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Best digital art & drawing software of 2022
The best digital art & drawing software makes it simple and easy to use your computer to design and draw artwork, using a range of novice to advanced tools.
It doesn't matter what medium, type, or style of art you want to create - the best art software can help you achieve it. It could be drawing or painting on a virtual canvas, for design or illustration, or even for photo manipulation.
What makes the best software especially useful is how much control you can have over your medium, such as choosing effects for oils, watercolors, charcoal, pencils, and more.
Additionally, unlike with physical art, you can edit and delete, develop and evolve your work until you're completely happy with it.
Different drawing, and paint programs have their different strengths and focus, and although all can be operated with a mouse, often it's better to work with a digital pen/design tablet such as a Wacom, in order to get fine details as accurate as possible.
In this article, we compare the best digital art & drawing software to help you decide which package is right for you. We look at ease of use, breadth of features, price, at lots more.
Whatever you're looking for in a drawing and painting program, you're bound to find the perfect solution for you in our helpful guide.
We’ve also highlighted the best free drawing software.
The best digital art & drawing software of 2022 in full
1. Adobe Photoshop CC
Best overall digital art & drawing software
Reasons to buy
Easy-to-use
+Cloud-based suite
+Comprehensive tools
Reasons to avoid
Subscription only price model
When it comes to creative software, Adobe has dominated the scene for decades, and Adobe Photoshop CC (CC stands for Creative Cloud) is loved by artists and designers across the world. It provides creative types with a plethora of cloud-based tools to create and enhance photos, illustrations and 3D visuals.
This software isn’t just one of the best photo editors. If you’re a professional designer, you can use it to create packaging, banners, websites, logos and icons. Not only can you come up with your own creations, but you’re also able to make use of intuitive templates if you’re more of a beginner, or you’re working to a tight deadline.
You can design your own illustrations and turn images into paintings as well, with the option of switching between animate and print-style options. When you’ve created a piece, you can enhance it with a range of built-in effects.
There are multiple pricing tiers, depending on which other apps and features you'd like bundled with Photoshop CC. The cheapest is the Photography level which comes with Adobe Lightroom CC, as well as 20GB of cloud storage. Up from that is the Single App plan which comes with 100GB of cloud storage, as well as Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts, and Adobe Spark. For the All-Apps plan you get access to all Adobe creative desktop and mobile apps as well.
Read our full Adobe Photoshop CC review.
2. Corel Painter
Particularly good at simulating paint effects
Reasons to buy
Custom brushes
+Support for third-party apps and hardware
Reasons to avoid
Corel offers a host of creative software packages, one of which is a drawing app called Painter. Aimed at designers, artists and students, this cross-platform application provides you with the likes of ‘thick paint’ which you can daub onto your digital canvas, and then scrape around or blend to create some highly realistic looking masterpieces.
There’s a large selection of brushes, with the ability to create custom brushes and palettes – plus you can import these, too. Painter is a downloadable app which is available on both Windows and Mac. It’s compatible with third-party software like Photoshop and drawing tablets from companies such as Wacom, as well.
While many of the best digital art & drawing software providers have moved to a subscription-only model, Painter is still available as a one-time purchase. There are special rates for an education edition for students and learning centers.
Read our full Corel Painter review.
3. Rebelle
Perfect if you want a natural, realistic painting experience
Reasons to buy
Designed by a pro artist
+Easy-to-use
+Lots of customization options
Reasons to avoid
Can slow down on older hardware
Developed by artist Peter Blaskovic, Rebelle is another highly versatile drawing and painting application. Described as “one-of-a-kind paint software”, it’s been designed for creatives working on watercolor, acrylic, wet and dry media artwork.
Blaskovic created the app as part of his experimental drawing projects and wanted an easy-to-use program to access natural painting tools on-the-go. The app uses realistic color blending, wet diffusion and drying techniques, and offers a plethora of watercolors, acrylics, inks and pastels.
There are also ‘dry’ tools like pencils, markers and erasers, so you don’t have to stick to paintbrushes. The app also boasts some interesting capabilities like the ability to tilt the canvas you’re working on.
What’s more, Rebelle works with Photoshop, allowing you to tap into 23 additional blending nodes. You can download a trial version to see if Rebelle is the best digital art & drawing software for you.
We've also featured the best laptops and tablets for drawing and artwork.
4. Artweaver
Best for collaborative art projects
The 9 Best Digital Art Software of 2022
Best Overall: Adobe Photoshop CC
Adobe's Photoshop has been the gold standard of image editing programs for over three decades now, and that's unlikely to change anytime soon. Undeniably the best digital art software available out there, it lets you create stunning illustrations, 3D artworks, and so much more. From posters and banners to entire websites and mobile apps, you can design just about anything you want in Photoshop. The program features a diverse array of professional-grade tools that allow you to unleash your creativity. For example, the paintbrush tool, which has been designed especially for illustrators, makes painting symmetrical patterns a cakewalk.
Moreover, you can create with numerous pencils, pens, markers, and brushes that feel just as authentic as their real-life counterparts. The newest version of Photoshop comes with a bevy of advanced features, including a "Paint Symmetry" mode that lets you create intricate patterns (e.g. Mandalas) on custom axes of symmetry while a content-aware fill workspace provides an interactive editing experience. Other goodies include a frame tool for easy masking, multiple undo levels, and live blend mode preview. And since Photoshop is now a part of Adobe's Creative Cloud (CC) suite, it is constantly being updated with new enhancements.
Best for Windows: Corel Painter
Corel's graphics processing programs are regarded as being among the foremost in the business, and the latest release of Painter is no different. Having the right blend of performance and features, it's the perfect digital art software for Windows. Corel Painter's vast collection of over 900 brushes includes everything from dab stencils and pattern pens to blenders and texture brushes. You can also import brushes from other artists and even create your own.
