Painting software has come a long way in recent years, and there are now superb programs available completely free that offer a realistic simulation of watercolors, oils, pastels, charcoal, and more.
Sketch is a design toolkit built to help you create your best work — from your earliest ideas, through to final artwork. Try for Free ↓ Watch the Video. Sep 20, 2018 - The iPad has lots of great drawing and design apps that work perfectly with the Apple Pencil. Check out these six free apps here!
These free tools work well with a mouse, but are even better with a stylus or touchscreen for direct control over your virtual brushes and pens.
Some of the latest painting software also lets you work in three dimensions, creating your own models and then applying your own textures and paint effects. You can combine these with 2D sketched elements to create scenes, and even print them in 3D.
Here, we’ve picked out the very best drawing software for Windows. Some of these tools are designed for serious illustrators, while others are better for keeping children occupied without the mess of real painting. There’s something for everyone – the only limits are your imagination and skill.
1. Krita
Top-quality free painting software, completely free for all artists
Accessible interface
Krita is professional-quality painting software created by a team of artists with the noble aim of putting top-notch creative tools within reach of everyone.
You can use Krita for any kind of drawing and illustration, but it's particularly great for comics and manga. There are panel templates, halftone filters, and perspective tools in addition to the usual brushes, fills and pens. Each brush is totally customizable, and you can save your bespoke brushes to use again later.
Right-clicking anywhere on the canvas in Krita will bring up a selection wheel that lets you pick a new tool and select a colour in seconds – a system that's much easier than trawling through menus and settings
Krita was created by artists for artists, and it shows in the dozens of thoughtful little touches that make it easier to create great paintings. There are handy drawing aids for creating straight lines, vanishing points and smooth shapes. You also get layers, masks, various transform tools, HDR support, and advanced selection functions.
Krita is an incredibly powerful painting program, and it's yours to download and use completely free.
2. Artweaver Free
Realistic traditional media, with a huge selection of brushes
Supports layers
Artweaver Free enables you to create beautifully realistic digital paintings by taking input – from your mouse, a stylus or, if you have a touchscreen PC, from whatever you feel like tapping the screen with – and applying ultra-realistic brush effects.
In addition to familiar brushes such as conte brushes, calligraphy pens and airbrushes you also get a huge range of patterns and pens, enabling you to produce very complex images with the minimum of effort. It’s layer-based too, so you can build up your masterpiece in layers without losing the ability to change anything.
Artweaver Free designed for artists of all ages, but we’ve found it particularly useful for children. Kids love experimenting with all the different brushes, and we love not having to clean up any mess afterwards.
3. Microsoft Paint 3D
Kid-friendly art software for making and painting 3D models
Wide choice of paint effects
Like the classic version of Microsoft Paint (which is was originally intended to replace), Paint 3D offers a small selection of drawing tools for doodling on a flat canvas. However, the real fun happens when you click the 3D Objects button. Here you can pick a model to import (current choices include people and animals), or better yet, draw your own shape and ‘inflate’ it to turn it into a three-dimensional model that can be rotated and viewed from different angles.
You can choose a finish for your shape (options include matte, gloss, dull metal, and polished metal), paint its surface, and apply lighting effects. There’s no way to control the thickness of the 3D effect, so your object will always resemble something created with Puff Paints, but it’s great fun for kids of all ages.
Multiple models can be positioned at different depths and combined to create a scene, and you can even bring doodles into the real world if you have access to a 3D printer.
4. Microsoft Fresh Paint
Another child-friendly app from Microsoft, with convincing brushes
Easy for kids to enjoy
Fresh Paint is another art app from Microsoft – this time designed to replicate the feeling of putting brush or pen to paper.
The interface really goes to town with skeumorphism, with a plastic palette of colours that splatter when you dip your virtual brush, showing which shade you’re currently using and making a pleasing splat. You can wash the bristles in a cup of water before picking a different color, or use one immediately after another to blend them together on the brush.
Fresh Paint can simulate watercolors, gouache, and all kinds of other material. As the name implies, you can interact with your work as though it’s not yet dry, smearing it and mixing colors together on the canvas.
Experienced artists will be able to achieve great results with tools that behave like their real-life counterparts, while kids and novices will make an equally realistic mess.
5. MyPaint
Open source software for artists with time to master a new tool
Designed for graphics tablets
MyPaint is the brainchild of artist Martin Renold, who was frustrated by the limitations of his Wacom tablet’s proprietary software and decided to take matters into his own hands. Today, the open source software is an accomplished tool for serious artists.
