11 Best Free and Paid Drawing Software (2024)

What is the best drawing software?

1. Adobe Photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop is the undisputed industry standard for creating images and graphics. It is particularly suitable for activities such as photo editing, digital painting, graphic design, and animation.

Part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, it offers a set of powerful features to help you design mobile applications, complex illustrations, photographs, 3D art, and more.

It is also capable of editing videos and reproducing paintings, among other things. In a nutshell, you can bring any idea to life with Adobe Photoshop. Among its main features are lens blur, object selection tools, image distortion function, and more.

Features

• Adobe Sensei - This is an integrated AI tool that helps you make quick and accurate selections by drawing simple shapes around the object in question.
• Modern presets - The tool offers intuitive presets such as new gradients, patterns, samples, layers, styles, and shapes.
• Enhanced Transform Warp - You have more options for adding control points or splitting your image with a customizable grid to suit your needs.
• Drawn string mode - This particular feature allows you to easily change the direction of the painting in the middle of the movement.

Pricing

Adobe Photoshop offers 2 pricing plans, namely “Single App” and “Creative Cloud All Apps.” They cost $20.99 and $52.99 per month respectively. There are also a ton of other Adobe software that can be accessed from the same page.

Try Adobe Photoshop

2. CorelDraw.

CorelDraw is a graphic creation and drawing software that is widely used for personal and professional purposes. Although its greatest asset is vector design, you can use it for a variety of purposes, such as creating logos, maps, and brochures.

Corel offers a set of products that meet a specific use, making them highly functional and relevant in their respective fields.

The good news is that it's easy to use and has an intuitive user interface. Additionally, it provides platform-specific versions to ensure that the software can exploit the full potential of the hardware.

You also benefit from numerous customization features for effective graphic creation with Corel painter products.

Features

• Extraordinary precision - It allows you to create highly detailed technical documentation with exact specifications.
• PowerTrace - You can create vector images directly from vector sources and save valuable time with this AI-assisted feature.
• LiveSketch Tool - This tool allows you to instantly use a pen device to digitally shape your ideas.

Pricing

CorelDRAW is offered in 2 pricing plans. The first is the annual subscription and costs $249. The lifetime license costs $424 all at once.

Try CorelDRAW

3. Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is a vector drawing and editing software used by millions of creative artists, website creators, video game creators, book illustrators, advertisers, and brand managers.

It is capable of producing creations with pixel-perfect precision. Professional artists and graphic designers can easily create amazing designs with easily accessible templates and presets.

In fact, it provides over 80 million built-in templates, graphics, videos, and images to make drawing and creating graphics online easy.

Features

• Numerous font styles - You can choose from over 16,000 different fonts to create the perfect design.
• CSS extraction tool - Use this feature to shape highly personalized and dynamic websites.
• Freeform Shape Builder Mode - You can create highly customized shapes and sizes from any design and get inspired by other images.

Pricing

For individuals, Illustrator costs $20.99 per month for annual plans. There are separate plans for businesses, students, and teachers, and schools and universities, where it's available as part of the Creative Cloud.

Try Adobe Illustrator

4. Vector.

Vectr is one of the best free drawing programs available and another great drawing application on this list. One of its most important features is its ability to design vector graphics.

This tool is powerful but decidedly simple to use.

It is suitable for professionals such as creative artists, web creators, social media marketers, and illustrators. You don't need to worry about device compatibility as it's compatible with multiple operating systems including ChromeOS, Linux, Windows, and Mac.

Vectr also offers a simple user interface and all the necessary digital drawing tools, including shape tools, element layout, pen tool, and pathfinder for basic drawing and editing.

However, it lacks some of the advanced features offered by high-end tools.

The good news is that there is now a paid subscription plan with improved features for optimal business use.

Features

• Scaling - The tool allows you to scale images to any size without losing quality. It also makes it possible to create high-quality logos, maps, presentations, etc..
• Real-time collaboration - It allows you to collaborate in real time with colleagues located remotely.
• Automatic sync - Vectr is exceptionally flexible. Whether you use it online or download it to your PC, it will always sync and save your work.
• Advanced Toolset - It allows you to access special shapes and designs like arrows, calendar icons, cliparts, and more.

Pricing

It's free to use and there are no hidden costs.

5. Adobe Express.

Adobe Express is an excellent tool for creating websites, drawing and creating graphics. Used by professionals and students, the software allows transparent collaboration between the different stakeholders of a project.