The program comes with six new color harmonies that can be saved as sets, making color selection an effortless affair. It also uses guides and grids based on classical image composition techniques, allowing you to create digital artworks that have a unique sense of proportion. Using mirror painting and kaleidoscope tools, you can easily design symmetrical illustrations by reproducing brushstrokes on the opposite sides of the canvas and by having multiple reflections of mirror planes.
With Corel Painter's intuitive guides, you can either quickly convert a photo to a digital painting or paint the canvas using the photo as a cloning source. Then there's the nifty "Brush Accelerator" utility, which automatically optimizes your CPU/GPU settings for up to 20x faster painting.
Best for Mac: Affinity Designer
Despite being relatively new to the scene, Serif's Affinity suite of image editing programs has become a force to be reckoned with. A key member of that lineup is Designer, which is hands down the best digital art software that you can get for macOS. Winner of Apple Design Award (WWDC 2015), it's a fast and responsive application that supports panning and zooming at up to 60fps. You can preview effects, blending modes, curve edits, and more, all in real-time.
Affinity Designer's engine can easily handle even the most complex of documents and lets you organize objects with layer groups and color tags. An interesting feature of the program is its ability to switch between vector and raster workspaces with one click. This means that you can create scalable artworks and enhance them with detailed textures, seamlessly. In addition to RGB and LAB color spaces (with up to 32 bits per channel), Designer supports Pantone, as well as end-to-end CMYK and ICC color management functions.
Other notable features include unlimited artboards, comprehensive vector tools, live pixel preview, one million percent zoom, advanced grid (standard and isometric) controls, and custom typography styles. Affinity Designer works with all major image/vector file types, such as EPS, SVG, and fully-layered PSD.
Best Freeware: Krita
While paid image editing programs are great, not everyone can (or wants to) shell out hundreds of dollars for one. If that includes you, look no further than Krita. Despite being completely gratis, this open-source digital art software is loaded with features. Krita has been under development for more than a decade and is loved by professionals and amateurs alike. Its user interface is made up of panels which can be moved around to set up a custom workspace, and you can also configure shortcuts for commonly-used tools.
The program comes with 9 unique brush engines (e.g. Color Smudge, Particle, and Shape) that can be tweaked extensively and then organized using a unique tagging system. A pop-up palette lets you quickly pick colors and brushes while the resource manager makes it easy to import brush and texture packs from other artists. Krita features a "Wrap-around" mode that allows you to create seamless textures and patterns, whereas the "Multibrush" tool can be used to mirror illustrations about multiple axes to achieve a kaleidoscopic effect.
Other noteworthy features include full color management support (using LCMS for ICC and OpenColor IO for EXR), PSD compatibility, and brush stabilizers.
Best for Watercolor-Style Art: Rebelle 3
Graphics processing programs are incredible when it comes to modern illustrations, but what if they could replicate the old-school charm of traditional art, such as a watercolor painting? Meet Rebelle 3, a unique digital art software which does just that. Simulating techniques like color blending and wet diffusion, it allows you to create realistic acrylic and watercolor artworks with little to no effort.
The program comes with a wide range of tools (e.g. Wet, Dry, Blend, and Smudge), and uses a new "DropEngine" to emulate watercolor drips. You can even "tilt" the canvas to reproduce flow effects and design custom brushes with the powerful brush creator. Rebelle 3 features 22 different paper styles (e.g. Cold Pressed, Washi Fine, Kenaf, Lokta, and Bamboo Soft), as well as a plethora of creative stencils and masking tools.
Also included in the package are new color filters, a "Masking Fluid" layer, and 23 Photoshop blending modes. Rebelle 3 sports a customizable user interface and supports multi-touch gestures. Available for both Windows and macOS, it's compatible with all standard file types, such as PNG, BMP, TIF, and layered PSD.
Best for Comic Books: Clip Studio Paint Ex
We all love reading comic books, but are you someone who likes to draw/illustrate them too? If the answer is yes, then Clip Studio Paint Ex is exactly what you need. Trusted by professional comic book artists and manga illustrators around the world, the powerhouse digital art software boasts a truckload of specialized features.
These include panel tools, customizable speech balloons, effect lines, and rulers to draw a variety of lines and shapes. You can also add perspective and realistic depth to backgrounds, position 3D figures (with adjustable body shapes and camera angles) directly on the canvas, and do a lot more. The program makes it simple to draw vector shapes in smooth strokes and even comes with a "vector eraser" tool to easily erase intersecting lines. Clip Studio Paint Ex gives you access to thousands of customizable brushes, as well as "effect lines," that can be used to add dramatic effects (e.g. speed, action) to illustrations.
Managing the storyboarding workflow is a breeze too, thanks to the page manager and story editor features. Once complete, the finished manga/comic can be previewed in 3D and even published directly in popular formats such as EPUB.
Best for iPad: Procreate
Apple's tablets have always been amazing, and with the upcoming iPadOS, they are about to get even better. However, if you truly want to take the creative potential of your iPad (and Apple Pencil) to the next level, you need something like Procreate. The award-winning digital art app lets you easily create sketches, illustrations, and more, anytime and anywhere.
You can choose from more than 200 handcrafted brushes, import custom ones, and even make your own using the powerful brush engine. Procreate includes many features that have been developed exclusively for iPads. For example, "ColorDrop" quickly fills your artwork with seamless color. Then there's "Drawing Assist," which automatically corrects your brush strokes in real-time. You can also add vector text, as well as a wide array of dramatic finishing effects and filters (e.g. Warp, Symmetry, and Liquify) to your illustrations.
Other goodies include a full-featured layering system, 250 levels of undo/redo, continuous autosave, and the ability to record the entire process of creating digital illustrations as time-lapse videos (in 4K resolution), which can be then shared over social media networks.
