In addition to the well-known graphic editor Photoshop and the standard Paint, there are various free programs for drawing on PC. And they are no worse than the same Photoshop. And some drawing games for the computer even surpass it. For example, ease of use.

What program is best for drawing? It's up to you to decide. And to simplify this task, below are the best software for drawing on PC.

The list is divided into two parts. The first one contains simple drawing programs that are suitable for amateurs and even for children 5-6 years old. And in the second - professional software, in which you can draw graffiti, anime, art paintings with a brush (it is also suitable for graphics tablets).

List of the best drawing software for PC for hobbyists

Let's start with simple applications where you can draw on your PC. They are easy to use, so they are suitable for children and beginners who want to try their hand at this business.

Once again, I remind you that all applications are free, and you can easily find them on the office. websites (links below).

Paint.NET - simple program for drawing. Despite the similar name, this is not the default Paint that comes with Windows. Although very similar.

Paint.NET has a simple and informative panel, so it's not hard to figure it out. There are also floating windows that perform additional functions. They are translucent and do not interfere with editing pictures.

The main advantages of this software:

  • layer support;
  • import of external files;
  • support for hotkeys (standard buttons are listed in the "Window" item);
  • good functionality;
  • takes up little space;
  • completely in Russian.

Easy to use and free, this drawing program is great for kids. For the first time, its capabilities will be more than enough.

SmoothDraw - draw from scratch

SmoothDraw - allows you to edit images or create your own, since the functionality allows this. Great for those who like to draw from scratch - after all, this is what it is intended for.


Its main advantages:

  • huge toolkit (virtual canvas rotation, smoothing, various modes mixing);
  • painting tools: grass, raindrops, stars, graffiti;
  • synchronization with tablets.

Thanks to this functionality, it is suitable even for experienced artists. The only negative is that there is no Russian language. But SmoothDraw's interface is so simple that even kids can figure it out.

By the way, this program does not need to be installed because it is a portable version. That is, you can save it to a USB flash drive, and then use it on any PC or laptop.

MyPaint - app for tablets

MyPaint is a free graphic drawing program. Designed for tablets, but can also be used on PC.

The MyPaint app is designed for beginners and hobbyists. Turns the screen of a tablet or computer into a real artistic canvas (hiding all elements). Thanks to this, you can draw whatever your heart desires.


Its main advantages:

  • a large selection of brushes (+ it is possible to create your own, as well as import ready-made ones);
  • support for quick commands;
  • works on Windows, Linux, Mac OS.

Thus, if you are looking for children's programs for painting with a brush, try the MyPaint application. It is possible that your child will like it very much. Link to office MyPaint website.

LiveBrush - application for drawing tablets

Its main feature: the presence of only one tool - brushes.

On the one hand, it seems to be not convenient, but on the other hand, you can realize any of your ideas. Just grab a brush and go!

LiveBrush is a great drawing tool for kids. Among its main advantages are:

  • vector patterns;
  • a large set of brushes (you can combine them, create your own or find ready-made ones on the Internet);
  • full compatibility with the tablet (the application recognizes the tilt of the brush and the pressure on the display).


In a word, this is an ideal drawing program for children. Especially if you have a graphics tablet. Link to office website .

Tux Paint - drawing for kids

If you want a simple drawing program for kids, try Tux Paint. This drawing was created for kids from 3 years old and is used in many preschool institutions for teaching computer literacy.


Its main advantages:

  • bright interface that kids will love;
  • cool sound effects;
  • support for Windows XP, Vista, 7, Linux and Mac OS.

And there is also a funny penguin Tux - a virtual assistant who will teach you how to draw correctly. The application is completely free (link to official website).

Professional drawing programs

This completes the list of amateur and children's drawing programs. Now let's take a look at the top drawing programs designed for professionals.

Gimp is a functional application

Gimp is a powerful drawing program for your computer. In terms of functionality, it almost caught up with Photoshop, but unlike it, it is free.


Main advantages:

  • a huge number of effects for editing images;
  • wide functionality for creating drawings from scratch;
  • it is possible to create a web resource design;
  • on-the-fly image archiving;
  • graphics tablet support.

