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.