Best for Android Tablets: ArtRage
The world of Android offers quite a few great tablets that you can use to illustrate on the go. That said, you also need a digital art app for that, and we have no qualms recommending ArtRage. It comes with a full range of creative tools that do a great job of simulating their real-world counterparts. You can paint using thick oils, delicate watercolors, and even experiment with textures by blending and smearing the paint.
Thanks to a diverse range of realistic tools (e.g. pastels, shading pencils, and precision ink pens), you can sketch and draw just like you would on paper. ArtRage supports unlimited layers and is compatible with all industry-standard blending modes. Using the "Metallic Tinting" feature, you can also add reflectivity to pigments. If you want to use an existing photo as a guide for painting, the same can be done by importing it as a tracing image. The app even samples colors from the tracing image automatically, allowing you to focus on brush strokes. ArtRage is compatible with both Wacom and S-Pen styluses.
Are you looking for more programs to take your digital art to the next level? Check out our article on the best 3D software to download.
Our Process
Our writers spent 6 hours researching the most popular digital art software on the market. Before making their final recommendations, they considered 15 different software overall, screened options from 9 different brands and manufacturers, read over 170 user reviews (both positive and negative). All of this research adds up to recommendations you can trust.
Interested in turning photographs into works of digital art, such as cartoons, charcoal drawings, ink drawings, oil paintings, pastel drawings, and watercolors? Here are brief descriptions of some key software tools for desktop computers. Unless otherwise noted they work in Photoshop as plug-ins.
FotoSketcher
FotoSketcher is a versatile free standalone Windows program that allows you to create drawings, paintings, and a few other effects. It can transform photos into cartoons, oil paintings, oil pastel drawings, pen and ink drawings, pencil drawings, watercolor paintings. and other types of artworks. It is standalone freeware.
Sliders and other controls for each effect allow you modify image rendition. For example, for the oil pastel sketch effect you can control minimum stroke size, maximum stroke size, number of iterations, edge intensity, and filter precision. You can also soften edges, add a frame, add texture, add text, and use a retouch brush. There is a small preview window in the floating control panel.
This program is especially useful for oil paintings, oil pastel drawings, and watercolors.
Snap Art by Exposure
Snap Art is a full-featured Windows/Mac plug-in/standalone program that allows you to easily create charcoal drawings, color pencil drawings, comics, crayon drawings. impasto paintings, oil paintings, pastel drawings (including hard, oil, and soft pastel), pen and ink drawings, pencil sketches, Pointillism paintings, stylized illustrations, and watercolor paintings.
There are a variety of presets for each effect, and slider controls for background (e.g,, for oil paint: brush size, photorealism, coverage, stroke length, and color variation), detail masking (similar controls as background), colors (e.g., brightness, contrast, and saturation), lighting (e.g., angle, direction, and highlight characteristics as well as vignette effect), and canvas effects (e.g, pastel paper). You can create your own presets. The ability to close side-panel controls permits a large preview space.
This program is especially useful for charcoal drawings, colored pencil drawings, oil paintings, and pencil drawings. It has good canvas and paper texture effects.
Dynamic Auto-Painter by MediaChance
Dynamic Auto-Painter, a Windows/Mac stand-alone program, allows you to paint in the style of famous painters, such as Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, and Vincent van Gogh. It allows you to create a wide variety of types of artworks.
There are a variety of controls for each preset, such as brush strokes, canvas, detail brushes, faithfulness, realism, palette, and quality. It supports advanced (e.g, color shift), retouch, outline, canvas, material, color, and layer adjustments. It is highly customizable. Artwork rendering occurs in stages, with further user fine-tuning possible during some stages. It typically renders vivid, saturated images, but image saturation can be adjusted.
While the presets can be used to easily create artworks, the real power of this program is not revealed until you start using the numerous advanced controls and directing brush strokes during the creation process. As the program typically makes very dramatic changes to images, you are likely to experiment with a number of adjustments to get desired effects. To start, you may want to try the Acry-Real or Aqua-Real effects, which create more realistic images.
This standalone program is especially useful for acrylic and aquelle paintings.
Other Digital Art Software to Consider
Depending on your artistic requirements and style, the following software may also be of interest.
- AKVIS Charcoal (charcoal and chalk drawings)
- AKVIS Draw (highly expressive, loose drawing effects)
- AKVIS OilPaint (oil painting and oil pastel effects)
- AKVIS Pastel (crayon, oil pastel, and pastel effects)
- AKVIS Sketch (charcoal, color pencil, lead pencil, pastel, and watercolor effects)
- AKVIS Watercolor (aquarelle and watercolor effects)
- JixiPix Aquarella (watercolor paintings)
- JixiPix Artoon (cartoon drawings)
- JixiPix Moku Hanga (block printing)
- JixiPix Impresso Pro (standalone; oil painting effects)
- JixiPix Pastello (chalk, crayon, pastel, and pencil effects)
- JixiPix Watercolor Studio
- ToonIt! (cartoon, graphic novel, woodcut, and other effects)
Useful Photo Editing Software
The following software is recommended for editing artistic works:
- Exposure (standalone and plug-in; very powerful full-featured photo editor with numerous useful presets; highly recommended)
- Luminar Neo (standalone and plug-in; powerful full-featured photo editor with AI effects; highly recommended)
- ON1 Photo RAW 2022 (standalone and plug-in; powerful full-featured photo editor with numerous useful presets and AI effects)
- Topaz Gigapixel AI (enlarges and enhances images)
- Topaz Denoise AI (very effective noise reduction)
Purchase Advice
It is highly recommended that you download and test digital art software demos prior to purchase. Try all the presets. A software company's idea of what a good art effect is may not match your own, so experiment with changing the settings of unsatisfactory effects before concluding that the program cannot do what you want.