Inkscape - draw vector graphics

Inkscape is a vector drawing program.

Main advantage vector graphics: Allows you to resize the image while maintaining the quality. Therefore, this application is often used in the printing industry.

This program supports:

  • various operations with contours;
  • copying styles;
  • gradient editing;
  • working with layers.

There is also a list of hotkeys and a function to export drawings to any format. Another plus is the presence of the Russian language. Link to office Inkscape website.

Artweaver is a free alternative to Photoshop

artweaver- professional program for drawing, which in terms of functionality is in no way inferior to Photoshop. Moreover, it even surpasses it in some functions.


For example, this application can:

  • record video while drawing (ideal for creating video tutorials);
  • work in the "cloud" (allows you to draw an image together with other artists online);
  • imitate drawing with a brush, oil, paint, pencil and other tools.

Of course, all the standard options are in place here. Therefore, if you need a free professional drawing program, go to the office. website .

PixBuilder Studio - the second analogue of Photoshop

Another professional program for drawing on a computer is PixBuilder Studio. It is also similar to Photoshop, but unlike the previous version, it supports the Russian language.


Its main functions:

  • creation of raster and web graphics;
  • high-quality blur and sharpening effects;
  • multi-stage cancellation of operations.

Graffiti Studio - for graffiti lovers

This is a unique program for drawing graffiti. Designed more for fun, but fans of street art will definitely like it.


Its main features:

  • background selection (cars, buses, walls, etc.);
  • huge color palette (more than 100 colors);
  • realistic options (adding smudges, using markers, etc.).

And most importantly - the drawings are obtained as real. That's what this app is all about. Link to download Graffiti Studio.

Paint Tool SAI - for anime fans

And the last one on this list is an anime drawing program. If you've always dreamed of drawing manga characters, you can try your hand at Paint Tool SAI. Although this application is also suitable for creating portraits and landscapes.


The main features of the program for drawing anime:

  • many brushes;
  • pencils of various softness;
  • a set of useful tools (there is a fine-tuning of each of them).

It also supports working with several drawings at once and combining them through layers. Link

Do you want to paint beautiful pictures, but don't want to spend money on materials? This is no longer a problem! Today, digital technologies have come to replace paints and canvases, which have made painting an incredibly convenient and exciting experience.

Mouse or graphics tablet?

This choice depends on your drawing skills. If you went to art school or are just a confident pencil and brush user, you'll be more comfortable working with a graphics tablet. If you still do not know how to draw, then you can easily start with a computer mouse.

As with any art form, drawing requires a certain amount of skill. The more confidently you use the tool, the more accurate the picture is. Someone creates second-rate drawings on a cool graphics tablet, and someone writes masterpieces using a regular computer mouse.

Choose a tool based on your abilities and skills, and special programs will help you turn your ideas into reality.

What program to draw in?

The modern world is changing everything, and anyone can become anyone, even an artist. In order to draw, it is not necessary to work in some special place, it is enough just to have programs for drawing art on your computer. This article shows the most famous of these programs.

Any graphics editor can be called an art drawing program, although not every such editor is able to please your desires. It is for this reason that this list will include a variety of programs with different functionality. Most importantly, each of the programs can become both a separate tool in your hands, and enter your set, which you can use in different ways.

This graphic editor is not intended for drawing art. More precisely, it was not designed for this. When it was created, the programmers were inspired by children, and the fact that it is in childhood that we become who we are now. This children's program has musical accompaniment, many tools, but is not very suitable for drawing quality art.

artweaver

This art program is very similar to Adobe Photoshop. It has everything that Photoshop has - layers, corrections, the same tools. But not all tools are available in free version, and this is an important disadvantage.

ArtRage

ArtRage is the most unique program in this collection. The fact is that the program has a set of tools that is great for drawing not only with a pencil, but also with paints, both oil and watercolor. Moreover, the image drawn by these tools is very similar to the real one. Also in the program there are layers, stickers, stencils and even tracing paper. The main advantage is that each tool can be customized and saved as a separate template, thereby expanding the capabilities of the program.

