The best digital art software in 2019

When it comes to the best digital art software, there’s quite few options to choose from. In this post, we’ve rounded up and reviewed the best digital art and illustration programs available right now, to help you pick the right ones for you. For art on the go, take a look at our pick of the best drawing apps for iPad. Concept board frames artist Sydney helps you company with any digital art project for your clients.

There are plenty of tools on the market that are aimed at helping you to create unique pieces of digital art or mimic traditional effects. For a long time, a few tools dominated this space, but as competition grows we’re seeing many of the best digital software creators upping their game by adding new features and capabilities. As a result, the market is looking stronger than ever. 

On budget? You’ll find plently of affordable options here. Plus, if you need more design-focussed tools, don’t miss our round up of the best free graphic design software too. 

In this guide there’s software for Windows and macOS, and we’ve even included a few Linux tools too. There are also free and paid options, depending on your budget. So grab your best stylus and let’s get this show on the road.

01. Photoshop

Everything you need to unleash your creativity

For a long time, Photoshop was king of the digital art tools, but increasingly competitors’ offerings have been challenging its crown. However, the latest update has brought with it a host of new features and much-needed improvements to the existing tools, and Photoshop remains a hugely capable and powerful tool.

Because it’s part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, 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 to the programme. Find out more in our Photoshop CC 2019 review.

02. Affinity Designer

A precise vector graphic design tool

Affinity Designer has everything you need to create custom designs and illustrations. With Affinity Designer, you have precise control over curves, brush stabilisation options, advanced blend modes, and best of all: one million+ per cent zoom (no, really – this might just be our favourite feature). While this is a dedicated vector tool, you can switch to a pixel environment if you wish. There’s a companion app for designing on the go, too: Affinity Designer for iPad.

03. Procreate

This isn’t digital art software as we know it – Procreate is for iPad only. However, it’s such an impressive tool we’re starting to see more and more digital artists integrating it into their workflows, which is why we’ve included it in our list. This app packs in most of the capabilities you’d find in a desktop tool, including precise colour-picker tools, the ability to work with hundreds of layers, and industry-standard tools such as masks, Blend Modes and groups. 

Choose from over 130 Procreate brushes (or make your own using the brush engine), to mimic different traditional art effects easily and effectively. There’s also full PSD support. Procreate recently teased the addition of a text tool, making it an even stronger option for digital artists.

04. Clip Studio Paint

Clip Studio Paint is quickly becoming the go-to tool for manga art and comic creation. If you’re looking for a natural and traditional feel that’s wrapped up in a digital drawing and painting app, this is it. Clip Studio Paint uses advanced pen pressure detection for natural, realistic-looking pen strokes. This tool comes in Pro and Ex versions – the latter offers more advanced features, and is considerably more expensive. You can try either for free for 30 days, to see if you get on with it.

05. Artweaver 6

Artweaver 6 is a full-featured digital art tool available in two flavours: Artweaver Free and Artweaver Plus. Take a look at the comparison chart to help you decide which is right for you. Loaded with a large selection of preconfigured brushes, Artweaver will have you creating your masterpiece in no time. You can either use the brushes as they are, or customise and save them to your liking. Its easy-to-use interface is also highly customisable, although out of the box, it’s set up quite nicely.

06. ArtRage 5

ArtRage has always been a favourite among digital painters and illustrators. It offers a level of realism for traditional paint texture and colour that not only looks incredible but is also a lot of fun to play with. Although ArtRage is primarily focused on natural media and painting, it’s flexible enough that digital artists who are used to Photoshop will find it useful too. With the latest edition, you can do everything you’d expect from a digital art tool: custom brushes, layers, fills, filters, and more.

07. Krita

A free and open source painting program

Krita seems to be one of the most underrated free and open source painting apps on the market, despite it being in development for over 10 years. Krita has an intuitive and customisable interface, where the dockers and panels can be set up to maximise your workflow. The tool offers nine unique brush engines, including a Color 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.

08. CorelDRAW

CorelDRAW graphics suite has been around a while, but for a long time it’s been Windows-only (save for a brief Mac effort a few years ago that’s best forgotten). With its 2019 release, Corel announced the native Mac app we’d all been waiting for was finally coming (with Touch Bar support) – as well as a slimmed down browser-based CorelDRAW.app, for creating on the go. 

Elsewhere, the CorelDRAW suite offers a tools for a wide range creative needs, from vector design to photo editing, web or print. There’s also a new AI-powered LiveSketch feature. All this will cost you, though.