Some programs do not have a variety of presets. It is more difficult to create your own presets from scratch rather modifying presets.
It is especially important to test the limits of a program and to determine what features can be disabled. For example, see how much detail you can get in a painting and check whether it is possible to turn off the texture effect (i.e, canvas).
In some cases, it is worth buying a program for one or two unique effects even though the rest may not be satisfactory or may duplicate effects you already have in other programs.
If possible, save older versions of software. New versions may drop or significantly change features you rely on.
Some companies may end access to and support for discontinued software, even disabling previously working local copies that use online logins.
Software Licensing and Sales Policies
AKVIS has separate home, home deluxe, and business licenses. Only business licenses allow commercial use.
Companies may offer one or more software bundles, which reduce the prices of included products.
Some companies, such as Exposure, offer their products at substantial discounts during sales, which typically occur during major US holidays. These are especially good times to buy software bundles.
About the Author
Digital artist Charles W. Bailey, Jr. transforms public domain and personal photographs into noncommercial digital artworks using specialized Photoshop plug-ins and art programs. He has made over 600 digital artworks freely available under versions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licenses, providing detailed information about how each artwork was created.
The best digital art software in 2022
From Photoshop to Affinity, the best digital art software can help you create awesome designs on both desktop and mobile. But with both free and paid-for options available, knowing where to start can be a little intimidating.
There are specific tools for photo editing, graphic design, digital painting and everything in-between – including specific niches like manga drawing. There's also the question of cost. From pro tools with pro price tags to completely free options, the best digital art software comes in all shapes and sizes when it comes to price. In this guide, you'll find offerings on both ends of the price spectrum, from zero to, well, not zero.
We've tested much of this software, with our reviewers assessing each pick against a range of criteria including power and overall performance (see how we test software for more – and watch out for the links to full reviews). If we haven't tested a program, we have good reason for including it, and have done extensive research to back up our claims.
Many of these programs work well with the best drawing tablets you can buy, so you don't need to worry if you've already got a digital art setup. For drawing on the go, see our selection of the best drawing apps for iPad and the best 2-in-1 laptops for creatives.
You needn't always pay a lot for the best digital art software, for example you can now get Rebelle 5 for free if you're in school or get 40% off if you're looking to buy a copy for yourself.
The best digital art software available now
01. Affinity Photo
The best alternative to Photoshop
Specifications
Platforms: Windows, macOS, iOS
Cost : £48.99
Reasons to buy
Incredible value
+Excellent Photoshop compatibility
+Impressive tools and performance
Reasons to avoid
Lacks Photoshop's high-end features
Not everyone wants to commit to a monthly subscription. If that's you, Affinity Photo is probably your best alternative to Photoshop. It's a one-time purchase, so once you've paid the initial cost of the software, you're set. In terms of power and performance, it's pretty much on a par with Photoshop, though it lacks some of Adobe's most advanced features like content-aware fill.
If you've already used Photoshop but want to move away from the subscription model, then Affinity Photo is certainly one of the best options since it offers full compatibility with PSD files, making it effortless to migrate projects over. It also has enough power even to cope with 100+ megapixel images, so you don't have to worry about working with super-high-resolution files. And if you prefer to draw on an iPad, Affinity Photo for iPad is also available.
In our Affinity Photo review, we particularly liked how, unlike Photoshop, the tool isn't dependent on current OS and hardware – it runs equally well on older machines. If you're torn between the Affinity and Adobe offerings, take a look at our guide to Affinity Photo vs Photoshop.
02. Photoshop
Still the industry standard, for good reason
Specifications
Platforms: Windows, macOS, iOS
Cost : $20.99/£19.97 per/month
Reasons to buy
De-facto standard
+Complementary iPad app
Reasons to avoid
Subscription-based
-No vector support
Adobe Photoshop is still the industry standard when it comes to digital art. If you're working professionally, it's almost certain that you'll be expected to use it at some point and there's good reason for its dominance. Photoshop is basically good at everything, not just photo editing but also drawing, digital painting, and plenty more. It works across a wide range of devices, including smartphones and tablets. Check out our guide to how to download Photoshop to find out more.
You can easily share your data and access all of your assets, including brushes, images, colours and styles, across all of your devices. There's also an impressive library of Photoshop plugins available to add extra functionality. And new features are being added all the time – we particularly loved the new neural filters in our Photoshop 2022 review.
The only real drawback of Photoshop is that it's not a vector editor, meaning you don't get smooth, scalable lines. Adobe of course offers its own vector editor in the form of Adobe Illustrator, and you don't necessarily need to choose between them, as getting a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud (opens in new tab) gives you both. If you know you're going to be doing a lot of digital art and you want the best software, a Creative Cloud subscription is probably the way to go (our guide to the best Adobe Creative Cloud deals is regularly updated with the best deals).
03. Corel Painter 2022
Painter's annual update offers plenty of improvements
Specifications
Platform: Windows, Mac
Cost: $429/£359.99
Reasons to buy
Streamlined interface
+Lots of brush options
+Runs better than previous versions
Reasons to avoid
Expensive up-front price
As its name implies, Corel Painter 2022 is especially good software for digital painting. Our testing found that the latest update adds a new stamp-type brush customisation, and we love the fine control you now have over the dab effects of your favourite brushes. Like many digital painting effects, the purpose is to make your work look as "real" and un-digital as possible, and it does that very effectively.
Elsewhere, the latest update to Corel Painter has completely reorganised the brush library, which may be unwelcome news for anyone who's used to the old system, but we found actually provides a lot of useful functionality. We liked that brushes are alphabetised in categories that are easy to remember, and there's a filter search system that makes finding the type of brush you need much quicker and easier. For individual favourite brushes, there's also a 'like' button that lets you create a custom palette.