Paint.NET

If Artweaver was like Photoshop, then this program is more like standard Paint with the power of Photoshop. It has tools from Paint, layers, correction, effects, and even getting an image from a camera or scanner. Plus, it's completely free. The only negative is that sometimes it works much slower with 3D images.

inkscape

This art drawing program is pretty powerful tool in the hands of an experienced user. It has a very wide functionality and a lot of possibilities. Of the possibilities, the most prominent is the conversion of a raster image to a vector one. There are also tools for working with layers, text and paths.

GIMP

This photo editor is another copy of Adobe Photoshop, but it has a few differences. However, these differences are rather superficial. Here, too, there is work with layers, image correction and filters, but there is also image transformation, moreover, access to it is quite easy.

Paint Tool Sai

A huge number of various instrument settings allow you to create an almost new instrument, which is a plus of the program. Plus, you can customize the toolbar directly. But, unfortunately, all this is available only for one day, and then you have to pay.

In our modern time, it is not necessary to be able to draw in order to create art, it is enough just to have one of the programs presented in this list. They all have one common goal, but almost each of them approaches this goal in different ways, however, with the help of these programs you can create truly beautiful and unique art. What art creation software do you use?

Today, paintings or art created using a computer are of no less interest than ordinary canvases painted on paper. Controlling the mouse cursor is no easier than guiding a canvas with a pencil or brush. Some artists who are professional electronic painters use special devices like graphics tablets to eliminate the mouse, but in this case special software is needed.

Consider best programs to create art on personal computer for both amateur and professional environments. Let's designate the key features of the software, ease of use and availability of products for different users. We will not mention the venerable "Photoshop", because literally all PC artists already know about its existence and widespread dominance in our computers, but we will analyze the less well-known and sensible drawing utilities.

Paint.NET

This is a basic art creation program that is included in almost every copy of the Windows platform. She has at her disposal all the tools necessary for initial drawing: a brush, a pencil, an eraser and a fill. Moreover, each instrument has a dozen varieties: thickness, saturation, handicap, etc.

For connoisseurs of virtual art in the style of abstractionism and cubism, the art creation program provides shapes of a triangle, a rectangle, an expanding ellipse, polyhedrons and a cloud of conversations for comics. With support for graphic formats, there are also no problems. On the official Microsoft resource and on amateur sites, you can find some additional plug-ins and add-ons that greatly expand the capabilities of the program for creating art, turning it into a real monster of art.

You can recommend the utility to any novice artist, as they say, to test the pen. You can’t count on creating some serious canvases with the help of this program, but it’s quite possible to fill your hand.

The GIMP

This is a fairly powerful program for creating pixel art, and in terms of its functionality, it is as close as possible to the legendary Photoshop. The capabilities of the utility allow you not only to draw a picture from scratch, but also to apply many effects to ready-made images. In addition, the functionality of the program easily copes with the initial layout of sites or some other design layouts.

The program for GIMP supports multi-layered work with images, detailed setting tools, the most accurate color calibration, and so on. The utility also supports professional graphics tablets, so it can be recommended to both experienced artists and beginners.

inkscape

Another well-designed program for creating pop art and complex drawing. The utility allows you to perform any operations with contours, edit the gradient, change the style and type of nodes. In general, the software provides almost everything to draw professional masterpieces of art.

In addition, in the settings you can find a large number of preset shapes that you can change as you like. The program supports convenient "hot keys" and export not only to all popular graphic formats, but also to specific ones, such as XML. Professional draftsmen have a place to turn around in the fields of Inkscape, but it will be difficult for amateurs to figure out all the nuances and specifics of the utility, so they'd better choose something simpler or study the manual thoroughly.

SmoothDraw

This is a great program for creating art from photos. The utility has been adopted by tens of thousands of users, including both professional artists and beginner amateurs. Here, as in previous programs, there is no need to thoroughly study the menu and the available tools - just open a new file and give free rein to your imagination with the help of an intuitive and competently visualized functionality.

