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Introduction
Although they overlap in function, paint programs are really a different class of product: From raster editors such as Adobe Photoshop, and the GIMP, which apply artistic filter effects to photos to look like works of art. To 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 sizes. Even traditional 2D animation programs like Toon Boom Studio and Pencil that use both raster/vector imaging are more concentrated in the animation 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.
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 web site, the quick start guide is a nice intro to the programs abilities. TwistedBrush Open Studio is designed for all realms of digital art including natural media fine art even with all the great features of TwistedBrush Pro Studio but just a handful of the very fine brushes included and without brush editing ability.
ArtRage is an amazing natural paint program that allows users to achieve realistic paint effects without the messy cleanup. The user interface is a wonderfully designed and simple to use tool that will suit the young adult through the experienced artist. Even in its limited version its an amazing program and if you do grow out of its limitations you will at least have built a firm and affordable foundation from which to move on. Bottom line is that you can concentrate on your creativity, rather than wrestle with menus.
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 thant make this program to be quite unique and different from other tools. This is well worth picking up for painting on photographs.
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.
by jim914 (not verified) on 26. January 2012 - 12:47(87828)
MyPaint does support layers, at least in the most recent version and its an excellent program. I would like to see the Mac version finished up and with pressure support.
by zoeb (not verified) on 21. January 2012 - 6:26(87523)
Can anyone plz tell me how to use paint software in my website
e.g i m building a website for Printing press where the user can see different designs of a product for e.g. a wedding card and can customize this design as per his requirement and can simultaneously print that product. plz i needed it vry urgently
(Edit) Email address removed for safety reasons. Also, we do not provide individual support here in the comments. Please post your questions in our forum.
by caturday (not verified) on 16. November 2011 - 13:20(83379)
Is there such a thing as a program that allows you to paint pixel by pixel like [commercial program], and let you use pretty much any color as long as you know the RGB values?
I'm probably going to be upgrading from Windows XP soon, and as I understand it, [commercial program] isn't compatible with Windows 7.
I'm willing to pay a modest amount for such a program, but a free download or trial version would be even better. :)
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
by gongon (not verified) on 23. November 2011 - 0:08(83736)
Chasys Draw IES has a pencil for pixel-by-pixel editing where CMYK and RGB values can be defined in the palette window.The application support pressure sensitive tablets plus GIMP/Photoshop brushes as well.
by Ludite47 (not verified) on 5. November 2011 - 1:58(82737)
I have a schizo love/fear relationship with technology...I am hoping to find a free or inexpensive paint program that will not overload/crash my Dell Inspirion using Vista...any advice would be so appreciated. Thanks
Not to worry, we have the same problem. :) It's not always easy to navigate some sites and often the vendors attempt to steer you past their paid versions first.
by Anonymous guy (not verified) on 7. August 2011 - 23:44(77111)
I'm a pixel artist and I am used to using windows paint for my "tool of the trade". Does anyone have a recommendation for me that allows me to work with pixels instead of brushes?
by paint4fun (not verified) on 6. August 2011 - 21:09(77050)
As a digital artist, I thought I might weigh in on this particular category of freeware. I don't claim to have used all of these programs, however I have some experience with quite a few of these and some paid progs (My current mantra is "if it ain't free it aint for me" and I hope to someday run a grapic design studio without cost-prohibitive software licensing). I have used Dogwaffle, Twistedbrush, Neopaint, MSpaint, Paint.Net, Gimp etc.
I have found Paint.Net to be my personal favourite, and indispensible really. It supports many, many formats and when you save as .pdn it preserves all the separate layers.It also has many effects, and plugins, unlimited undo's etc. It does not have custom brushes (that I'm aware of...there may be a plug-in or a trick). But that's where GIMP comes in. I don't save anything in GIMP's proprietary format (or JPEG...EVER as jpeg is too lossy and will create artifacts) , but rather I copy /paste from PAINT to GIMP, and back after I complete the neccessary task. Sounds a pain but if you have both open, it's very simple. This way I only transfer the layer I need, and don't have to save if I don't want to. I use this method, for drawing, painting, touch-ups, compositing, UV texturing of 3D models (created in BLENDER3D a free 3d modeling and animation program) etc.