Previous versions of Corel had a reputation for taxing computer hardware to an extent, but GPU acceleration has been tweaked in the latest edition, and while we found it hardware hungry, there was a definite improvement. The program will also examine your system on startup, and recommend optimisations to make itself run as smoothly as possible on your system.
Corel Painter 2022 is available for an up-front cost, though a considerably steeper one than Affinity Photo. It costs $429/£359.99 new, or $229/£180 if you're upgrading from a previous version. That's quite a lot of money but there are no ongoing subscription fees and Corel does occasionally offer discounts. See more in our Corel Painter 2022 review.
04. Rebelle 5
Create realistic watercolour, acrylic, wet and dry media artwork
Specifications
Platform: Windows 8 or Mac OS X 10.13 or newer
Cost: $89.99/£71
Today's Best Deals
Reasons to buy
A wealth of new features
+Authentic painting experience
+Affordable, with free trial available
Reasons to avoid
The Standard edition lacks some new features
-Can slow down on older hardware
If Painter 2022 is a little too expensive, Rebelle 5 could be your best alternative. Featuring more than 170 brush presets, it's designed to mimic the way that paint behaves in the real world. It's one of the best digital art software options for creating realistic-looking watercolours or oils with plenty of thick impasto effects.
In our testing, we found the latest edition of this impressive natural media painting app offers plenty of useful upgrades, including new stabilisation and texture features, natural RYB colour mixing, layer groups and colour management. We especially like the real world colour pigment mixing and the brilliant watercolour and oil simulation. It was a little disappointing that the standard edition doesn't come with all the features but if you need an affordable alternative to Painter that doesn't cut corners and feels authentic, be sure to take a look, and check out our Rebelle 5 review for more information on what we love about the software.
05. Procreate
A powerful iPad drawing tool
Specifications
Platforms: iPad (iOS 11.1+)
Cost: $9.99/£9.99
Today's Best Deals
Reasons to buy
Natural drawing experience
+Impressive capabilities
+Wide range of brushes
Reasons to avoid
Want to draw and paint on your iPad? Then make sure you consider Procreate. It's an impressive drawing tool that's gained a big following among artists, and it's packed with powerful tools that make it a delight to use. You can work with hundreds of layers if you need to, and there are masks, blend modes and over 130 customisable Procreate brushes to play with. The typography tools add a whole extra layer of creative functionality too.
Procreate 5.2 offers support for the M1 iPad Pro as well as 3D painting tools (which we particularly loved when we tested it – see our Procreate 5.2 review) and AR previews, plus an improved interface and audio feedback for a better experience all-round.
06. Clip Studio Paint Pro
A great drawing and painting tool aimed at manga and comic artists
Specifications
Platforms: Windows, macOS, iPad, iPhone, Android, Chromebook
Cost: $49.99/£39 (PRO); $219/£168 (EX)
Reasons to buy
Affordable
+Cross-platform
+Free trial available
Reasons to avoid
For manga art and comic creation, Clip Studio Paint is one of the best digital art software programs. It delivers a natural, traditional feel, complete with pen pressure detection to give you realistic-looking pen strokes if you're working on a graphics tablet.
Clip Studio Paint comes in two versions: PRO and EX. If you need all the features and don't mind paying for them, EX is the way to go, but if you just want to see what it's all about you can get started with PRO. Both are available in 30-day trial versions; take a look at the best Clip Studio Paint tutorials to help you get started.
07. Artweaver 7
A full-featured painting tool that's great for beginners
Specifications
Platform: Windows
Cost: Free (basic); $41.16/£34.14 (Plus)
Reasons to buy
Customisable interface
+Large brush selection
+Free version available
Reasons to avoid
If you're on a tight budget and some of the best digital art software above seems too expensive, Artweaver 7 is a very attractive option. It features lots of customisable brushes for a real-world look, and it's easy to get to grips with, with a straightforward interface that you can customise to suit your needs.
Artweaver 7 comes in two versions: Artweaver Free and Artweaver Plus. Take a look at the comparison chart (opens in new tab) to help you decide which is right for you.
08. ArtRage 6
A cross-platform digital painting with realistic tools
Specifications
Platforms: Windows, macOS
Cost: $79
Reasons to buy
Realistic-looking paint
+Great for digital painters
+Well priced
Reasons to avoid
Slow for larger canvases
ArtRage has been around for some time and has built up a loyal following among artists and illustrators. It's easy to see why since this is another app that offers realistic paint texture and colour but at a price that's a lot more attractive than that of Corel Painter (see above).
Although ArtRage is mainly focused on natural media and painting, it's flexible enough to be useful for digital artists who are used to Photoshop as well. You can do everything you'd expect from a digital art tool: customise brushes, record your own actions, customise the look of your canvas and more. For more information about the previous version, check out our ArtRage 5 review.
09. Krita
A free open-source painting program
Specifications
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
Cost: Free
Reasons to buy
Powerful brush selection
+Free and open-source
+Easy and fun to learn
Reasons to avoid
Less versatile than GIMP
-No proper mobile version
Krita has been quietly doing its thing since 2004, and it's one of the best-kept secrets in the digital art world. Free and open source, it has a great set of tools as well as an intuitive and customisable interface that you can set up in the best way to work with your style of painting. Its semi-guerrilla nature means there isn't much in the way of customer support, so you may need to consult some online tutorials to get the most out of it – but our testing found it is pretty easy and fun to learn.
When we tested it this year, we appreciated the powerful new brushes – the tool offers over 100 professionally made, preloaded brushes and nine unique brush engines, including a Colour Smudge engine, Shape engine and Particle engine. You can also import brushes and texture packs or create and share your own. As an added bonus, you can use a brush stabiliser to help you get perfectly smooth lines. We would have appreciated a full mobile version, as our Krita review outlines.
