph features.

2. Corel PaintShop Pro (32 Bit)

One of the few trail version software which come with complete feature sets of the real deal. This software is ideal for painting on and editing all photos and images with a touch of expertise.

• Indulge in quick fixes using the Express Lab and the Smart carver or try out the tons of different tools and options to create professional grade photos.
• Main set of tools include RAW Lab, Express Lab, Advanced Tools, Smart Carver and Integrated Tools.

3. Pint.NET

This is a free to use photo editing software which supports multiple layers.

• Advanced settings to turn your images into oil paintings and sketches.
• Work on several images side by side.
• Record a history of changes and processes for easy removal of effects and edits.
• Easy shortcuts for functions.
• One touch optimizing and retouching of all images using a bunch of free and integrated tools.

4. EZ Paint

This is an extremely easy to use software which is a free alternative to MS Paint. It comes with more tools and options as well.

• Easy drawing of line, arcs, curves and accompanying editing tools.
• Has more than 30 custom built-in shapes.
• Aimed at regular users who require something more than paint but less complicated than Adobe Photoshop or Corel Draw.
• Compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

5. Tux Paint

A very popular paint software which has been sought after by all young image editors, graphic designers and digital painters. The interface is extremely child-friendly and hence is very well suited for all budding talents.

• Colorful and simple interface with minimal commands.
• The bunch of features include Tux Paint Stamps, magic designs, colors, effects and a variety of brushes.
• Includes over 100 brand new stamps.
• Includes autosave and recover features.

6. Fresh paint for Windows 8

This is a free app for all windows users who want to add a touch of hand drawn painting to all their photos and images. This can edit BMP, JPEG and TIFF images without any trouble whatsoever.

• Perfect for Windows 8 users and ideal for touchscreen devices.
• Blend and mix colors to create new shades.
• Realistic painting effects.
• Fun graphical interface well suited for all age groups.

7. Tux Paint Stamps 2009-06-28

The Tux Paint Stamps are ideal for the creative souls who also love fun in art. This adds an easy charm of pop-art to your creations.

• Free and easy installation.
• A huge collection of free, cool stamps.
• Easy to access and implement.
• Compatible with Tux Paint Software (and other versions).
• Compatible with Windows 7, Windows 2000, Windows Vista and Windows 8.

8. Mario Paint Composer

This software comes with an air of creativity and freedom of exploration. This one is ideal for all the new and daring painters and designers who are looking for a lot more than MS Paint.

• This is an extremely fun way to “paint” music using symbols like flowers, automobiles, airplanes and cute hearts.
• Ideal for kids and teachers who want to add some fun to their classes.
• Authentic SNES experience.

9. TAG: The Power of Paint

A very unique creation, this gaming software is used for making all kinds of creative graphic designs. This is in sync with the growing popularity of graffiti and wall-art.

• Bold and creative way of creating new designs and clearing each level of the game.
• New tools and paint as ammo to obtain different powers and make your move.
• Jump, throw, boost your speed using different colors and by drawing different patterns.

10. PaintTool SAI

A drawing utility software which is ideal for all levels of painters and designers who use their Windows device to power their creations.

• Has all basic image editing tools including airbrushes, paintbrushes, watercolors, erasers and pencils.
• Ready to use shapes and clip-arts.
• Supported by simple interface and navigation.
• Supports PSD, JPG, BMP, SAI, PNG and TGA formats.
• Supports layers and canvases.

Here we have presented to you a huge array of software programs which revolve around painting; they include editing software as well as gaming software which use paint as a level boosting feature.

Paid tools for digital painting have set the industry standard for what is possible with these programs, right? Not necessary. There is so much great free drawing software available today. Tired of subscription slavery and the epidemic of bloatware, professional artists are even switching from the paid apps they’ve been using for years.

The question is – where can we find these tools? Travel no further. We have handpicked the best free drawing programs that you can use to create compelling artworks without paying a single penny.

Krita

Platforms: Linux, Windows, macOS
Download link: krita.org

Krita is an open source painting program made by artists for artists. The tool is completely free and the only way you can support its creator is by donating. Its main focus is on the artistic painting for cartoons, anime or canvas art, meaning that some features that you may need for photo editing or image manipulation were not prioritized in development.

One of the main strengths of Krita is its brush engine. You can tweak and create brushes for ages, and Krita comes with more than nine brush engines. The customization process is versatile and one can create an almost infinite amount of brushes specific to the task. However, the default set of brushes is more than enough to start creating art – and you can always find more packs on the internet, free of charge.