It also offers deep integration with social media platforms, making it particularly useful for social media marketers.

It is also equipped with various versions that make it easy to create images or posts for a variety of requirements, including web pages, social networking sites, or videos. It also makes it easy to include video clips, photos, voiceovers, and decorative stickers.

With a shorter learning curve, any beginner can quickly understand the features of Adobe Spark to create beautiful designs.

Features

• Multiple images - You can choose from thousands of images on the web, or choose your own images from Dropbox, Google Photos, Lightroom, and more.
• Professional themes - You can choose from a wide range of layouts, colors, and fonts, and manipulate them with icons, text, and photos.
• Automatic sync - The projects you're working on are synced automatically and in real time with all of your devices.

Pricing

In addition to the free version, it offers 2 paid packages, namely “Individual” and “Team”. They cost $9.99 and $19.99 per month respectively. It also offers customized plans on quotation for businesses.

6. Inkscape.

Inkscape is a popular cross-platform drawing program that is compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux operating systems. It is very popular with students, artists who want to create artistic concepts, and graphic designers because of its friendliness.

Inkscape also offers a stable, transparent, and consistent user interface, as well as several tips and tutorials, for using the software effectively. It uses the SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) format to create and design banners, logos or any other medium in vector mode.

Features

• Node editors - These editors help users mold vector shapes, objects, and graphics with greater control.
• Object creation functionality - This feature enhances the reach of common tools such as pencil, calligraphy, and shape tools and allows users to fuel their creativity.
• Object manipulation functionality - It allows users to perform operations on objects, such as moving, scaling, tilting, raising and lowering, and creating image layers to create hierarchy trees.
• Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) - The USP of this tool is the use of SVG as the native format.

Pricing

Inkscape digital art software is free to use.

7. Krita.

Krita is a free drawing software designed by artists who want to create a holistic drawing tool for beginners. This tool is particularly suitable for creating digital paintings, manga and animations. It offers fast performance and extensive features.

Additionally, it offers users multiple tools for blending, rendering, smoothing, mirroring, transforming, color blending, layering, and much more. All of its features work equally well on desktops and tablets.

Features

• Layer Management - This feature helps digital artists manage, group, and combine designs.
• Brush creation - The digital art tool allows you to create personalized brushes digitally for a seamless experience. You can also label these brushes through a unique labeling system.
• Layer visibility options - These options allow you to remove or remove any part of a drawing.
• Enveloping mode - This feature allows creating complex patterns and textures.

Pricing

Krita is a completely free software and an open-source graphics program.

8. GIMP.

The GNU image manipulation program (GIMP) is a cross-platform image editor. It is compatible with operating systems such as GNU/Linux, OS X, Windows, etc. It is one of the best free drawing software, allowing users to modify the source code, making it extremely customizable.

It is particularly suitable for graphic designers, photographers, and illustrators. GIMP features allow users to easily refine images and photos and are equipped with advanced features, including filters and layer masks.

It also offers animation packs and supports downloadable or pre-installed plugins. Some of its core features include gradients, color adjustments, cropping, noise reduction, and customizable brushes.

Features

• High-quality photo manipulation - GIMP provides numerous tools for high-quality photo manipulation like retouching, restoration, and creative composites.
• “Open as layer” command - This allows you to insert an image directly into the layer of another image.
• Scripted image manipulation - The tool allows scripted image manipulation in languages such as C, C++, Python, PERL, etc.

Pricing

It's completely free.

9. PaintTool SAI

PaintTool SAI is an easy to use drawing software that provides you with an environment where you can express your creativity. It has a user-friendly interface and is suitable for professionals such as graphic designers, website builders, and students.

This tool offers many of the benefits of Adobe Photoshop at a lower price. Additionally, the software can minimize distorted images or illustrations in the event that a low resolution image is imported into the software.

This user-friendly tool also offers fully digitized support and ensures compatibility with a variety of devices including laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones.

Features

• Color functionality - It offers a vast collection of colors, as well as a range of shades from light to dark for each color. You can also adjust image saturation and lamination levels.
• Layer tools - Layer tools provide additional flexibility for users. They also allow you to combine and transfer designs, and remove specific parts of an image.
• Brush transformation - Users can turn brushes into erasers, and remove specific parts of the image that are otherwise difficult to erase.

