Digital art has opened up exciting new creative possibilities for artists. With the right software, illustrators, designers, and fine artists can bring their visual ideas to life like never before. But with so many options on the market, it can be tricky to determine which digital art programs are really worth your time and money.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll highlight the top seven digital art software tools that deliver professional-grade capabilities without costing a fortune. For each option, we’ll overview standout features, advantages, and limitations to help you find the perfect fit for your artistic needs and budget.
1. Adobe Photoshop
For over 30 years, Adobe Photoshop has reigned supreme as the industry standard software for raster graphics editing and manipulation. This extremely versatile program packs a wide variety of capabilities into one interface, including layers, selections, masking, filters, and more.
While Photoshop lacks built-in vector tools, it excels at pixel-based artwork and photo manipulation. The software also shines when it comes to features that mimic traditional art techniques. For example, Photoshop’s brush system features numerous customizable markers, pens, pencils, and paintbrushes to simulate the experience of working with real media. Adjustable brush settings give artists pinpoint control over characteristics like opacity, scatter, texture, wet edges, and color mixing.
Other advantages of Photoshop include its seamless integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud apps and its vast collection of plugins and extensions available. On the downside, it requires a monthly or annual paid subscription. But for professional artists and designers, the cost delivers immense value.
Best For: Photo editing, matte painting, illustration, concept art, graphic design
2. Procreate
Serious iPad artists turn to Procreate for its organic, natural feel and responsive 64-bit drawing engine. The multi-touch interface makes drawing, sketching, and painting incredibly fluid and intuitive. And support for Apple Pencil transforms the iPad into a true digital canvas.
A key advantage of Procreate lies in its superb brush system. The app ships with over 140 customizable brushes, with advanced settings that control aspects like texture, bleed, tilt, and streamline. The unique combination of tactile input methods and realistic brush behaviors makes Procreate feel more like conventional media. Even professionals are impressed by how closely it mimics the experience of applying graphite, ink, or paint to paper.
Other pros of Procreate include its basic vector tools, robust layer system, gorgeous artistic filters, easy gif/video export, and one-time purchase cost. Limitations stem mostly from the confined screen space of iPads. Still, Procreate delivers incredible bang for the buck and remains a go-to for mobile illustration.
Best For: Tablet painting, drawing, sketching, concept art
3. Affinity Photo
Affinity Photo represents the new generation of subscription-free creative suites built to rival Adobe. Marketed as a Photoshop alternative, Affinity packs remarkable editing and retouching capabilities. Yet its speed leaves Photoshop in the dust thanks to efficient coding optimized for modern hardware.
Beyond performance gains, Affinity Photo stands out through unique artistic tools. Specialized Personas modify the interface to streamline complex tasks like raster painting or developing RAW photos. The liquify persona even makes manipulating images intuitive. Meanwhile, the Develop persona provides non-destructive RAW processing. Sophisticated controls like lens corrections, noise reduction, and tone adjustments help perfect photos before editing.
Additional Affinity perks include native file format support, crystal clear Retina display views, and one-off payment. Just $54.99 unlocks a professional-grade editor and true Photoshop competitor. Still, Affinity lacks some niche features like content-aware fill. But for most artists, its brush engines, artistic filters, and adjustment layers provide all they need.
Best For: Photo manipulation, concept art, illustration, painting, graphic design
4. Corel Painter
Hailed as the digital painter’s choice, Corel Painter strives to bring traditional fine arts workflows into the digital realm. Its expansive feature set recreates analog tools ranging from oils and acrylics to pens, pencils, and erasers. Even pastels, sumi-e brushes, impasto knifing, cloners…if the medium exists in the real world, Painter likely simulates it digitally.
Such exhaustive media support makes the software unmatched for imitating conventional techniques. Artists can blend, glaze, smear, and scratch paint using pressure-sensitive brushes. Unique controls over brush loading, blending, reshaping, particle spray, and interaction with underlying layers take realism to new heights. Add in advanced support for graphics tablets, and Painter provides the most authentic hands-on painting experience outside of working on canvas.
Downsides of Painter include its steep learning curve and higher cost. Still, the premium price brings professional capabilities for commercial illustration, concept art production, and fine art reproduction. No competitor can match its sheer depth and customization.
Best For: Digital painting, illustration, concept art, abstract art, impasto
5. Clip Studio Paint
For artists focused strictly on drawing and inking, Clip Studio Paint represents an affordable, yet full-featured option. Intuitive tools optimize workflows for creating concept art, illustration, comics, and manga.