If you are looking for TABLET support, I use a 21" Cintiq, and a Wacom Bamboo (Win7 Pro). I can't think of a single program, painting or otherwise, that doesn't work. It basically uses it as a mouse input and moves the cursor accordingly. Not every task is best done with a pen though. Having said that...GIMP supports pressure sensitivity, PAINT does not. Not all programs have an AIRBRUSH tool (GIMP-Yes, PAINT-No). The ERASER tip can be configured through the control panel in Windows as can any buttons.
GIMP also has a plug-in (I haven't tried it) to make the user interface more Photoshop-like for those who are already familiar with that, or perhaps wish to learn it for free.
Where both GIMP, and PAINT.NET fall a little short is in their 'natural feel'. Paint in particular, doesn't try to replicate the experience of painting. I over come this by using a larger canvas. But this equals memory, both performance wise and larger file sizes.
I was once asked if I prefer painting on the screen or "for real"? Without getting into the whole existential aspect of his question i.e. what is NOT real about something you can see, and have and emotional response to ? I simply replied that they are different facets of the same thing and to be enjoyed for their differences as much as their similarities. or
by MR Ashton (not verified) on 26. December 2011 - 7:41(86006)
painting for real is far more random. I haven't found a single digital program which even try's to mimic a loaded brush. I don't really have any ideas while painting on pc. sure it's great for drawing but I think you need to constantly move between the 2 mediums to get a good result.
by Darkbee (not verified) on 28. October 2011 - 20:05(82330)
Just a minor clarification. GIMP's native file format is not proprietary. That implies that it's not open or freely usable. Since GIMP is an open source project the exact file specifications for the XCF format are freely available should you wish to obtain them. Furthermore the are no legal hindrances to you using that format in your own applications (that I know of). That's very different from something like say GIF, which is a proprietary format and cannot be created without a license from the patent holders.
On the other hand, I interpret the comments of the prior post to mean that the XCF is not as ubiquitous or widely supported as say something like PNG or JPEG, which is a statement I agree with. However, if you wish to save layer and certain other image information to be reusable in GIMP then you kind of have to use it's format since the other formats don't support such things.
by Global (not verified) on 10. June 2011 - 16:33(73605)
Maybe I'm missing something, so please clarify. I like (and am very familiar with) the input in MS Paint, but since it is a Raster program, I can't enlarge my drawings without bad pixilation.
Which if any of these recommended programs is Vector, so that I can enlarge to my heart's content without loss of sharpness? Related question, which of the Vector programs has input most like MS Paint so there is as small a learning curve as possible.
If none of these programs can output in Vector, can you recommend a free program which has a MS Paint-like input and the output is Vector?
by CK GANDHI (not verified) on 30. December 2011 - 5:30(86210)
Convert raster images like JPEGs, GIFs and PNGs to scalable vector graphics (EPS, SVG, and PDF) with this free online vectorizer.
You don't believe that a free online service will deliver usable results? Give it a try and save time and money.
Link: http://www.autotracer.org/#
If you are rely on the filter effects in your paint program then you will probably need to ensure that those are available to you. The last time I looked at Inkscape it was limited in this area.
Although, I don't know what you are trying to do, I first suggest you work out what your maximum painting size is likely to be as it may be feasible in a paint program. The bigger your canvas then the more memory you need and the heavier the load on your system. Exactly how much memory/RAM depends upon your color depth e.g. 8 bit, 24 bit, etc.
Large canvases will make normal tasks, such as printing, unacceptably slow.
Canvas size = the square of (inches x dots per inch)
For example, if you want to create 6 foot (about 2 metre) square pictures then you will have the square of (6 foot x 12 inches/foot x 300dpi) = 21,600 squared = 466,560,000 which is about 500 megapixels. Now that requires more memory than I have in my system. At 150 dpi, the size reduces to one quarter = 125 megapixels.
by Simone mc (not verified) on 27. May 2011 - 19:20(72803)
hi i was wandering if any one knows of a free and easy to use program that will allow me to clean up an image or take stiches out of an image , i'm not very good with the comp so it needs to be easy to use , thank you for even taken the time to read this
by Somebody (not verified) on 7. May 2011 - 18:36(71584)
Hey! I was looking around for free paint program downloads and saw this site. I really like my windows paint and I want something like it but with blending. Any recommendations?