Its background as a Linux app means MyPaint works a little differently to most Windows apps, and it’ll take a little while to master its interface, but it’s well worth the effort if you’re a hobbyist illustrator and Krita’s focus on comics means it doesn’t quite fit your needs.
MyPaint works best when used with a graphics tablet, but you can also use it with any other input device, including touchscreens.
There’s the usual selection of customizable brushes, plus support for layers, and a handy scratchpad for creating sketches. You can also download and install additional brush packages created by other users – a perk of the source code being publicly available.
- Take a look at our roundup of the best free photo editors
When you have an iPad that supports the Apple Pencil, one of the best uses of this combination is to draw, sketch, or paint. After all, what beats a digital sketchbook where you don't need to spend money on having the right tools that eventually run out before you need to replenish your supply?
I'll admit it—I'm not an artist. I don't think I have the artistic ability to draw, but you know what they always say? Practice makes perfect, especially when it comes to something like drawing. With an iPad and an Apple Pencil, not only does it feel like an actual sketchbook and pencil, but you'll want to keep drawing and sketching, which means you can only get better over time. Or if you're already an artist, the iPad and Apple Pencil will let you continue to hone your skills.
Regardless of whether you're an amateur or a pro, these apps let you unleash your creativity effortlessly.
If you're looking for the one drawing app to rule them all, you can't go wrong with Procreate. It's one of the most powerful sketching, painting, and illustration apps that you can buy for your iPad, and it's built for professionals and works flawlessly with Apple Pencil.
With Procreate, you're getting access to exclusive tools, such as the dual-texture brushes and immediately responsive smudging tools to create the perfect masterpiece. And if you can't find a tool in Procreate to fit your needs, you can even just create your own tools. Procreate also has incredibly high-resolution canvases that allow you to print out your work in massive sizes, without ever skipping a beat.
All of your work in Procreate can come out as PSD, native .procreate, TIFF, transparent PNG, multi-page PDF, or even web-ready JPEG file formats. Procreate also supports time-lapse replays, so you can send it directly to your favorite streaming service.
Linea Sketch
For those who are intimidated by Procreate's powerful feature-set, Linea Sketch is a better option that's much more approachable, especially for those who don't always draw.
Linea Sketch features a simple and intuitive interface while also providing users with a variety of powerful tools that work great with Apple Pencil. Plus, it easily helps you make perfect circles and shapes to create the best drawings. It also shows you colors that complement your selected hue perfectly, so you don't need to figure that out yourself. It can also do layers, split screen, and much more. Linea Sketch exports your projects as PSD, JPG, or PNG files so that they can be easily accessed from other devices, like your Mac.
Paper by WeTransfer
Paper by WeTransfer is a good option if you want something that's free and accessible. With Paper, you can create numerous journals designed to capture your sketches and even notes. There is a nice variety of tools offered in Paper, and it's very intuitive to use.
In Paper, you'll get six basic tools that are great for drawing, outlining, and even writing. If you opt for the optional Pro subscription for $8 for six months or $12 for a year, you'll get access to more tools like diagrams, collages, and cut-and-fill. There is also plenty of room for creativity in Paper, as you're able to add multiple photos to a journal and cut, stick, and fix without the need for complicated layers. Paper also lets you customize your sketch journals as you'd like, and your work gets synced across devices, as long as you have a Pro subscription.
While you'll need a Pro subscription to really get the most out of Paper, you do get the basics for free, so it's a good idea to give them a try before committing to it. Or if you can live with the basic feature set, then you won't need to pay a dime.
Affinity Designer
For those who need to work with vector graphics, Affinity Designer is simply one of the best options available on the iPad. Think of it as the desktop app, but converted into the perfect mobile experience.
Affinity Designer is designed to take advantage of Metal, so it'll give you blazing fast performance. When you pan the canvas or zoom in or out, everything is at a smooth 120fps, which is amazing. It also works flawlessly with the Apple Pencil, taking advantage of pressure, tilt, and angle sensitivity. You'll also have the best pen, pencil, corner, curve editing, geometry operations, and smart shape tools available at your disposal, and the Apple Pencil means incredible accuracy.
If you need to deal with vector graphics for marketing materials, websites, icons, UI design, or concept art, then Affinity Designer is a must-have.
Adobe Illustrator Draw
While we highly recommend Affinity Designer, we get it—it's still quite expensive. If you're on a budget, or just prefer the Adobe Creative Cloud, then Adobe Illustrator Draw is another option to consider.