At your disposal - layering of objects, rotation of the canvas in all axes, blending modes and sub-pixel anti-aliasing levels. In addition to the standard set of tools for painting on finished photos or from scratch, the utility includes rare ready-made brushes like graffiti, stars, grass or water drops. Also, the program fully supports graphics tablets, which is a clear plus for such software.

PixBuilder Studio

Another program for editing and creating pixel art, that is, raster graphics. The capabilities of the software also allow you to calmly work out the design of websites, so the utility is enviably popular with webmasters, competing with the eminent Photoshop.

In addition to the already familiar basic set of tools, there is work with layers, multi-stage undo operations, adjustment of curve lines and levels, as well as adjustment of the popular Bloom (blur) and sharpening effects. Also, the user has the opportunity to customize the interface at his own discretion: fix tools, display important options as separate elements, etc. Working with the program is quite comfortable for both professionals and amateur beginners.

Manga Studio

This is a special program for creating anime art. The user has access to a chic set of tools for drawing manga and comics. Those who have thoroughly studied the manual and are well versed with the menu branches as well as with hot keys, consider the utility to be the most convenient for sculpting anime.

All the tools, and customizable ones, are always at your fingertips: screenton, coloring, black contour, brightener, etc. If you are unfamiliar with software of this kind, but you really want to draw anime, then an extended version of the program step by step instructions to choose from - illustrations or videos, where all the nuances of this event are explained in detail - from the basics to creating professional manga canvases.

livebrush

This utility can be called a vivid example of how a high-quality drawing game for children should look like. Despite its specificity, the program enjoys enviable popularity among established artists.

One of the distinguishing features of this software is vector patterns, where the user can apply a pattern of given shapes and sizes. Here you can easily decorate Slavic or Oriental ornaments, some kind of symmetrical nets or Gothic patterns. The already huge selection of brushes can be expanded with your own settings or you can download an even larger assortment from both the developer's official resource and other amateur resources.

The software proved to be excellent in working with graphic tablets and fully supports all stylus protocols. Moreover, the program monitors not only the pressure on the pen, but also its inclination, which for many artists is a critical moment when choosing utilities of this kind.

PaintTool SAI

This utility, along with Manga Studio, has become popular with fans of Japanese comics. In addition, many users called it a program for creating art on Minecraft because of the specific and convenient tools for this business. The utility is also perfect for those who like to draw landscapes and portraits in the style of hyperrealism or pop art.

A wide range of tools is available to the user: ballpoint pens, ink, dozens of brushes, pencils of different softness, pastels, watercolors, etc. Moreover, each individual tool can be customized to fit your needs. It is also possible to work with several canvases in parallel and support for multi-layered objects. This software is used by both professional artists and novice amateurs, and as mentioned above, this is an almost ideal program for creating art for Minecraft.

Affinity Designer

This is a good software for creating art with a classic design and a familiar set of tools. Here you will find a large assortment of brushes, gradients and other auxiliary modes. Among other masses of similar utilities, this program stands out in that it does an excellent job with vector objects and can easily process raster images. Many people use this software not only for drawing from scratch, but for photo retouching and further processing into an art work.

One of the obvious disadvantages of the program is the lack of support for third-party plugins. All that is available to the user is a small list of add-ons on the developer's official resource. The latter, by the way, promised to correct this defect in the very near future. But even without additional plugins, the utility is capable of a lot and will delight you with intuitive functionality with good artistic capabilities.

Summarizing

Drawing is a specific thing. Someone likes to sculpt landscapes, someone prefers to draw faces, and don't feed someone with bread - let them turn all reality into Japanese manga. Despite the similarity of all the above products and functionality, each utility has some of its own distinctive features.

Before you start creating another masterpiece that your friends will admire, be sure to consider the focus and set of tools of a particular art program. It is better to spend a couple of hours studying the manual of the software you like than to port your work to another utility with data loss due to lack of some kind of brush.

So, you bought a graphics tablet. In addition to the fact that you still have to get used to it and "fill your hand", you need to immediately decide on a graphic editor that will reveal all the possibilities of your new device to the maximum. And if you think that you can only draw in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, then you are greatly mistaken.