Hi. Most of the programs here will work like Windows Paint. But have got more extra features. So, probably what you want is there. If you are looking for a particular feature like blending, then visit the software site, and look at the feature list :).
by Jessa (not verified) on 23. April 2011 - 21:54(70798)
Hey morrig, i just downloaded Chasys Draw IES, but it didn't download as a program, it came as a file with a ton of things. How do I put it on my Dock and have it function as a program instead of a file?
by MrsPhantomhive (not verified) on 12. February 2011 - 11:55(66243)
i'm looking for free SAI easy paint but i just got the trial one.
anyone know the place i can get free SAI or any software better than SAI but still easy to use and learn?
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Comments
MyPaint does support layers, at least in the most recent version and its an excellent program. I would like to see the Mac version finished up and with pressure support.
Can anyone plz tell me how to use paint software in my website
e.g i m building a website for Printing press where the user can see different designs of a product for e.g. a wedding card and can customize this design as per his requirement and can simultaneously print that product. plz i needed it vry urgently
(Edit) Email address removed for safety reasons. Also, we do not provide individual support here in the comments. Please post your questions in our forum.
mtPaint : http://mtpaint.sourceforge.net/
Thanks for showing me this little program.
Mtpaint is the first program I've found that works the way I draw.
It's smooth too.
I'd recommend it to anyone interested in pixel art, or just plain doodling.
Glad you liked it :).
Is there such a thing as a program that allows you to paint pixel by pixel like [commercial program], and let you use pretty much any color as long as you know the RGB values?
I'm probably going to be upgrading from Windows XP soon, and as I understand it, [commercial program] isn't compatible with Windows 7.
I'm willing to pay a modest amount for such a program, but a free download or trial version would be even better. :)
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Chasys Draw IES has a pencil for pixel-by-pixel editing where CMYK and RGB values can be defined in the palette window.The application support pressure sensitive tablets plus GIMP/Photoshop brushes as well.
I have a schizo love/fear relationship with technology...I am hoping to find a free or inexpensive paint program that will not overload/crash my Dell Inspirion using Vista...any advice would be so appreciated. Thanks
Hi Guys,
Avid user of your site for ages, but unless Im missing something here, Artrage, is NOT freeware.???
Take that back, couldnt find the starter edition on their homepage, but the download link takes you there. All is calm again ;0)
Not to worry, we have the same problem. :) It's not always easy to navigate some sites and often the vendors attempt to steer you past their paid versions first.
I'm a pixel artist and I am used to using windows paint for my "tool of the trade". Does anyone have a recommendation for me that allows me to work with pixels instead of brushes?
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pixelbasedfreewin/Free_Pixel_Based_Editing_and_Painting_Software_for_Windows.htm
This link is for a free pixel baised soft ware...=0)
As a digital artist, I thought I might weigh in on this particular category of freeware. I don't claim to have used all of these programs, however I have some experience with quite a few of these and some paid progs (My current mantra is "if it ain't free it aint for me" and I hope to someday run a grapic design studio without cost-prohibitive software licensing). I have used Dogwaffle, Twistedbrush, Neopaint, MSpaint, Paint.Net, Gimp etc.
I have found Paint.Net to be my personal favourite, and indispensible really. It supports many, many formats and when you save as .pdn it preserves all the separate layers.It also has many effects, and plugins, unlimited undo's etc. It does not have custom brushes (that I'm aware of...there may be a plug-in or a trick). But that's where GIMP comes in. I don't save anything in GIMP's proprietary format (or JPEG...EVER as jpeg is too lossy and will create artifacts) , but rather I copy /paste from PAINT to GIMP, and back after I complete the neccessary task. Sounds a pain but if you have both open, it's very simple. This way I only transfer the layer I need, and don't have to save if I don't want to. I use this method, for drawing, painting, touch-ups, compositing, UV texturing of 3D models (created in BLENDER3D a free 3d modeling and animation program) etc.
If you are looking for TABLET support, I use a 21" Cintiq, and a Wacom Bamboo (Win7 Pro). I can't think of a single program, painting or otherwise, that doesn't work. It basically uses it as a mouse input and moves the cursor accordingly. Not every task is best done with a pen though. Having said that...GIMP supports pressure sensitivity, PAINT does not. Not all programs have an AIRBRUSH tool (GIMP-Yes, PAINT-No). The ERASER tip can be configured through the control panel in Windows as can any buttons.
GIMP also has a plug-in (I haven't tried it) to make the user interface more Photoshop-like for those who are already familiar with that, or perhaps wish to learn it for free.
Where both GIMP, and PAINT.NET fall a little short is in their 'natural feel'. Paint in particular, doesn't try to replicate the experience of painting. I over come this by using a larger canvas. But this equals memory, both performance wise and larger file sizes.