Another advantage that Krita offers is its layers mechanics. The layering system resembles that of Photoshop and allows all standard operations: merging, blending, grouping etc. There is a variety of layer types that you can create: paint layers, vector layers, fill & file layers.

Krita supports layered PSD files, so you can open Photoshop files or export your work using that format.

Artwork made with Krita by David Revoy

Pros:

• Profound brush engine
• Strong focus on digital painting
• PSD export
• Open-source community with constant updates and new features

Cons:

• Users (rarely) report performance issues on some platforms
• Some photo-editing tools are lacking
• Working with text (exported as bitmap)
• Not all features are extensively documented

Gimp

Platform: Linux, macOS, Windows
Download link: gimp.org

Gimp is one of the oldest raster graphic editors that’s free to use since it’s early release in 1996. It has a wide and devoted user base with many tutorials and documentation available online.

Up until the last year many new users were skeptical towards adopting the program, since for years it has had issues such as outdated UI, jagged brush work and poor performance on new PC’s. However, the recent big April update addressed all of these, being the result of six years of work (the previous version of Gimp was released in 2012).

Gimp was always more of an image editing program than a drawing one. With all the latest updates, its functionality is almost on par with Photoshop’s. Gimp has filters, adjustments modes, color management, and all the tools professional photo editors (photographers, designers etc.) might use in their daily work. Developers also polished PSD import, and added new image formats (OpenEXR, RGBE, WebP, HGT).

However, Gimp has a lot to offer digital painters as well. The newest version includes long-awaited updates for the brush work (symmetry painting, hardware pixel processing) and canvas management (rotating, flipping, previewing).

One particular advantage of Gimp is the highly customizable UI. With all the features it offers, Gimp is the closest alternative to Photoshop in terms of the number of things you are able to do with it, and the latest update brought it even closer.

Pros:

• Multi-functional image editing
• Highly customizable (You can even make it look and work like Photoshop)
• Offers extended functionality with custom plugins

Cons:

• Linux’s first development may rarely cause some performance issues on Windows
• UI can be a bit overwhelming when first starting
• Pen pressure might need to be reconfigured, especially on Windows

Autodesk’s SketchBook Pro

Platform: macOS, Windows, Android, iOS
Download link:sketchbook.com

In April 2018, Autodesk made the SketchBook Pro drawing program absolutely free. No hidden costs, no subscription fees — all you have to do in order to use this drawing software with all its premium features is simply create an Autodesk account. But even then, you don’t have to do it for the first seven days.

This has completely changed the dynamic of the free drawing software market, because the number of features this program offers for free is simply amazing.

Here’s a video with commentary and some valuable SketchBook Pro tips for artists:

Sketchbook is a part of the Autodesk software suite, a heavily engineering-oriented company. Engineers and industrial designers have been using Sketchbook for years in order to create accurate, yet simple and visually appealing sketches.

That’s why sketchbook offers wonderful perspective features: grids, dynamic vanishing point alignment, vanishing point managements, etc. It allows you to quickly build perspective grids for your art, which is valuable for concept artists, industrial designers, and architects.

French curves is another feature you won’t find in many painting programs. They allow you to trace smooth curves, a feature that is also widely used in industrial design.

The UI is simple, yet very effective. You can easily turn on only those sections of UI that you’re currently using, so that your work area is not swamped by a large amount of tools.

You can download additional brushes without having to browse the Internet — whole packs can be downloaded from the main menu of the program. This drawing program supports PSD files and all the common graphic formats you might need.

SketchBook also has a mobile version available on Android and iOS. So you can, for example, take a photo of something and then instantly start drawing over it.

Pros:

• • Elegant, simple UI
  • Advanced perspective tools
  • Desktop and Mobile versions

Animation Mode

Cons:

• No filters
• No advanced editing options

MyPaint

Platform: Linux, Windows
Download link:mypaint.org

MyPaint has been around since 2008 and it’s development model is contribution based, with the latest stable version released in 2016. The app is open-source, simple and stable.

It’s well optimized for working with tablets, so the brush flow is smooth and glitch-free, which is great given that the program is not developed by a corporation, but by a number of volunteer developers.

Unlike trying to install heavier drawing solutions, MyPaint is easy on computer resources, so using it on old laptops and PC’s is a great option.

The UI is pretty up-to-date and feels more modern than, for example, Paint.net.