In addition to the world-famous and undoubtedly cool Adobe products, there are many graphic editors, offering the same functionality, but for less money, and sometimes even for free. In addition, some programs boast a unique interface with many interesting features that designers and illustrators will definitely appreciate.

We have compiled a list of programs where you can fully draw with a graphics tablet, imitating various artistic techniques, make sketches, create raster and vector images, and practice lettering and calligraphy.

Corel Painter X3

Painter X3 simulates traditional brushes, textures, dry and wet effects to incredible accuracy. Thanks to this, there is an almost complete immersion in a real artist's studio, where there is no computer and monitor, only an easel and canvas.

Painter Lite

The lighter and cheaper version of Painter offers all the necessary painting tools, but at a lower price. A great option for those who are just starting to draw and are not ready for significant spending.

Clip Paint Studio PRO

Although this program was developed specifically for drawing manga, Clip Paint Studio has gone quite far and can be used in industry-standard digital painting with the same success. The program has incredibly handy features, such as ready-made shapes that you can use as a nature for drawing poses.

Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 7

SketchBook Pro is a professional drawing application optimized specifically for tablet devices. Drawing in it is easy and pleasant, which will undoubtedly be appreciated by novice users.

ArtRage 4

A program with incredible tools and the most attractive interface. Drawing in it is easy and pleasant. Focused on creating realistic images.

Xara Photo and Graphic Designer 9

Photo editing, drawing, unusual effects - not all the possibilities of Xara Photo. Users will appreciate the compatibility of file formats and the low price of the product.

Affinity Designer

The program supports working with layers, import / export of different file formats, a convenient navigator and all the tools for working with vector graphics that you can think of. Affinity Designer is a kind of "killer" Adobe Illustrator. The only drawback of this program may be that it is only for MAC. But the price is more than pleasant.

inkscape

Free and handy vector illustrator, which is essentially a symbiosis of CorelDRAW and Adobe Illustrator. The remarkable support for pen pressure sensitivity, a big shortage in the vector illustration world, makes Inkscape a powerful tool for those who are serious about calligraphy.

By the way, Inkscape has an excellent resource in seven languages, including Russian, which is very rare even for commercial graphic programs. On the Inkscape website, you can not only download the program, but also read articles, study lessons, participate in discussions, and much more. There is also an opportunity to become one of the developers and testers of the product and bring useful features to it.

artweaver

A raster graphics program that looks like a symbiosis of Painter and Photoshop. Compared to GIMP, it is slower in processing, but with a much larger set of brushes. Broad Wacom tablet support.

GIMP

Colorful and functional raster program for drawing, illustrating. By appearance interface and features similar to Corel Painter. Broad Wacom tablet support.

MyPaint

A resource-friendly and easy-to-use open-source software for digital artists. Allows you to concentrate on creativity, not the program interface. Tablet support is well implemented.

SmoothDraw

And here is another noteworthy drawing program - ten thousand beginners and professional artists managed to download this wonderful development for free. You don't have to spend time learning menus and tools - just open a new file and show off your talents with clear visualized features.

Blending modes, layers, virtual canvas rotation, sub-pixel anti-aliasing are available to users. Except standard means painting app contains special tools like graffiti, water drops, stars, grass. Synchronization with tablets is also implemented.

Paint Tool SAI

Don't be intimidated by the clean SAI interface, as this is the de facto program standard for most Japanese anime artists. It also has a line correction function to create sharper contours.

Serif Draw Plus (starter edition)

Serif DrawPlus offers all the tools to work with raster and vector graphics. Here you can create interesting prints, make logos, edit photos or draw using a lot of custom effects, including 3D. Truly a godsend for novice illustrators and designers, moreover, completely free of charge!

All of the programs on the list will make great alternatives to Adobe products, even if you're not ready to admit it just yet. It's enough to give them a chance, and who knows, maybe in a couple of weeks you won't even remember about Photoshop! Moreover, for some products you don’t have to pay at all. Don't be afraid to try new things, push boundaries and improve!