In Adobe Illustrator Draw, you'll get customizable brushes that you can use for drawing, designing, and stylizing. There are even a ton of basic shape stencils for your perfect circles, squares, French curves, polygons, and speech bubbles for epic comics. Adobe even allows you to mix photos in with your vector drawings, which can result in some amazing effects. All of the canvases in Adobe Illustrator Draw can go up to 8K resolution, meaning you can get large prints of your work as well, in case you want to show it off.
All work can be stored in the Adobe Creative Cloud, which does have a free tier option. However, you can get another 20GB of storage space in Creative Cloud for just $2 a month, which is honestly not that bad. You'll be able to access your work from any other device, including Macs, that have Adobe Illustrator on them, thanks to the Cloud.
Adobe Photoshop Sketch
If you're not into vector drawing, then Adobe Photoshop Sketch is the way to go. This one focuses more on traditional drawing, sketching, and painting, rather than vector graphics.
In Adobe Photoshop Sketch, you'll have access to 24 built-in brushes, all of them with adjustable sizes, colors, opacity, and blending settings. And if you can't find the right tool for the job, you can import Photoshop brushes directly into Sketch as well, so the possibilities are truly limitless. Like Draw, you can mix photos into your drawing layers, and there are stencils to help you create perfect curves and basic shapes. Sketch also goes up to 8K resolution, so your work can be printed out on massive prints if need be.
And since Photoshop Sketch is part of Adobe, your work saves automatically in your Creative Cloud account. If you need more storage, you can opt for 20GB of storage for just $2 monthly.
Autodesk Sketchbook
If you want something that's powerful and free, then you need to give Autodesk Sketchbook a try.
With Autodesk Sketchbook, you get a distraction-free UI so you can focus on drawing, not a cluttered interface. Sketchbook is packed with dozens of various brushes, and you can pretty much pick from any color on the spectrum to use in your sketches. The app also has intuitive gestures and shortcuts to bring up various tools and quick access to the most common brushes that you may need.
It may take some time to get used to using Autodesk Sketchbook, but it's a robust drawing app that works nicely with Apple Pencil. Plus, you can't be the price tag of free.
Sketch Club
A lot of the premium drawing apps we've mentioned so far can be a bit pricey, but Sketch Club is a bit on the lower side while still providing a lot of nice features, whether you're an amateur or pro.
In Sketch Club, you'll find plenty of brush tools, along with blurring, filling, procedurals, selection, smudging, text, and vector tools. And if you're worried about getting perfect shapes, don't worry! There are shape tools with automatic ratio snapping to make sure that nothing looks off. There's layer support in Sketch Club, and all of your canvases can go up to 16K with presets, and nice 300 DPI prints.
Sketch Club also has an integrated community, which is great for getting motivation and inspiration. The community has daily challenges, weekly competitions, monthly group events, annual awards, and more. The tutorials are also fantastic if you're trying to improve your drawing skills.
Astropad Standard
Astropad isn't just another standard drawing app for your iPad. Instead, it turns your iPad into a drawing tablet for your Mac. That's right—if you prefer to use your image editors on your Mac, but prefer to use your iPad for the actual drawing, Astropad lets you do just that! Think of it like turning your iPad into a Wacom pen display. To get Astropad to work properly, you'll need to get the free Mac companion app.
With Astropad, you'll get a natural drawing experience with your iPad, with the results being delivered right to your Mac. It's fast and will keep up with your drawing at 60 FPS, even over a Wi-Fi connection. Astropad can work wirelessly or just over USB with your computer. It supports Apple Pencil flawlessly and is pressure sensitive, just as you need it to be for accurate drawings.
The app itself can be a little pricey, but think about it—it's much cheaper than going out and buying a Wacom tablet when you already have an iPad, right?
Pixelmator
Finally, we have Pixelmator, which is a great option for those who want a full-featured, layer-based image editor. This works great for photo editing, but it's also an amazing app for sketching and painting as well.
With over 100 brushes, which are designed by fellow artists mind you, the possibilities are pretty much endless in Pixelmator when it comes to drawing and painting. These tools are also specifically designed for various painting techniques, so chances are high that you'll find what you need. They also replicate the wetness effects quite well, especially for watercolors and crayon brushes. Double-texture brush technology also means you will get the best detail as you paint, and the Pixel brush is quite fun to use too. Pixelmator also supports layers, has an eyedropper color picker, and is fully optimized for Apple Pencil.
Pixelmator can save your images as PSD, JPEG, PNG, and more file formats. Your work can be shared via social platforms, or you can upload and sync it right to your iCloud to be accessed anywhere.
What's your favorite digital sketchbook?
These are some of the best drawing apps that we could find that work amazingly well with the Apple Pencil. What are your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!
Drawing on iPad: The ultimate guide
Main
This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy for more details.