10. TwistedBrush Pro Studio
More custom brushes than you can ever need
Specifications
Platform: Windows
Cost: $99 (version licence); $189 (perpetual licence)
Today's Best Deals
Reasons to buy
Extensive brush collection
+Good drawing tablet support
Reasons to avoid
Windows only
-Confusing interface
Need literally all the brushes you can get? Then take a gander at TwistedBrush Pro Studio because it comes with over 9,000 of them. That's probably more than anyone will ever need, but it means you should always be able to find precisely the brush you need. And if you can't, you can simply create your own brushes instead.
On top of the multitude of brushes, TwistedBrush has everything you'd expect from a digital art package: layers, transparency, masks, extensive options for import and export, image filters, and more. It also has drawing tablet support with high precision sampling and pressure sensitivity. It's not a budget option, though. TwistedBrush Pro Studio will set you back $99 for a version-specific license, or $189 for a perpetual licence, and for that price, you might want to consider one of the bigger names above.
11. MediBang Paint Pro
A free tool with everything you need to illustrate comics
Specifications
Platform: Windows, macOS
Cost: Free
Today's Best Deals
Reasons to buy
Free
+Great for manga artists
+Works with Windows and Mac
Reasons to avoid
Needs more brush options
Looking for a free alternative to Clip Studio Paint for creating manga art or comics? Paint Pro from Japanese company MediBang is well worth investigating. It's a free and lightweight digital drawing tool that comes with 800 free pre-made tones and backgrounds, as well as over 50 brushes, easy comic panel creation tools and a massive selection of free fonts. Take a look at our MediBang Paint review.
12. Black Ink
Explore your creativity with controller-based brushes
Specifications
Platform: Windows
Cost: $59.99
Today's Best Deals
Reasons to buy
Fast GPU rendering technology
+Controller-based brush system
Reasons to avoid
Not great for beginners
-Brush tools a little confusing
Not everyone wants realistic brushes. If you're looking for something a little different for your strokes then Black Ink could be the answer. Rather can copying traditional physical art tools, it takes a more digital approach, using a Controller system to deliver all manner of possibilities in brush creation and customisation. Through a simple node-based language, you'll be able to create any type of brush imaginable, which you can then save and share with the community.
13. Paintstorm Studio
A powerful digital painting tool for professional artists
Specifications
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iPad
Cost: $19 (desktop); $12.99 (iPad)
Today's Best Deals
Reasons to buy
Intuitive
+Cross-platform
Reasons to avoid
Slow on integrated graphic cards
Paintstorm Studio is a great-value digital art tool that's easy to use and capable of achieving impressive results. With a decent brush selection, complete with customisation options (including spacing jitter, texture, angle, and more) it's perfect for creating striking artwork, and it also supports post-stroke correction, which can come in really handy when you're doing linework.
The interface is easy to navigate and laid out exactly how you'd expect (and the default colour scheme is fantastic). However, if you're not a fan, it's completely customisable.
Read more:
Tammy is an independent creative professional, author of Apple Game Frameworks and Technologies (opens in new tab), and the maker behind the AdventureGameKit (opens in new tab) – a custom SpriteKit framework for building point and click adventure games. As an innovative problem solver and industry leader, Tammy enjoys working on projects from content creation – including books, tutorials, videos, and podcasts – to the design and development of cross-platform applications and games. For Creative Bloq, she has written about an array of subjects, including animation, web design and character design.
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The best digital art software in 2022
From Photoshop to Affinity, the best digital art software can help you create awesome designs on both desktop and mobile. But with both free and paid-for options available, knowing where to start can be a little intimidating.
There are specific tools for photo editing, graphic design, digital painting and everything in-between – including specific niches like manga drawing. There's also the question of cost. From pro tools with pro price tags to completely free options, the best digital art software comes in all shapes and sizes when it comes to price. In this guide, you'll find offerings on both ends of the price spectrum, from zero to, well, not zero.
We've tested much of this software, with our reviewers assessing each pick against a range of criteria including power and overall performance (see how we test software for more – and watch out for the links to full reviews). If we haven't tested a program, we have good reason for including it, and have done extensive research to back up our claims.
Many of these programs work well with the best drawing tablets you can buy, so you don't need to worry if you've already got a digital art setup. For drawing on the go, see our selection of the daemon tools pro full crack Crack Key For U drawing apps for iPad and the best 2-in-1 laptops for creatives.
You needn't always pay a lot for the best digital art software, for example you can now get Rebelle 5 for free if you're in school or get 40% off if you're looking to buy a copy for yourself.
The best digital art software available now
01. Affinity Photo
The best alternative to Photoshop
Specifications
Platforms: Windows, macOS, iOS
Cost : £48.99
Reasons to buy
Incredible value
+Excellent Photoshop compatibility
+Impressive tools and performance
Reasons to avoid
Lacks Photoshop's high-end features
Not everyone wants to commit to a monthly subscription. If that's you, Affinity Photo is probably your best alternative to Photoshop. It's a one-time purchase, so once you've paid the initial cost of the software, you're set, digital watercolor software. In terms of power and performance, it's pretty much on a par with Photoshop, dvdfab player 5 review Crack Key For U it lacks digital watercolor software of Adobe's most advanced features like content-aware fill.
If you've already used Photoshop but want to move away from the subscription model, then Affinity Photo is certainly one of the best options since it offers full compatibility with PSD files, making it effortless to migrate projects over. It also has enough power even to cope with 100+ megapixel images, so you don't have to worry about working with super-high-resolution files. And if you prefer to draw on an iPad, Affinity Photo for iPad is also available.