Pricing

Initially, it offers a 31-day free trial. Then, the paid software license costs $50.81 for each license.

10. ArtRage.

ArtRage is an intuitive, simple, and feature-rich drawing software designed to bring out the best in each artist. It has a wide scope of application and you can use it to create symbols, logos, illustrations, T-shirt illustrations, video game concepts, and more.

It offers a digital canvas for oil painting, watercolor, and pencil sketches for professional and beginner digital painters. If you want to create amazing drawings just like in a painting, look no further than ArtRage.

It also offers a range of transformation tools, cloning capabilities, selection options, gradient and pattern filling functions.

It is one of the few digital painting software to have a smartphone application. Its mobile application offers unique features such as editing functions, graphic creation tools, and drawing aids, among others.

Features

• Palette Knife - It allows artists to mix and assemble colors and textures digitally.
• Cloning tool - The cloning tool helps you clone or copy any existing image and its properties for further manipulation.
• Reaction simulation - The tool allows users to simulate real interactions between watercolors, water, and paper.

Pricing

ArtRage costs $80 per license.

11. MyPaint.

MyPaint is a free, open-source graphics editor and painting program. It is compatible and widely used in conjunction with Wacom tablets.

That said, it can also work on Windows, macOS, and Unix, and it's great for creating bitmap images.

One of the benefits of this system is that it is updated regularly.

Its latest version was released at the beginning of 2020 only. Its user interface consists mainly of the web only, and its design consists of sensitive graphics tablets. Users can also easily zoom out to get a larger canvas if needed.

Features

• Comprehensive Tutorials - It provides a comprehensive manual and tutorials for novices.
• Customizable shortcut keys - This feature allows users to exercise extended control while drawing.
• Multiple file formats - The default format for saving images is Open Raster, but users can also save their files in PNG or JPEG formats.

Pricing

This tool is free to use.

Note: Other tools have not yet been reviewed for this list, including Clip Studio Paint, Clip Studio Paint Pro, and MediBang Paint.

What is drawing software?

Drawing software is a computer program that can help you create and visualize works of art on a computer. These tools can be simple or very advanced. Paint is probably the first drawing program that most of us are familiar with.

However, there are much more powerful tools on the market today. Most of them are highly customizable, given the breadth and variety of their uses. Simply put, drawing software allows you to materialize your ideas in digital form using a screen, keyboard, and mouse. The added benefit is that these tools allow you to draw, delete, and redraw with a single click, unlike traditional art.

Great examples of these tools include AutoCAD and QCAD, both of which are widely used for civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering creations. Besides engineers and students, these tools are widely used by professionals in the fields of creative and fine arts, tattoo art, T-shirt design, and more.

How do I use drawing software?

Although the different drawing tools may vary in their characteristics and properties, the way they are used is largely similar. Here is an example of GIMP and how to use it:

• First, choose drawing software. Even if you don't choose GIMP, the next steps will be similar.
• After installing the software, open it and click on the “File” option, then choose “New.”
• You should choose the size of the design you want - there are plenty of options to choose from.
• Choose the tool you want and start drawing.
• If you're an expert, you're probably familiar with all the tools. If you're just starting out, you should spend some time exploring different types of tools. You may get confused by the wide range of tools to choose from, so it's best to try all of them before choosing one.

• Start by drawing a simple picture. Familiarize yourself with methods for drawing shapes such as circles, rectangles, and others. You won't be an expert in one day, so you might as well take your time.
• Then, be sure to save your work. In general, you can save your work in formats like PDF, JPEG, EPS, etc.
• To save your file, you can directly enter 'Shift+Control+S' or do so from the taskbar.

Most drawing tools are easy to use. However, some specific and highly advanced tools, used for particular professional purposes, can be difficult to understand without sufficient expertise.

Summary.

At the end of the day, we all have different software requirements and budgets. It can therefore be said that your choice of drawing software will vary compared to others.

In summary, if you are on a tight budget, you can opt for an option like Adobe Spark or MyPaint.

If you want a complete tool that allows animation and graphic creation, Adobe Photoshop is a great option.

Additionally, if you want extensive customization with a range of brush and color options, you can choose Krita. And for vector graphics, the CorelDraw is a great choice.

Be sure to carefully assess your goals, requirements, and budget before making your final decision.

‍

Other recommended reading: Do you not only want to be excellent at drawing software but also at other types of editing? Here is my list of the best photo editing software And of video editing of the moment.