09. TwistedBrush Pro Studio

TwistedBrush comes packed with more than 9,000 brushes. Yes, you read that correctly – 9,000 brushes. But don’t worry, you can still create your own brushes too. Like other digital art tools, TwistedBrush has everything you’d expect: 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.

However, this tool will set you back around $120 for a version-specific license. For that price, it might be worth considering one of the bigger names.

10. MediBang Paint Pro

A free tool with everything you need to illustrate comics

If comics or manga art are your thing and you don’t want to shell out for Clip Studio Paint, have a look at Paint Pro from Japanese company MediBang. This free, lightweight digital drawing tool comes loaded with 800 free pre-made tones and backgrounds, plus more than 50 brushes, and a huge selection of free fonts.

Why Women want a Hens Party

Is there anything wrong with women wanting a hens party? Absolutely not! A hens night venues Melbourne is considered the last event the women has to really let her hair down and be set free before she ties the knot.

There is more and more talk about women wanting to hit the top of Corporate Organisations, sit on Boards or just be seen on the same level as men.  A Hens Party allows the bride to be number one, bet at the top of her helm and truly bring out her inner self.

A hens party can be naughty or nice.  The controlling women (or should I say Bridezillas!) will organise the party themselves but really a hens party should be organised by the bridesmaids, the ladies/men (more and more brides are having men in their bridal party these days) the bride has entrusted to help her make it to the big day! Bridesmaids should know the Bride back to front so anything arranged should not leave the bride disgruntled and upset but instead over the moon from having had the night of her life.  That’s why women want a hens party! They want to remember their last night of freedom!

Remember a hens party does not need to be out of control.  If the bride would like a subdued last free night then you can give her one.  There are always little novelties, games, fun items which can be purchased to add a little naughtiness and fun to any hens party.  Day Spas, Scones and Tea, Themed dinner events are very popular for the quieter Brides.  For those wanting to hit the town then there are thousands of options! Dinner then a night club, party bus, winery tour, pole dancing, strippers, these are just some of the ideas.  You can even have the hens party at the brides house!! Bring the male model topless waiters to you, have the pizzas delivered by a stripper disguised as the pizza delivery boy, decorate the house, use your imagination!!!  Now can you see why women want a hens party.

Why wouldn’t women want a hens party when it means they can spend the day and night with their girlfriends.  How often is it that you get all your friends from all walks of life at the one place for you! But for a hens party and wedding they all come out of the woodwork, they wouldn’t miss it for the world. This is why women want a hens party.

Charity car donation – steps to take

Donate now to help treat fistula patients and transform the lives of women in need.

You can donate your car to a wide range of charity organizations, but picking the most representative ones requires getting some previous information. So before actually donating your car, make sure you get some relevant info about the charity organization, its purposes, projects and usage of your car. You might find out that there are various organizations that have different goals and you will probably find, among them, a great cause and possibility to donate your car to something meaningful. Even more, make sure that your car is going to go to an eligible organization that is serious in its acts and has valid previous work. In order to be sure, speaking directly with the charity agents is the safest way to go. In fact, the IRS requests that the donors are aware of the type of the fundraiser society they choose. When talking to the charity representatives, the most important information regards the exact usage of your car, if it will be sold, fixed up, offered to the less fortunate people and so on. Besides these, you should check up if the charity organization is qualified and in order to know that for sure, you can review the organization’s state registrations and financial situations, administrative costs and charitable programs. Charitable donations and car evaluations. Another important thing before donating your car is evaluating it in a correct way. There are various guides on the market that offer elaborate instructions, in order to establish the valid value of your car, depending on its general condition, accessories, age and mileage. After making sure that you selected the correct charitable organization and the optimum evaluation, you should be aware of the fact that you are required to complete and attach an IRS form to your tax return, in case you are claiming a car donation that values 500 $ or above. Donating a used car to charity is a great solution if you are planning to purchase a new car or if you are simply willing to contribute to a charitable activity. Knowing and following some steps before the actual car donation avoids further worries, as it makes the process a safe and fulfilling one. Are there any hidden facts about used car donation that I should be aware of? First of all, not every used car donation programs are functioning legally. Before you make your used car donation, you should check with the IRS if the charity is a non-profit organization listed under paragraph 501 (c) (3) in the IRS Publication 78. Secondly, check out if the used car donation program is run in-house by the charity itself or by a third party. If a third party is operating the used car donation program, you should ask what percent of the profit made by selling the donated cars actually goes to the charity. Often, third-party operated used car donation programs produce small amounts of money for the charity. Smaller charities do not afford the costs of transportation and storage for the donated cars, not to mention the costs involved in charity auctions. This is the main reason why charities accept to have their used car donation programs run buy third-party brokers.