In our Affinity Photo review, we particularly liked how, digital watercolor software, unlike Photoshop, the tool isn't dependent on current OS and hardware – it runs equally well on older machines. If you're torn between the Affinity and Adobe offerings, take a look at our guide to Affinity Photo vs Photoshop.
02. Photoshop
Still the industry standard, for good reason
Specifications
Platforms: Windows, macOS, iOS
Cost : $20.99/£19.97 per/month
Reasons to buy
De-facto standard
+Complementary iPad app
Reasons to digital watercolor software vector support
Adobe Photoshop is still the industry standard when it comes to digital art. If you're working professionally, it's almost certain that you'll be expected to use it at some point and there's good reason for its dominance. Photoshop is basically good at everything, not just photo editing but also drawing, digital painting, and plenty more. It works across a wide range of devices, including smartphones and tablets. Check out our guide to how to download Photoshop to find out more.
You can easily share your data and access all of your assets, including brushes, images, colours and styles, across all of your devices. There's also an impressive library of Photoshop plugins available to add extra functionality. And new features are being added all the time – we particularly loved the new neural filters in our Photoshop 2022 review.
The only real drawback of Photoshop is that it's not a vector editor, meaning you don't get smooth, scalable lines. Adobe of course offers its own vector editor in the form of Adobe Illustrator, and you don't necessarily need to choose between them, as getting a subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud (opens in new tab) gives you both. If you know you're going to be doing a lot of digital art and you want the best software, a Creative Cloud subscription is probably the way to go (our guide to the best Adobe Creative Cloud deals is regularly updated with the best deals).
Painter's annual update offers plenty of improvements
Specifications
Platform: Windows, Mac
Cost: $429/£359.99
Reasons to buy
Streamlined interface
+Lots of brush options
+Runs better than previous versions
Reasons to avoid
Expensive up-front price
As its name implies, Corel Painter 2022 is especially good software for digital painting. Our testing found that the latest update adds a new stamp-type brush customisation, and we love the fine control you now have over the dab effects of your favourite brushes. Like many digital painting effects, the purpose is to make your work look as "real" and un-digital as possible, and it does that very effectively.
Elsewhere, the latest update to Corel Painter has completely reorganised the brush library, which may be unwelcome news for anyone who's used to the old system, but we found actually provides a lot of useful functionality. We liked that brushes are alphabetised in categories that are easy to remember, and there's a filter search system that makes finding the type of brush you need much quicker and easier. For individual favourite brushes, there's also a 'like' button that lets you create a custom palette.
Previous versions of Corel had a reputation for taxing computer hardware to an extent, but GPU acceleration has been tweaked in the latest digital watercolor software, and while we found it hardware hungry, there was a definite improvement. The program will also examine your system on startup, and recommend optimisations to make itself run as smoothly as possible on your system.
Corel Painter 2022 is available for an up-front cost, though a considerably steeper one than Affinity Digital watercolor software. It costs $429/£359.99 new, or $229/£180 if you're upgrading from a previous version. That's quite a lot of money but there are no ongoing subscription fees and Corel does occasionally offer discounts. See more in our Corel Painter 2022 review.
04. Rebelle 5
Create realistic watercolour, acrylic, wet and dry media artwork
Specifications
Platform: Windows 8 or Mac OS X 10.13 or newer
Cost: $89.99/£71
Today's Best Deals
Reasons to buy
A wealth of new features
+Authentic painting experience
+Affordable, with free trial available
Reasons to avoid
The Standard edition lacks some new features
-Can slow down on older hardware
If Painter 2022 is a little too expensive, Rebelle 5 could be your best alternative. Featuring more than 170 brush presets, it's designed to mimic the way that paint behaves in the real world. It's one of the best digital art software options for creating realistic-looking watercolours or oils with plenty of thick impasto effects.
In our testing, we found the latest edition of this impressive natural media painting app offers plenty of useful upgrades, including new stabilisation and texture features, digital watercolor software RYB colour mixing, layer groups and colour management. We especially like the real world colour pigment mixing and the brilliant watercolour and oil simulation. It was a little disappointing that the standard edition doesn't come with all the features but if you need an affordable alternative to Painter that doesn't cut corners and feels authentic, be sure to take a look, and check out our Rebelle 5 review for more information on what we love about the software.
05. Procreate
A powerful iPad drawing tool
Specifications
Platforms: iPad (iOS 11.1+)
Cost: $9.99/£9.99
Today's Best Deals
Reasons to buy
Natural digital watercolor software experience
+Impressive capabilities
+Wide range of brushes
Reasons to avoid
Want to draw and paint on your iPad? Then make sure you consider Procreate. It's an impressive drawing tool that's gained a big following among artists, digital watercolor software, and it's packed with powerful tools that make it a delight to use. You can work with hundreds of layers if you need to, and there are masks, blend modes and over 130 customisable Procreate brushes to play with. The typography tools add a whole extra layer of creative functionality too.
Procreate 5.2 offers support for the M1 iPad Pro as well as 3D painting tools (which we particularly loved when we tested it – see our Procreate 5.2 review) and AR previews, plus an improved interface and audio feedback for a better experience all-round.
06. Clip Studio Paint Pro
A great drawing and painting tool aimed at manga and comic artists
Specifications
Platforms: Windows, macOS, iPad, iPhone, digital watercolor software, Android, Chromebook
Cost: $49.99/£39 (PRO); $219/£168 (EX)
Reasons to buy
Affordable
+Cross-platform
+Free trial available
Reasons to avoid
For manga art and comic creation, Clip Studio Paint is one of the best digital art software programs. It delivers a natural, traditional feel, digital watercolor software, Graphic Activators Patch with pen pressure detection to give you realistic-looking pen strokes if you're working on a graphics tablet.