The software shines through its expansive options for emulating traditional drawing media. Users can configure pens, pencils, markers, and brushes via settings like opacity, texture, blending, tilt, and stabilization. Support for graphic tablets allows for remarkable pressure sensitivity and control. Smooth lines, natural strokes, and dynamic results make Clip Studio a favorite for illustration perfectionists.
On top of sophisticated drawing/inking, Clip Studio incorporates useful comic creation features. Specialized rulers, speedlines textures, screentone fills, panel tools, and multi-page management streamline workflows for crafting comics or manga. A customizable workspace also boosts efficiency.
Available standalone or subscription-based, Clip Studio keeps costs reasonable for hobbyists and professionals alike. Still, it lacks advanced photo editing or painting capabilities. But for draftsmen seeking the purest modern drawing experience, few can compete.
Best For: Illustration, inking, concept art, comics, manga
6. Krita
Krita stands tall as feature-packed digital painting software available completely free and open source. Don’t let the zero cost fool you – Krita offers professional-level tools on par with premium competitors.
At its core, Krita focuses on emulating both physical paint on canvas and techniques used by digital painting masters. Users gain over 100 highly customizable brush engines ranging from simple pens to particle, waveform, grids, and more esoteric tools. Paired with robust color mixing, brush stabilizers, and dynamic stroke support, Krita makes vibrant, textured works easy.
But Krita’s utilities extend far beyond basic digital painting. Built-in wraparound mode, HDR and SDR painting, perspective aids, clones, grids, and advanced layer grouping reveal its versatility. Expandability via Python plug-ins provides unlimited options for advanced users. Better still, smoothed curves and vector tools allow cleaner lines for comics, logos, illustrations and more.
With professional-grade design and completely free usage, Krita poses an unmatched value. The only caveat lies in its learning curve. Mastering advanced features takes time even for experienced creatives. But skillful artists who take the time will relish its immense depth.
Best For: Digital painting, concept art, illustration, texture painting, expansions
7. MediBang Paint Pro
For artists on ultra-tight budgets, MediBang Paint Pro presents a straightforward free solution. The lightweight program focuses strictly on comic art creation and illustration. But its efficient toolbox provides all necessities for drafting panels, pages, and graphics.
MediBang’s strength stems from speed. Quick shortcuts, snap-to-grid options, and intuitive workflows aid comic development. Templates allow users to skip straight to pages, chapters, covers, or panels. Customizable brushes, premade backgrounds, vibrant screentone fills and extensive comic font support boost efficiency further still. Creatives can even import 3D models as drawing references.
For basic comic creation/editing MediBang delivers ample capabilities free of charge. However, some limitations exist. Painting tools remain relatively basic and unavailable on mobile versions. Advanced artists may desire more customization, brush types, and export options too. Still, hobbyists and casual comic artists shouldn’t hesitate leveraging MediBang’s simplicity.
Best For: Drafting comics & manga
Key Considerations for Selecting Digital Art Software
With so many varied options for digital art software, it helps to narrow options by weighing a few key factors:
Desired Focus
- Does your work revolve around painting, drawing, photo manipulation, comics, concept art or a blend of disciplines?
- Prioritize software with features tailored to your specialty for best results.
Platform Compatibility
- What devices/operating systems will you be working from?
- Certain programs only function on Windows, Mac, or iOS. Check compatibility before purchase.
Learning Curve
- Are you a total beginner or seasoned professional?
- Beginner-friendly apps feature simpler interfaces and tools, while pro versions offer greater customization at the cost of steeper learning curves.
Pricing
- Do you need one-time-purchase or subscription plan?
- Weigh cost vs. available features and updates to balance affordability with capabilities.
By evaluating the above criteria against your own artistic objectives, you can zero in on digital art software aligned with both budget and goals. Test out free trial versions when possible, watch tutorial videos, or download free entry-level programs like Krita or MediBang Paint to get started. Proper tools can make all the difference in unlocking exciting new digital art capabilities.
Putting the Best Digital Art Software to Work
Thanks to constant evolution in the digital creative space, artists in all visual fields have more choices than ever for bringing illustrations, paintings, comics and photo manipulations to life digitally. Whether designing on an intuitive tablet with Procreate, mastering fine details in Clip Studio, or leveraging Photoshop’s near endless features, picking the right software unlocks game-changing potential.
Set yourself up for digital art excellence by selecting a program purpose-built for your preferred medium and style. Establish efficient workflows by customizing brushes and tools to fit unique needs. Embrace creative freedom through non-destructive editing, unlimited undos and bold experimentation offline. Share visually stunning masterpieces digitally or via high fidelity prints with artists and fans worldwide.
The only limit lies in your imagination. Let the power of digital art software unlock talents and visions once unachievable through conventional means. Bring dreams into reality at the speed of a keystroke thanks to the digital canvas.