MyPaint supports layers and basic color adjustments. It also has cool features, like symmetry mode, connected lines, and curves. It comes with a set of brushes that have this almost organic feel to them. However, some advanced features are not there, e.g it has no animation tools.

Overall, MyPaint is a perfect choice for light sketching work, if you don’t need advanced features and want to rationally use system resources.

Pros:

• Actively updated by a community
• Modern, minimalistic UI
• Simple and resource-efficient

Cons:

• No animation tools
• No desktop version

FireAlpaca

Platforms: macOS, Windows
Download link: firealpaca.com

Despite the simple looking interface, FireAlpaca is a surprisingly workable free tool beloved by many artists. It supports all the core features digital artists need: brushes, layers, multiple image tabs and editing tools.

A simple UI allows you to focus on the primary goal: painting, and it makes this program very intuitive from the start. The brush control is no worse than paid software analogues; FireAlpaca supports multiple pressure levels and has an adjustable smoothing feature that aids the line work.

Unexpectedly elaborated are FireAlpaca’s perspective tools. Snap feature allows you to easily create perspective grids with multiple vanishing points, both linear and radial. This is especially useful for creating comics and storyboards with often uncommon perspective angles.

Artwork made in FireAlpaca by Manga-omega. Watch Speedpaint video here.

It’s also worth mentioning that FireAlpaca has a built-in basic animation toolset (though you might want to find a tutorial for that) and supports PSD file format.

Pros:

• Simple & intuitive UI
• Smooth brush flow
• Excellent comic perspective features
• Basic animation tools

Cons:

• Overly simplistic, not suitable for complex editing tasks

MediBang Paint Pro

Platforms: Windows, macOS, iPad, iPhone, Android
Download link: medibangpaint.com

The key advantage of MediBang Paint Pro is its ubiquity – the program has a counterpart for almost every device you might have. With cloud storage you can effortlessly transfer your art between different devices. For example, you might start drawing something on your Kindle, and then later finish the drawing on your Mac.

Best Drawing Software For Mac Free

The trick is, MediBang Paint and FireAlpaca are made by the same company. That explains why many features between these programs are quite similar, and why the brush workflow is great in both of them. It’s hard to point out differences between them, except for Medi’s cross-platformity and cloud tools. This, in turn, leads to MediBang Pro being compatible with a larger number of tablets, while FireAlpaca is mostly optimized for brand names like Wacom.

Artwork made with MediBang Paint by たく

Some specific features (e.g. materials) that are available in desktop versions may not be available on mobile versions, but then again, cloud sharing addresses that.

Overall, MediBang Paint Pro is one of these good free drawing programs that are surprisingly resourceful.

Pros:

• Supports multiple platforms and tablets
• Amazing brush presets

Cons:

• Requires a MediBang account
• A large number of tutorials are in the Japanese language (however, there are English articles)

Best Drawing Software For Macbook Pro

Paint.Net

Platform: Windows
Download link: getpaint.net

Paint.Net is a simple alternative to GIMP. It is a perfect match for those looking for quick photo and image editing, without skimming through pages of tutorials and additional menus.

But don’t let its simplicity fool you – the tool supports all the features one may need for all-around editing of images: layers, adjustment modes, and special effects. You can get rid of red eyes, blend images or adjust color as effectively as with any other feature-loaded analogue. Paint.NET also supports extensions, if you want to expand its capabilities.

The user interface resembles that of a Photoshop, so if you have had any experience with the program, using Paint.NET will feel even more intuitive. The app also features automatic updates, including bug fixes and new features.

Pros:

• Easy to use, working image-editing solution
• Simple and neat UI
• Extensions & updates

Cons:

• Simplicity is a double-edged sword – advanced features may be missing
• No macOS version

Afterword

Just a decade ago we didn’t really have a choice: There was one paid program and one free. Nowadays there are so many great apps, it’s hard to pick one even among the free ones available.

There are no clear winners, and the only question that can really narrow down the choice is whether you are planning to use these programs for digital painting (Krita, FireAlpaca, MebiBang Paint Pro), or for photo & image editing (GIMP, Paint.NET).

Fascinating art can be created with any of these programs (yes, even with Paint.NET). So the question is how comfortable you are with the tools you are using, and there’s only one person who can answer that question.

Check the handy list of free software for vector drawing

Read useful tips on how to become a graphic designer and check 6 temptations of a graphic designer creating icons.

Try tools for creators by the Icons8 team

Best Drawing Software For Mac

Also, get the lists of free vector software and free photo editing software.