Clip Studio Paint comes in two versions: PRO and EX. If you need all the features and don't mind paying for them, EX is the way to go, but if you just want to see what it's all about you can get started with PRO. Both are available in 30-day trial versions; take a look at the best Clip Studio Paint tutorials to help you get started.
07. Artweaver 7
A full-featured painting tool that's great for beginners
Specifications
Platform: Windows
Cost: Free (basic); $41.16/£34.14 (Plus)
Reasons to buy
Customisable interface
+Large brush selection
+Free version available
Reasons to avoid
If you're on a tight budget and some of the best digital art software above seems too expensive, Artweaver 7 is a very attractive option. It features lots of customisable brushes for a real-world look, and it's easy to get to grips with, with a straightforward interface that you can customise digital watercolor software suit your needs.
Artweaver 7 comes in two versions: Artweaver Free and Artweaver Plus. Take a look at the comparison chart (opens in new tab) to help you decide which is right for you.
08. ArtRage 6
A cross-platform digital painting with realistic tools
Specifications
Platforms: Windows, macOS
Cost: $79
Reasons to buy
Realistic-looking paint
+Great for digital painters
+Well priced
Reasons to avoid
Slow for larger canvases
ArtRage has been around for some time and has digital watercolor software up a loyal following among artists and illustrators. It's easy to see why since this is another app that offers realistic paint texture and colour but at a price that's a lot more attractive than that of Corel Painter (see above).
Although ArtRage is mainly focused on natural media and painting, digital watercolor software, it's flexible enough to be useful for digital artists who are used to Photoshop as well. You can do everything you'd expect from a digital art tool: customise brushes, record your own actions, customise the look of your canvas and more. For more information about the previous version, check out our ArtRage 5 review.
09. Krita
A free open-source painting program
Specifications
Platforms: Digital watercolor software, macOS, digital watercolor software, Linux
Cost: Free
Reasons to buy
Powerful brush selection
+Free and open-source
+Easy and fun to learn
Reasons to avoid
Less versatile than GIMP
-No proper mobile version
Krita has been quietly doing its thing since 2004, and it's one of the best-kept secrets in the digital art world. Free and open source, it has a great set of tools as well as an intuitive and customisable interface that you can set up in the best way to work with your style of painting. Its semi-guerrilla nature means there isn't much in the way of customer support, so you may need to consult some online tutorials to get the most out digital watercolor software it – but our testing found it is pretty easy and fun to learn.
When we tested it this year, we appreciated the powerful new brushes – the tool offers over 100 professionally made, preloaded brushes and nine unique brush engines, including a Colour Smudge engine, Shape engine and Particle engine. You can also import brushes and texture packs or create digital watercolor software share your own. As an added bonus, you can use a brush stabiliser to help you get perfectly smooth lines. We would have appreciated a full mobile version, as our Krita review outlines.
10. TwistedBrush Pro Studio
More custom brushes than you can ever need
Specifications
Platform: Windows
Cost: $99 (version licence); $189 (perpetual licence)
Today's Best Deals
Reasons to buy
Extensive brush collection
+Good drawing tablet support
Reasons to avoid
Windows only
-Confusing interface
Need literally all the brushes you can get? Then take a gander at TwistedBrush Pro Studio because it comes with digital watercolor software 9,000 of them. That's probably more than anyone will ever need, but it means you should always be able to find precisely the brush you need. And if you can't, you can simply create your own brushes instead.
On top of the multitude of brushes, TwistedBrush has everything you'd expect from a digital art package: layers, transparency, masks, extensive options for import and export, image filters, and more, digital watercolor software. It digital watercolor software has drawing tablet support with high precision sampling and pressure sensitivity. It's not a budget option, digital watercolor software, though. TwistedBrush Pro Studio will set you back $99 for a version-specific license, or $189 for a perpetual licence, and for that price, you might want to consider one of the bigger names above.
11. MediBang Paint Pro
A free tool with everything you need to illustrate comics
Specifications
Platform: Windows, macOS
Cost: Free
Today's Best Deals
Reasons to buy
Free
+Great for manga artists
+Works with Windows and Mac
Reasons to avoid
Needs more brush options
Looking for a free alternative to Clip Studio Paint for creating manga art or comics? Paint Pro from Japanese company MediBang is well worth investigating. It's a free and lightweight digital drawing tool that comes with 800 free pre-made tones and backgrounds, as well as over 50 brushes, easy comic panel creation tools and a massive selection of free fonts. Take a look at our MediBang Paint review.
12. Black Ink
Explore your creativity with controller-based brushes
Specifications
Platform: Windows
Cost: $59.99
Today's Best Deals
Reasons to buy
Fast GPU rendering technology
+Controller-based brush system
Reasons to avoid
Not great for beginners
-Brush tools a little confusing
Not everyone wants realistic brushes. If you're looking for something a little different for your strokes then Black Ink digital watercolor software be the answer. Rather can copying traditional physical art tools, it takes a more digital approach, using a Controller system to deliver all manner of possibilities in brush creation and customisation. Through a simple node-based language, you'll be able to create any type of brush imaginable, which you can then save and share with the community.
13. Paintstorm Studio
A powerful digital painting tool for professional artists
Specifications
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, iPad
Cost: $19 (desktop); $12.99 (iPad)
Today's Best Deals
Reasons digital watercolor software buy
Intuitive
+Cross-platform
Reasons to avoid
Slow on integrated graphic cards
Paintstorm Studio is a great-value digital art tool that's easy to use and capable of achieving impressive results. With a decent brush selection, complete with customisation options (including spacing jitter, texture, angle, and more) it's perfect for creating striking artwork, and it also supports post-stroke correction, which can come in really handy when you're doing linework.
The interface is easy to navigate and laid out exactly digital watercolor software you'd expect (and the default colour scheme is fantastic). However, if you're not a fan, it's completely customisable.
Read more:
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