Today, paintings or art created using a computer cause no less interest than ordinary canvases written on paper. Managing the mouse cursor is no easier than driving the canvas with a pencil or brush. Some artists who are professionally engaged in electronic art of drawing resort to using special devices such as graphic tablets, which eliminates the mouse, but in this case special software is needed.
Consider the best programs for creating art on a personal computer both for the amateur environment and for the professional. We denote the key features of software, ease of use and accessibility of products for different users. We will not mention the venerable “Photoshop”, because literally all PC artists already know about its existence and the widespread dominance in our computers, but let’s take a look at less well-known and sensible drawing utilities.
Paint.net
This is the basic program for creating art, which is included in almost every copy of the Windows platform. At her disposal there are all the necessary tools for the initial drawing: brush, pencil, eraser and fill. Moreover, each instrument has a dozen varieties: thickness, saturation, handicap, etc.
For connoisseurs of virtual art in the style of abstract art and cubism, the program for creating art includes figures of a triangle, a rectangle, a stretching ellipse, polyhedrons and a cloud of talk for comics. With the support of graphic formats, there are also no problems. On the official Microsoft resource and on amateur sites, you can find some additional plugins and add-ons that greatly expand the program’s capabilities for creating art, turning it into a real art monster.
You can recommend the utility to any novice artist, as they say, to try the pen. You can’t count on creating any serious paintings 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 by its functionality it is as close as possible to the legendary Photoshop. The capabilities of the utility allow not only to paint a picture from scratch, but also to impose many effects on ready-made images. In addition, the program’s functionality calmly copes with the initial layout of sites or some other design layouts.
The program for creating art drawings GIMP supports multi-layer work with images, detailed adjustment of tools, the most accurate color calibration, and more. The utility also supports professional graphics tablets, so you can recommend it 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 predefined shapes that can be changed as you wish. The program supports convenient "hot keys" and export not only to all popular graphic formats, but also specific ones, such as XML. Professional draftsmen have a place to turn around in the Inkscape fields, but it will be difficult for amateurs to understand all the nuances and specifics of the utility, so they should choose something simpler or study the manual well.
SmoothDraw
This is a great program for creating art from photos. The utility was adopted by tens of thousands of users, including professional artists and amateur beginners. There is no need, as in previous programs, 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 intuitive and competently visualized functionality.
At your disposal are multi-layer objects, canvas rotation along all axes, blending modes and sub-pixel smoothing levels. In addition to the standard set of tools for painting on ready-made photos or from scratch, the utility includes rare ready-made brushes like graffiti, stars, grass or drops of water. The program also fully supports graphic tablets, which is a clear plus for such software.
PixBuilder Studio
Another program for editing and creating pixel art, that is, raster graphics. The software’s capabilities also allow you to calmly develop web site design, so the utility is enviable among webmasters, competing with the eminent Photoshop.
In addition to the already familiar basic set of tools, there is work with layers, multi-step cancellation of operations, setting the lines of curves and levels, as well as fitting popular effects "Bloom" (blur) and sharpness. The user also 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 in the menu branches as well as with hot keys, consider the utility the most convenient for sculpting anime.
All the tools, and customizable, are always at your fingertips: scrinton, coloring, black outline, clarifier, etc. If you are unfamiliar with software of this kind, and you really want to draw an anime, then an extended version of the program with step-by-step instructions is at your service you can choose from illustrations or videos that explain in detail all the nuances of this event - from the basics to the creation of professional manga paintings.
Livebrush
This utility can be called a vivid example of what a high-quality drawing machine for children should look like. Despite its specificity, the program is also enviable among established artists.
One of the distinguishing features of this software is its vector patterns, where the user can apply a drawing of specified shapes and sizes. Here you can easily decorate Slavic or oriental ornaments, some symmetrical nets or Gothic patterns. And without that, a huge selection of brushes can be expanded with your own settings or you can download an even larger assortment both from the official developer resource and from other amateur resources.
The software has proved to be excellent in working with graphic tablets and fully supports all stylus protocols. Moreover, the program monitors not only the power of pressing the pen, but also its slope, which for many artists is a critical moment when choosing utilities of such a plan.
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 due to the specific and convenient toolkit for this. The utility is also perfect for lovers of landscapes and portraits in the style of hyperrealism or pop art.
The user has access to a wide range of tools: ballpoint pens, ink, dozens of brushes, pencils of various softnesses, pastels, watercolors, etc. Moreover, each individual tool can be customized to fit your specific needs. There is also the possibility of parallel work with multiple canvases and support for multi-layer objects. This software is used by both professional artists and novice amateurs, and as mentioned above - this is an almost perfect program for creating artworks 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 is distinguished by the fact that it copes with vector objects perfectly and can easily process bitmap images. Many people use this software not so much for drawing from scratch as for retouching photos and further processing into an artwork.
One of the obvious drawbacks 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 official resource of the developer. The latter, by the way, promised to correct this defect in the very near future. But even without additional plug-ins, the utility is capable of much and will please you with intuitive functionality with good artistic capabilities.
Summarizing
Drawing is a specific matter. Someone likes to sculpt landscapes, someone prefers to draw faces, and someone does not feed bread - let all the reality be turned into Japanese manga. Despite the similarity of all the above products and functionality, each utility has some of its own distinctive features.
Before embarking on the creation of 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 then port your work to another utility with data loss for lack of some kind of brush.