The Best Drawing Software

Using the best drawing software can help you further expand your expertise and create amazing artworks. It does take a bit of time to get used to digital art programs, just because each one of them has its own features and ideas. But if you use it wisely, then you will be incredibly impressed with the value and results. Which is the best digital drawing software, however? Here you have a list with some of the top options that you can find on the market at this time.

Adobe Photoshop

If you’re talking about the best drawing software or image editing software, a lot of people point you towards Photoshop. This tool is updated very often, and it has everything you need in order to create outstanding visual art. It has filters, brushes, painting tools, a variety of layer styles, plugins, and many others. It’s used for animation, feature films, and for editing in general. There are also a plethora of tutorials for Photoshop, so this makes the entire process a lot more impressive.

Illustrator Draw

The reason why a lot of people see this as the best drawing software is that it’s cloud-based. It’s very good at helping you create free-form vector designs. The app itself also helps include other features like data and content or experience management. It also has a variety of tools to help customize your artwork in no time. It’s even possible to create and capture shapes on mobile and then bring them to the online version on PC. It’s a great solution and a very interesting one, with plenty of customization and adaptability features for you to try out and use.

Krita

If you want the best free drawing software, Krita is one of the main contenders. This open-source, free program has pretty much all the features you need to create comics, illustrations, matte or texture paintings, and even concept art. It focuses a lot on making the painting process hassle-free and very easy to adapt to your needs. You have light and dark color themes, as well as 30+ dockers for added functionality. The fact that you also have lots of different brushes and stabilizers for them does help a lot. Plus, there’s a handy resource manager to make things easier and more convenient.

SAI Paint Tool

This is a lightweight, very easy to use raster graphics editor. It’s a trial-based software but it does bring in front anti-alias support, digitizer support, not to mention the fact that you get a very accurate composition. While it’s a bit older when compared to many of the options here, it’s still very reliable and it does have data protection and MMX support. If you want to create great drawings without that many restrictions, this can be a viable option. However, you can expect to take some time to prepare everything and ensure that it works exactly the way you want.

Affinity Designer

When it comes to this tool, you will appreciate its accuracy, ease of use, and the fact that it uses all the technical power of your device. It’s great for working with advanced grids, flexible guides as well as heavily zoomed content. In addition, you will also switch between vector and raster workspaces, which is extremely handy. The core engine helps you manage thousands of objects if you want. Like any other of the best digital drawing software options, it does have lots of shortcuts, multi-file compatibility, and grids you can use on the fly.

Clip Studio Paint

If you are an illustrator and you specialize in drawing and painting, this can be one of the best digital art programs for you. It has high sensitivity strokes, as well as some natural brush feels that really deliver on the value you want. The app itself can identify up to 8000 distinctive pen pressure levels. It’s obviously very dependable and a pleasure to use, not to mention a lot of people will like it just because it can be used for comic and manga creation. There are some special features here too, like panel splitting or speech bubbles. It’s also important to note that you have AI colorization to help you improve colors naturally.

MyPaint

MyPaint can be seen as one of the best free drawing software options for many reasons. It has a very simplistic, yet easy to use interface. They have a vast range of brushes to work with, not to mention you have shortcuts and hotkeys as well. The canvas size is infinite, something that a lot of artists will like. This means you’re limited by the capabilities of your machine rather than the program itself. Since it’s free, anyone can try it, and then you can see if it suits your requirements or not.

Paintstorm Studio

This digital painting software is all about comfort and value. You can use it on the iPad as well as desktop computers. You will find it incredibly helpful and professional, especially if you want to play around with brushes. Another thing to note with Paintstorm Studio is the fact that its interface is very clean. It allows you to work with a vast range of different options, and at the same time, it has advanced symmetry tools. It’s even possible to customize the brush options and a very good, dynamic interface.

Flame Painter

With help from Flame Painter, you will be able to use particle brushes in order to create amazing artwork. It helps you use a vast range of brush styles, like organic brushes or light effect brushes. Creativity is key when you use this type of digital art programs, and it certainly delivers on its promise. With the right trial and error, you will be able to make it work and just immerse yourself into the experience. You can export to SVG and then convert to other formats depending on your needs. Plus, you get to work with dynamic compositions as needed.

Autodesk Sketchbook

If you’re an individual artist, you can use this tool for free. It has a large workspace and you can also export your work to PSD while preserving layers and any other features. You can use the device camera and capture an image as you see fit. There are dozens of amazing tools you can use, like radial symmetry, predictive strokes, as well as ellipse guidelines. It’s also one of the few tools in this list that can help you provide a natural, appealing feeling.

Procreate

While Procreate is a great drawing software, it’s only available on the iPad. But if that’s not a problem, you will find that it helps you create amazing artwork. It comes with astounding typography and a variety of handcrafted brushes. On top of that, you have accurate color control, it works really well especially with the Apple Pencil. The menu is fluid, interesting and it makes it easier to focus on your work rather than anything else, which is always a plus.

MediBang Paint Pro

Even if the app itself is not as popular as other best digital drawing software candidates, it’s still very good. It’s also available free of charge, and you can use it for illustrations and comics as well. They integrated 50+ brushes you can work with, 800+ backgrounds, and tons of fonts for dialogues and texts. The interface is easy to understand and use, and you can also customize most of the stuff in it without that much of a problem. That alone makes it a very dependable and professional solution.

ArtRage

You want to use ArtRage if you’re all about using realistic painting techniques. It also offers you a variety of utility tools like flood filling, color sampling, cloners, text tools, and so on. You can also import an image and use it as a part of your work. On top of that, there’s support for perspective layout grids. These can be very helpful for newcomers.

Vectr

You can use Vectr for a variety of things, especially vector graphics. You have access to things like pathfinders, the ability to align, or arrange elements, shapes, and pen tools. In addition, you can use it to work on clipart type designs. They even integrated a collaboration feature very similar to Google Docs. It can be one of the best free drawing software, and the fact that it has so many added features and ideas certainly pushes it to the next level.

Conclusion

There’s no denying that you have a lot of options nowadays if you want to find great drawing software. That being said, even if there are a plethora of digital art programs, some of them do stand out and here you have a list with some of the best. Sure, some of them are paid and others are free, but there’s no denying that they all have their own unique feature which stands out. You just need to browse these options and see what works for you. In the end, you will have no problem getting the results you need!

If you’re interested in digital drawing then check our article Best Drawing Tablets for Beginners.