I was once asked if I prefer painting on the screen or "for real"? Without getting into the whole existential aspect of his question i.e. what is NOT real about something you can see, and have and emotional response to ? I simply replied that they are different facets of the same thing and to be enjoyed for their differences as much as their similarities. or
painting for real is far more random. I haven't found a single digital program which even try's to mimic a loaded brush. I don't really have any ideas while painting on pc. sure it's great for drawing but I think you need to constantly move between the 2 mediums to get a good result.
Just a minor clarification. GIMP's native file format is not proprietary. That implies that it's not open or freely usable. Since GIMP is an open source project the exact file specifications for the XCF format are freely available should you wish to obtain them. Furthermore the are no legal hindrances to you using that format in your own applications (that I know of). That's very different from something like say GIF, which is a proprietary format and cannot be created without a license from the patent holders.
On the other hand, I interpret the comments of the prior post to mean that the XCF is not as ubiquitous or widely supported as say something like PNG or JPEG, which is a statement I agree with. However, if you wish to save layer and certain other image information to be reusable in GIMP then you kind of have to use it's format since the other formats don't support such things.
Maybe I'm missing something, so please clarify. I like (and am very familiar with) the input in MS Paint, but since it is a Raster program, I can't enlarge my drawings without bad pixilation.
Which if any of these recommended programs is Vector, so that I can enlarge to my heart's content without loss of sharpness? Related question, which of the Vector programs has input most like MS Paint so there is as small a learning curve as possible.
If none of these programs can output in Vector, can you recommend a free program which has a MS Paint-like input and the output is Vector?
Thanks very much for your assistance.
Convert raster images like JPEGs, GIFs and PNGs to scalable vector graphics (EPS, SVG, and PDF) with this free online vectorizer.
You don't believe that a free online service will deliver usable results? Give it a try and save time and money.
Link: http://www.autotracer.org/#
CKG
You are right in thinking that you need a vector graphics editor if you want a fully scalable drawing:
http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-vector-graphics-editor.htm
If you are rely on the filter effects in your paint program then you will probably need to ensure that those are available to you. The last time I looked at Inkscape it was limited in this area.
Although, I don't know what you are trying to do, I first suggest you work out what your maximum painting size is likely to be as it may be feasible in a paint program. The bigger your canvas then the more memory you need and the heavier the load on your system. Exactly how much memory/RAM depends upon your color depth e.g. 8 bit, 24 bit, etc.
Large canvases will make normal tasks, such as printing, unacceptably slow.
Canvas size = the square of (inches x dots per inch)
For example, if you want to create 6 foot (about 2 metre) square pictures then you will have the square of (6 foot x 12 inches/foot x 300dpi) = 21,600 squared = 466,560,000 which is about 500 megapixels. Now that requires more memory than I have in my system. At 150 dpi, the size reduces to one quarter = 125 megapixels.
hi i was wandering if any one knows of a free and easy to use program that will allow me to clean up an image or take stiches out of an image , i'm not very good with the comp so it needs to be easy to use , thank you for even taken the time to read this
There are products that should suit you in these categories:
Digital Image Viewer - most viewers have limited editing functions
Digital Image Editor
Hey! I was looking around for free paint program downloads and saw this site. I really like my windows paint and I want something like it but with blending. Any recommendations?
Hi. Most of the programs here will work like Windows Paint. But have got more extra features. So, probably what you want is there. If you are looking for a particular feature like blending, then visit the software site, and look at the feature list :).
Thank you! Helped a lot! I found several paint programs that are perfect for what I do!
Welcome. Glad to be of help :).
art rage does support layers! checkout version 3
Here's is a very nice suite, previously a pay one -Chasys Draw IES
http://www.chachaslab.com/chasys_draw_ies.php
Just had a little play with it and it's an excellent professional tool,definitely worth a try.
[Moderator's Note : Link replaced with the home site of the software. Please link to the home site, whenever possible.]
Hey morrig, i just downloaded Chasys Draw IES, but it didn't download as a program, it came as a file with a ton of things. How do I put it on my Dock and have it function as a program instead of a file?
Thanks.
i'm looking for free SAI easy paint but i just got the trial one.
anyone know the place i can get free SAI or any software better than SAI but still easy to use and learn?
try pain.net great program lots of plugins and its free
http://www.getpaint.net/
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