--- title: ArtRage Reviews meta_title: 'ArtRage Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 73 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how ArtRage works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.4 review_count: 73 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-06-21' parent_category: name: Graphic Design url: https://www.g2.com/categories/graphic-design --- # ArtRage Reviews **Vendor:** Ambient Design Ltd **Category:** [Drawing Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/drawing) **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 73 ## About ArtRage ArtRage is uniquely realistic and intuitive drawing software for real artists. Designed to be easy and fun to use, yet powerful enough for professionals, ArtRage offers a wide range of digital and natural media tools and features. Created by a small company in New Zealand, we pride ourselves on our fantastic user base, the reliability and quality of our program and responsive support. ArtRage is available for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. ## ArtRage Reviews ### 1. Flexible graphics for expressive visual representations **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Education Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 05, 2025 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** The interface is intuitive and stable through updates. Its realistic simulation of traditional media like oil and watercolor helps express abstract ideas clearly. ArtRage allows custom shortcuts and gestures, and its flexible layer system—with blending options—makes it easy to build visual narratives during ideation. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** Some tool names differ from standard suites, which takes some adjustment—but the realistic material simulation makes the learning curve feel worthwhile. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** ArtRage has been a valuable asset for presenting our digital transformation and pedagogical redesign projects. It helps illustrate flows, scenarios, and user experiences clearly and immersively, while also easing creative blocks and fostering smoother ideation during early-stage design and collaborative workshops. ### 2. Love it!It has marvelous paper and canvas textures that I LOVE, with brilliant tool settings **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lucija J. | Art Teacher, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 19, 2020 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** the background (paper and canvas) textures give more depth to your drawings and really make them look as handmade **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I really dislike the paper dimensions being in pixels instead of cm and I simply can't get the hang of the watercolor tool **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Definitely give it a go! It's a great drawing tool **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** So much texture with the canvases and tools, really paper feel. I don't have to draw the paper pattern, it's already there! ### 3. Good Drawing experience **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mike M. | Relief Superintendant, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 29, 2022 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I enjoy painting and drawing with ArtRage. It is simple to use and gets better the more you use the different brushes. The layers are simple and the tools blend well with each other **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I find that some of the images I create don't look as sharp as digital images painted with other programs. It can be a bit challenging to get the drawing exactly the way you like it, but this process should improve the more you use it. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** definitely worth a try **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I enjoy the process of adding depth to my drawings using the different brushes, It takes a while to create a complete drawing but it works well for cartoons and illustrations that look as though they were drawn by hand. ### 4. I've been using Artrage for years, producing a lot of artwork. Mostly I used it on desktop PC. **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Arts and Crafts | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 05, 2023 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** Oil painting simulation and low cost for an app of this kind. User friendly UI. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** Some brushes/medium need improvement. Not significant improvements over the years. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I wanted an oil painting simulation software and Artage with its friendly UI became my favorite ### 5. Excellent very natural and realistic painting tool. **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Bruno A. | Graphic Designer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 10, 2021 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** It is a very good and perfect tool to paint and draw realistically, I like its brushes, they are very close to reality, its interface is very good and flexible, I also like the color combination, it really does a good job, It is great to use ArtRage. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** Everything is fine, but some brushes give a strange pixelation. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** If I recommend it it is definitely good, if you are considering it you should use it, however it requires knowledge of drawing or graphic design to give good results, if the only thing you have used is Paint it would not be a good option for you. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** It does a good job, it really serves its purpose, I can draw and create very realistic digital paintings. ### 6. Using Artrage as an Animator/ Illustrator **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Emma W. | Animator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I've always loved Artrage's incredibly simple and accessible user interface - you can literally just get painting straight away, so it's ideal for somebody who rarely uses graphics or painting software and just wants to create digital art quickly and for fun. And for those who do frequently use digital painting software, Artrage's powerful tools look so much like traditional media that I'm still always impressed every time I do a drawing or painting at just how good it looks. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I dislike very little about the software - occasionally I have trouble exporting images if the canvas is too large, and also it's obviously not as advanged as something like Photoshop in the editing and effects department. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** It's an absolute must try - so inexpensive and it just looks so outstanding! **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** For colouring illustrations I usually do turn to Artrage first as I can achieve a really good, individual look in far less time than in other software. ### 7. The best art software for schools and private use **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kristina L. | Computer Science Teacher, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 05, 2020 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** The simplicity and intuitive user interface to begin with the first painting. Natural papers, tools and colors like no other software has them. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I truly don't see anything negative about this software, no bugs or crashes either. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** The best natural painting software (best simulation of real paint on paper), with a unique UI! **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am a teacher working with students (teenagers) who want to be part of the digital art world and planning to study art. ArtRage was great to begin with, since the students are familiar with traditional painting and drawing. They were thrilled and are very enthusiastic. One day, when they become skilled with digital art, ArtRage is also a great tool to continue working with. I made a good choice for my school with this product. I personally use it in my free time too, I love it. ### 8. Fantastic digital art software. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Nicholas B. | Graphic Designer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 02, 2020 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** ArtRage has a nice and simple interface. After using more complex Adobe applications for the majority of work, it feels like picking up a sketchbook and pencil. However it is still full of great features and comes at a very reasonable price. The minimal interface means you are less distracted by filters and adjustments and more inclined to draw and paint as you would naturally. All the tools are very intuitive to use and simulate real media very well. The oil brush is particularly good. Other software developers have started copying these features in recent times but none are delivered in a simple, affordable and efficient package as well as ArtRage. A great feature, which is less obvious to newer users are the scraps and extra views. These allow you to test and mix colours or work close on a detailed area whilst still seeing the full composition - brilliant on a dual screen setup! **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** The desktop edition is fantastic but does require good computing power to work efficiently at larger print sizes. Some features, such as selection tools can be very slow in general. There are a few features I'd like to see some development / updates on. From ArtRage 5 on, there is a brilliant custom brush tool but I think it needs development on the interaction with the other tools. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Bear in mind that ArtRage will always primarily be a drawing and painting application. Do not expect much in terms of image manipulation and photo editing. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** ArtRage for desktop is the only application I have come across with the option of real world colour blending in an RGB space. This allows for a more true to life painting experience, mixing colour and strokes directly on the canvas. For me it is currently as close as I can get, in digital, to art in the real world. I don't need to think so much about the parameters and settings of the tools. I just select the pencil or pastel and start putting marks down. The work flow is also pretty efficient with the ability to export to Photoshop for final tweaks. ### 9. User friendly Interface, Best experience! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Richa C. | Senior Software Engineer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 18, 2020 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** ArtRage was the first digital art software I installed and I'm working on it till date. The user experience is pleasant and intuitive with realistic-looking results. The best part is that it offers a wide selection of paintbrushes and textured papers with an amazing interface! **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** There is nothing to dislike, there are plenty of tutorials offered by ArtRage as well as various artists and trust me once you have a hands-on, it's a cake walk. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Go for it! You will experience the best user interface and it offers plenty of options to work upon with variety of textured and paintbrushes! **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am currently working as a part-time freelance Artist and a full time software Engineer. ArtRage is a budget friendly software and has contributed extensively in my growth as an artist. ### 10. Versatile, powerful art software allows me to create educational illustrations, paintings. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kelly M. | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 10, 2020 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I love how intuitive the interface is. Within hours of installing and hooking up my new Intuos Draw graphic tablet, I was creating watercolours and illustrations for the learning materials I use in teaching ESL to adults in spite of the fact that this was my first time to use any graphics software of its kind. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I dislike being charged for upgrades around the same amount I initially paid for the (premium version of the) software license. I realize I could have stayed with the free version, which is super powerful, but I went with premium for one particular feature. But I can choose not to upgrade, so it's okay. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** When in doubt, participate in the many ArtRage forums where users help each other learn to use all the features and tools. Also avail yourself of the many YouTube videos in which skilled artists show exactly how they achieve various effects. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I do a lot of designing in Google Draw, but for those times when I need to create a painting or drawing free-hand, ArtRage gives me everything I need. I have illustrated dozens of books for my students, created logos, and even enjoyed just sitting and sketching a vase of flowers and painting it in watercolour as a way to relax. ### 11. Newbie artrage Android app user! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Toshia G. | Small Business Owner, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 16, 2020 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I like that there's some serious pro paint options! If your looking for a hard core legit serious paint app, this is your best bet. Definitely the upside is for the pro paint application that's offered at a very low price. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** Well, it's a bit complicated for the everyday user, and there's zero mini tutorials at least to point out what is where and such....so it's not super user friendly. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** I definitely suggest any user to try it! It's a great app, and I'm sure that the full computer program is excellent! It's definitely best for the experienced person in this specific type of program but I feel even a newcomer could take the time to learn it and find that there able to get some amazing results from there work. The app is only a few dollars, and the computer program is quite cheap as well, usually these programs are hundreds of dollars. Give it a try, I highly doubt you will be disappointed in your purchase. Ask questions, do a little reasearch if your not sure on how to use this app or computer program, I think you will be a pro in almost no time. I will be spending lots of time to become a pro, the more I think about it the more ideas I have that I want to try the capabilities of this app, and definitely I will have to upgrade to the full program for my laptop. Just try it for your self, you will see!! **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** As of today, it hasn't impacted my work much yet BUT, as I learn how to use it, I hope IT WILL IMPACT IT BY HELPING ME WITH MY IMAGE GRAPHICS AND OTHERS, POSSIBLY TO DO SOME NEW DESIGN ART FOR NEW PRODUCTS ### 12. One of the best Painting Application **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Hemant N. | 3d Designer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** July 28, 2020 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I love the bundled brushes and various canvas shipped with Artrage. Its the only software which simulates accurate real life paint strokes whether you like oil painting, water colors or Acrylic. Artrage handles all like a charm. Its magical **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** There is nothing I dislike about Artrage, but as a suggestion I would love to see if Artrage can integrate a feature like pro create where you can save video of your artwork process. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** In a nutshell If you are a painter or a concept artist then give Artrage a try it would definitely make a place in your favourites. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I used to work with watercolors and oil colors during my school days, now working in a gaming company as a designer so everything has became digital today and whenever I feel crave for painting I just open up Artrage and start painting in it. Even in digital medium it feels like home. Thanks for such a great package. ### 13. ArtRage is an excellent program for painting **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Vasileios P. | Cartoonist, painter, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 02, 2020 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** Using Oil or watercolor brushes with artRage app is awesome experience. Although I do not feel the sense of real paint the result is unexpectedly perfect! My skills with ArtRage app have found the way for maximum performance. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I do not fell comfortable with desktop version of ArtRage. Maybe it is only suitable for tablet. Some part of menu would be more simplified like size of brushes or hardness. There is work to do with user’s experience. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Try to use it **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** The way to see a real artistic result with a reliable digital painting is the serious problem i have solved. I have saved money and time with this app that is affordable to buy. ### 14. I use this tool for creating realistic oil paintings in digital. **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** ✔️Love R. | 2d Artist, Illustrator, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 09, 2020 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** It gives you the freedom to create whatever you need like a real traditional artist but in digital. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** No minuses. All is really great, I love it! **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Use it if you need to create stunning, traditional-like drawings/ illustrations etc in digital. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am painting portraits and illustrations with ArtRage. It's flexible and you can make a picture of your dreams without wasting dozens of canvases. ### 15. Artrage is the best digital art app. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** David M. | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 04, 2020 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** The art tools and extremely user-friendly interface **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I would like it if the app would make it easier to autosave my artwork **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Spend two or three days learning all the different tools and settings because once you do it will become your favorite app to use. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I've improved my art skills alot since buying the app three years ago. ### 16. Very usefull software **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** arijit g. | Graphic Designer, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 14, 2020 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** This a very usefull software you can create digital painting in various style. Like if you want to create any digital art Using your manual style the tools are very effective. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** Last created a book illustration in watercolor style using this software **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** It helps me to create manual brushing style very easy ### 17. This only software for me which allow to draw as real as possible over 8 years. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Samir M. | Engineering Manager , Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 04, 2020 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** It is flexible and easy to work from tablet (bamboo) **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** the size of tools bigger than other software **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** if you are a painter or artist just try to get it. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** Actually I may create a cartoon which I did recently and earn money as a digital art painter and won some competition by using pen effect. ### 18. Real painting on computers **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Alessandro C. | Alessandro Canale, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 21, 2019 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** The interactions between the painting tools and the canvas it's simply wonderful. The software gives you every tool you need to paint like you do in reality. Mixing colours, you can create almost every tone you need and the use of tools like the knife can emulate even the most complicated painting technique such as the Leonid Afremov one. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** Just the pencil tool. It was wonderful in artrage 2, but in the newest version, it lacks of the necessary realism to be used to drawing things such as, for example, a portrait. To be onest, this is a common issue for every drawing software, because it's almost impossibile to emulate the sign of the graphite on the paper. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Very recommended if you're looking for a drawing software which emulates the real drawing tools. In particular it's use of oil and watercolour it's the most closed to the real ones you'll find in any other painting and drawing software. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** Working with Artrage could be a wonderful way to learn the colour theory. It gives to the users all the tools to draw and painting like in reality, so you can easily learn how different colours interact between themself. In plus, it has an user manual installed to easily learn all the software's functionalities and a lot of useful tricks. ### 19. "Basic, simple to use with a customary flare" **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ronald M. | Graphic Designer, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 29, 2019 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** ArtRage is straightforward and simple to utilize, it's not excessively mind boggling but rather the instruments it has are incredible. What I cherish most is that it can bring a conventional vibe to computerized workmanship which tends to look excessively smooth and plastic. I'm especially attached to the oil paint brush, you can pick the stacking of your paintbrush, it's straightforwardness and how it will mix with paint as of now on the canvas. It mixes flawlessly and in all respects sensibly. I will in general use ArtRage for structure finished and practical oil foundations which I at that point bring into my photoshop report and it does this great with a straight forward fare work that sends out layers. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** It can get a bit laggy in case you're making an expansive record and utilizing the more finished brushes, however with gadgets getting quicker these days I feel that will be to a lesser extent an issue. Else I have no bad things to say about ArtRage. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Certainly an extraordinary instrument for any advanced craftsman, particularly the individuals who are progressively doing their sketch work or harsh work on an iPad or other tablet. Its straightforward and simple to utilize and exceptionally streamlined with an incredible toolset at an extraordinary cost tag. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** ArtRage is speedy and simple to utilize, incredible for in a hurry outlining and painting or bringing to a greater degree a customary vibe to computerized craftsmanship. It doesn't have the sticker price of comparative projects, for example, Painter and is far simpler to utilize. It's anything but difficult to add to my work process and another incredible device to add to my toolbox. ### 20. Great beginner experience **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Outsourcing/Offshoring | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 19, 2018 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** Canva has all the very basics for editing and design. It's perfect for a beginner and introduces you to the basics. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** Once you progress past beginner levels it becomes a little obsolete. My very high end computer struggles with this program when in high quality images **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** Logo design and graphic design ### 21. Not the best, but it gets the job done. **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Aly N. | Content Strategist, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 25, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** - It's compatible with my Wacom tablet - It has a good variety of tools to choose from - The tracing feature for creating electronic images from already made art is SUPER helpful and might be my favorite part of the program - You can create stencils from your images - Exporting is easy **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** - It's very basic - The layout isn't appealing to me, but that's subjective - It's certainly no photoshop and the tool options are pretty varied, but lacking in a lot of places. In a weird way, it reminds me of an older, toned down Kid Pix. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Check into all the versions available before settling on one. They have sales frequently as well, so see what their deals are around the holidays before buying it immediately. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I just use this program on the side for some design work on Redbubble and other online retailer sites and for transferring drawings I've done into a digital form. If you buy a Wacom tablet, ArtRage Studio often comes with it and that's what I've used—so I can't necessarily speak for new versions. ### 22. Have fun with painting **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jakub C. | Freelance Illustrator & Graphic Designer, Graphic Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** November 23, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** ArtRage gives possibility to really have fun with painting. I usually use Photoshop for digital painting but ArtRage offers much more tools for loose painting. I love how it simmulate real behaviour of paint on canvas and difference in tools provided. I also quite like the interface in visual terms - the placement and access to all the tools and color picker is really wel done. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** It's fun but not that useful as Photoshop - it has much less tools and useful features to become real competition for Adobe product. I found it hard to get used to interface and keybord/mouse actions as I'm really used to Photoshop ones. It's good for fun but I can't really say it would become one of main programs I use for professional work. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** It's definately worth trying if you only use Photoshop or GIMP. This program is different and can give you some new opportunities for artistic expression. Have fun! **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's gives me good perspective looking on Photoshop. Before using ArtRage PS was the only graphic program I used and it's nice to see that there are so many other possibilities. I use this software rather as a toy to explore new ways of painting than program for serious work. ### 23. Lovely experience with the interface and the app just feels like a creative playground **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Raluca M. | Head of Design and UX, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 23, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** The interface is almost the top feature, being out of the way, and flexible. It also makes for a similar experience for Adobe products, in terms of features. The app feels like a playground, with all the tools within reach, makes for a fun exploration experience. I used this app before i knew how to paint in Photoshop, and for a while I used it exclusively with nice results. The tools have better defaults, making it easy to start using it with good results. The price tag is amazing for what features it gives you. It also has great traditional like tools, with 3d and humidity paint, and great compatibility with Photoshop (even layer blending modes are similar) **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** It's only a painting software, I prefer using more complete tools like Photoshop because my workflow is not exclusive to painting. Its' not really a downside, but more like a personal preference. Last time I used it it has issues with larger files containing more layers. The document is humongous, and the performance was a bit lacking. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** You can use this happily if you: Are a beginner, it's a great tool to start with, almost no learning curve. As a person who doesn't require more bulky and expensive software like photoshop An artist that likes using traditional tools. These are incredibly fun to use. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I managed to make professional artwork with a very affordable too when I needed most. ### 24. Art Rage is a natural canvas **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Mariana M. | Coordinadora del departamento de Imagen, Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 11, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I like so much the layer feature, all textures i can manages fronm water color, charcoil, oil painting and pencil hardness. I also like those paper or canvas textures that seem very likely to the real ones. I preffer to work on my wacom because it has better pressure sense and my hand can move freely. I got no problems whit the screen enviroment. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I tried to work in my ipad and even i have an stylus to make my sketches neater it has a slow responsive to my hand movements. I got frustated tryng to erase some details. I give up with the movile applications for art rage. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** You have to considerate that art rage that it is not alike Illustrator, it works on pixel base. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I can sketch on my computer, it saves me paper, ink and it worsk so good with my remote clients. I can make any number of tests about how the ink (oil, charcoal, etc) will react with the canvas i will use in case i get my work on a real hand made one. ### 25. Simple, easy to use with a traditional flare **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jenny H. | Freelance Artist, Arts and Crafts, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 29, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** ArtRage is simple and easy to use, it's not overly complex but the tools it has are powerful. What I love most is that it can bring a traditional feel to digital art which has a tendency to look too smooth and plastic. I'm particularly fond of the oil paint brush, you can choose the loading of your paintbrush, it's transparency and how it will blend with paint already on the canvas. It blends beautifully and very realistically. I tend to use ArtRage for building textured and realistic oil backgrounds which I then bring into my photoshop document and it does this very well with a straight forward export function that exports layers. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** It can get a bit laggy if you're creating a large document and using the more textured brushes, but with devices getting faster nowadays I think that will be less of a problem. Otherwise I have no complaints about ArtRage. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Definitely a great tool for any digital artist, especially those who are increasingly doing their sketch work or rough work on an iPad or other tablet. Its simple and easy to use and very streamlined with a great toolset for a great price tag. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** ArtRage is quick and easy to use, great for on the go sketching and painting or bringing more of a traditional feel to digital art. It doesn't have the price tag of similar programs such as Painter and is far easier to use. It's easy to add to my workflow and another great tool to add to my toolkit. ### 26. Love Artrage! **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Victor S. | Art Director, Photographer, Illustrator & Influencer, Photography, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 28, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** What I love the most about Artrage is how easy it is for users to find every tool and use them freely in a very natural way. The way the strokes are so smooth, and how it allows you to use different mediums and textures is truly a delight and a wonderfully easy experience. Something I really like is the way you can choose from different types and textures of Canvas, different strokes from the Pen Tool and brushes; and also the way you can trace. This last tool has helped me a lot, mostly because I start drawing on my sketchbook and then I start imagining how it will look digital so I scan it and move on to Artrage for a better and much more professional view of my work that can be used to tell stories of fashion illustrations and personal things across all my social media channels, blog and portfolio. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** Sometimes I wish more mediums and tools were available or the ones that exist were improved in a certain way, like brushes, watercolors and also maybe my favorite tool which is the Pen Tool. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** Mostly client commissions and collaborations for fashion illustrations/graphic design. It has truly developed the way I see things as an artist and the way that my clients see and evaluate my work. We're both no longer afraid to explore with different mediums like digital, which is what Artrage is truly encouraging us to do in a more free way. ### 27. I never get bored ! **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Adarsh P. | Student, Design, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 23, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I like how the tools and the colours interact the way they do in real. Its like drawing on a real canvas. Its fun mixing colours and playing around with textures. Other features like stencils is also one cool feature. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I would want the interface of the software to be more crisp and simple visually. Right now its looks a bit scattered. It looks like the features have been such put here and there, The lay out and positions could be improved for a batter drawing experience. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** If you are looking for an experience where you get to paint digitally but the interaction is almost real, them Art rage is the best you can use. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Art rage for making backgrounds and visuals for my illustrations and animation projects. It really helpful to get a nice authentic look and gives me a wide horizon to explore and experiment with my stokes ans styles. I use it to create different treatments for my animation films and story book illustrations too. ### 28. Best for natural painting look. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Matej J. | Game Designer, Artist and Developer, Arts and Crafts, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 22, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** ArtRage delivers natural looking digital paintings. Leaving bristle marks and paint blobs and knife strokes gives paintings a look and feel that's hard to achieve with other software. Blending paints and mixing tools and playing with the settings offers both versatility and a lot of fun. It's my go-to program for digital painting, be it oil, watercolor or marker style. Sure, it's not exactly like natural paints and materials, especially with watercolors, but it's similar enough, yet digitally unique that it has its own specific character. Which I consider a good thing. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I wish there were even more simulated things, for example paint dripping, especially with watercolors. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** If you like the texture and grittiness of natural paintings, then you won't have a problem enjoying ArtRage. Even digital painters that do the main body of work in Photoshop would combine the process with ArtRage for that unique finish. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** Creating digital paintings with a unique surface treatment. ### 29. My first choice for portraiture **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lauren M. | Illustrator, Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 22, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** It is perfect for creating natural looking fine artwork. I love the canvas textures and how they interact with the realistic effect of the oil brush and pencil. The wet media is capable of blending like real paint and the faux 3D texture of the brush strokes is accentuated by lighting within the software. The interface is clean, simple and very refreshing for a Adobe suite veteran used to complex interfaces. It is a surprisingly versatile software when you start utilising the sliders and presents on the tools, allowing you to achieve whichever style of painting you want - be it Pop Art or Impressionist. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** It is lacking in editing tools so I have to take paintings into Photoshop to finalise them, it can also become sluggish with large canvas intended for print. 4.5 is a big improvement over previous versions in terms of editing capabilities and file sizes. There are no clipping masks or colour adjustment layers as you would find in photo editing software as this is not its intended purpose. Those who rely heavily on these tools will have to adjust to a work-flow with a sense of finality much closer to non-digital painting. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** If you are a traditional artist looking to switch to digital media, or a digital artists looking for a more traditional feel to your work, ArtRage is the perfect choice. The interface is very simple so anyone of any skill level can jump in and have fun with this software immediately. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I find that digital portraits especially lose a lot of style and flare through looking too digitised and sleek. ArtRage gives the artist a competitive edge with its traditional media simulation. It also allows me to creative realistic looking oil paintings with none of the cost of canvas and paints. I can resize the canvas and move things around when I want to change the composition. ### 30. a ready canvas with no need for a manual **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Shannan G. | Freelance Nuke Compositor, Broadcast Media, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 22, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** -its easy to use & with its simplicity can still achieve the same results as a more complex package -the interface is clean & pretty much self explanatory -the software behind the brush tools is clearly intuitive -as an artist in the film & animation industry schedules often allow little time for picking up new software so would often stick to what I already know- Artrage was different as it was easy to try & the results were immediate -the price is very accessible -it also does offer the more complex things like layering & lighting effects should one want to push shadows & hi lights should one want to plan an artwork better **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** -the oil brush can leave odd corners/ edges on rotation -but nothing another brush stroke can't clear up. would be great to see this fixed! -i tend to stick to the tools I use to get quick results so I am not one to try out a lot of what this software offers - so therefore have no further 'dislikes' here :) **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** its affordable its quick to learn & get results great for quick concept art/ development & previz it has enough of the typical tools an enthusiastic artist needs it can only get better from here **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's a great package for concept art & pre-visualization if the creative soul just wants to doodle with a satisfying result it's quick to accomplish what you need its a great interface if client is sitting with you while you work ### 31. I try others, but keep coming back to ArtRage. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Ric K. | Founder, Internet, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I like the variety and realism of the natural media effects rendering. Oil paint looks like oil paint, watercolor looks like watercolor. I really can't speak to the "realism" of the Glitter Tube and Sticker Spray: being an uptight stick-in-the-mud, I don't use them very much. The depth of features on the Paint Symmetry are a lot of fun, and run a close second on my scale of Awesomeness. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** My least favorite feature is the proprietary interface. The has become less problematic as the software has matured, and as I've gotten used to it. As a Mac fanboi, it's a bit jarring, and things are not really where I would like to see them, but it's consistent, and works well. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Give the software a chance, especially you Mac users. Sure, it has a funny name, but it's worth exploring. The user base offers custom textures, brushes, etc. so you don't have to re-invent the wheel.Give the software a chance, especially you Mac users. Sure, it has a funny name, but it's worth exploring. The user base offers custom textures, brushes, etc. so you don't have to re-invent the wheel. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** My main uses of ArtRage are as an illustration tool and in logo design. The smoothing controls allow me to get nice clean lines. I am able to use ArtRage on both desktop and mobile devices, and pull the designs into Photoshop and Illustrator for further tweaking. ### 32. The ultimate weapon for the creative ones **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** sAurabh P. | Freelance, Graphic Design, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I like the feel of real colors. I use pen-tab and it's the closest digital software to a real canvas. I'm not very proficient or pro artist, but I love the way it helps me in creating the real paper or canvas like effects. All the provided textures feel so real plus on a real canvas mixing all the different materials won't be possible, but here you can produce various hybrid effects, which will amaze you. Imagination knows no boundary, so does this software. For someone who loves painting, this is best digital ally, one can ask for. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** There's always room for improvement in terms of skills and the technology. I face few issues regarding the interface which includes menu buttons and palette. Sometimes they come in the way of drawing, which annoys me. There are options like changing the canvas style but I like working in default mode and want a better way to hide/show the buttons. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** It's a really great tool for all the creative people out there. You can achieve the results beyond your imagination. Doesn't matter if you are a beginner or pro in your field, this software will guide you and let you break your creative boundaries. Except a few things (in my personal opinion) this is a complete package to boost your creativity. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** Being a graphic designer, I need to be creative and have to use different approaches for different clients. ArtRage gives me the freedom to create paper/canvas like effects digitally, which is amazing and the results are beyond expectations. ### 33. A decade of ArtRage **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** David M. | Illustrator, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** The elegantly simple interface and the amazing simulations of natural media. The paradigm of this software is much different than other software products available. The tools are set up as simulations of a material (wax, oil paint, chalk, watercolor and so forth) and a substrate ( paper, canvas wood panel, etc). It is the relationship between the nature of the material and the kind of surface that it is being scrapped over ( thus behaving very naturally) that is the key. As an example if I draw with the pencil tool and follow with the basic pallet knife, the result will account for how bumpy the substrate is as well as the media being a dry powdery media. The resulting strokes will demonstrate this by 'acting' like a dry media ( not smearing in a liquid fashion and sticking here and there in the 'grain' of the substrate ). In contrast, if I begin with a heavily loaded oil brush with a low thinners value and high pressure, I will get a thick, buttery impasto stroke of 'paint' with highlights and shadows in the stroke that give it dimension. Now if I stroke over that with my same pallet knife, I will get a smear of paint that gradually thins out toward the end of the stroke and begins to, again, reveal a relationship with the substrate by falling off in obedience to the high and low points of the simulated 'grain' in the substrate. I really could go on and on about the elements of this software that I love, but I'll leave you with this. The first time I laid down a stroke of oil paint in one color and the crossed over that stroke with oil paint of another color, I was astonished at the way the beautiful, viscous, 'paint' blended together, smearing into a new color. I grabbed the pallet knife tool and just started playing. I laughed out loud in pleasure at the experience. The software, by its very nature, encourages play and experimentation. I should also mention that setting up a team of artists with this software is much more affordable than Adobe or Corel. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** Working with large files with many layers can get sluggish ( although this has gotten better and better- now 64-bit and multi-threaded ). There are no layer masks, clipping groups, or adjustment layers. One cannot select more than one layer at a time ( for stack management ). If you prefer to do your work as 'non destructively' as possible (meaning you regularly use layer masks, clipping groups, adjustment layers, things that don't 'bake' your results) this is going to frustrate you for a while. While you can do very nice photo-editing in ArtRage, I would not select it for that use. For me, this software is my solution for illustration, and concept design.Transform functions on large objects in high resolution with many layers in the stack, require patience. Last, I would say that one of the initial strengths of the software, the very small development team, may be turning into a slight weakness as development has slowed. I believe this largely to be as a result of supporting mobile platforms. Development of the desktop product (the one I use) has fallen off in terms of speed. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Really decide what you need image creation software for. If you need to be competitive in an industry that uses imagery ( games, film, advertising etc ) you are going to need Adobe. Beyond that, if your needs include a call for natural looking artwork, I can't recommend ArtRage highly enough. At less than $50 US, almost anyone can afford to add it to their kit. I will say too that many of the users who regularly populate the forums at ArtRage, are hobbyists, the list goes from children to retirees and crosses major culture groups across the globe. Nearly all levels of accomplishment can jump right in and begin to enjoy this tool set immediately. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** In my industry of advertising and entertainment, visual communication is essential. I find that when clients receive designs and concepts that look like they were done on real paper or canvas, it adds a subtle solidity to the visual statements being made. I also find that making the transition between working digitally and with real materials on a regular basis is easy because my techniques are in many ways similar in both. That is good for costs and estimates as work flow remains evenly paced. ### 34. A fun but a tricky painting software **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Kumail S. | Animator, Broadcast Media, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** The color mixing and the textures are pretty neat. The Canvases are awesome and the feel of paint on the roughness is very cool. Some of the options for reference display etc. is very handy and helps make using the software very fast. The GUI is very user friendly and easy to understand. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** The color control is totally bonkers. The colors mix but tend towards yellow strangely. If The color mixing can be more controlled It would be awesome. Also badly needs a Calligraphy pen. I personally feel that some of the brushes can be developed more into a more natural feel. Specially the painting knives. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** ArtRage will definitely increase your interest in digital painting. I feel its more suited for a rough edgy style and I have attained some incredible results. The brushes work deliciously and with a lovely flow. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I am an Illustrator and an animator. I have mostly used Artrage for personal paintings and my portfolio. I have also used Artrage to develop matt paintings for different animation projects. I have also designed magazine covers and illustrations using ArtRage. Although it would be a good thought if we could animate using ArtRage. ### 35. Love Artrage, very convenient when I can't use real brushes and paint or don't have the time. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Awatif B. | Lead Designer, Graphic Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** What I love the most about Artrage is that it really does a good job at replicating natural brushes and pens/pencils. Plus, how easy it is to use it with photoshop. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** When I use the brush (oil brush) and want to write a words for example, I will get a strange break in the letters. I don't know how to explain but it gives an unnatural look to the whole thing and I generally have to go through photoshop to take care of it. But maybe it is just that I don't know how to make it work for me and there's a way to fix that? **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** I would recommend Artrage to anyone who is afraid of illustration or actual pen and paper. Before Artrage I wouldn't even do hand-lettering but since I got it I use it a lot and even got to experience more with real brushes and paint. So it's not only a software that makes your life easier but it also makes you want to explore more outside of it which I think is pretty cool. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** Mostly it will be hand-lettering that needs to be fast and we don't have the time to go through the whole scanning+illustrator+photoshop process. The main benefit is time and how easy it is to copy and paste to photoshop. ### 36. The freedom and experience of art on paper in the digital enviroment, it's revolutionary. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Tayna M. | Social Media, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 17, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I got access to Art Rage trough a wacom product I acquired and, just by that, I had great expectations about it. And I was right about it. Art Rage makes possible to have a full experience of working with different materials and brushes on "real life" but in the digital environment. Apart from that, the rulers are pretty helpful, mainly if the user is a starter on digital art. I would say that Art Rage is awesome for starters and great for experient artists to test the different possibilities of the software and get some freedom from the usual art creation programs. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I think that what brings to Art Rage my dislike is the decal section. Its limitation, and some of its features are a bit childish - makes me remember of montages I used to make when I was little on 'Paint'. What I think that would improve the section is make more stickers like the birds, assembling a brush that makes stamps, and not ready and complete draws like the houses. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** I recommend Art Rage for its potencial to give freedom to artists from usual tools and the experience it provides with them (the tools). **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I think, as I pointed out on the first question, is that the benefits of Art Rage are brushes, materials textures and the rulers and stencils. ### 37. Natural looking painting with enjoyable experience. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Miguel Angel C. | Lead Artist, Information Technology and Services, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 17, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** ArtRage is the fastest way to get a realistic looking in your paintings. The features I enjoyed the most is the artist brushes and the clean and spacing of the canvas. The whole screen become your canvas and the set up and position of the tools is very smart. Take a photo reference with a clip on top and start to painting is a nice implementation of the real artist work. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** If you are looking for color adjustment, sizing and photo retouch, this software is not the point. If you are looking for best qualitiy printing setup or versatility, neither. Compatibility with others sofwares of formats, mainly Photoshop PSD with layers is not always well done. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** The cost/quality rating of this software is a must have. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** When you domain the interface, the speed and ease of using is solving me some hours of hard work in others softwares for achieve natural paintings. ### 38. Excellent Digital Painting Software to Mimic Traditional Paint Tools **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Troy J. | Owner / Designer, Graphic Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 17, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** ArtRage features the most enjoyable color blending effects I have ever found in digital painting software. Both the watercolor and oil color layering feels natural, effective, and believable. The interface is quite simple and easy to use for the most part and, especially with a touch screen, is responsive and quick to navigate around your canvas. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** While the paint effects are very realistic and enjoyable, using the inking tools are a bit less so. The "Smoothing" setting seems to be far too sensitive resulting in either no smoothing at all or, after barely increasing the slider, smoothing that is far too pronounced and results in very unpredictable line control for most inking purposes. Because of this, ArtRage has to work as a step in my process rather than a start to finish solution. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** If you are looking for realistic watercolor, oil, or other traditional paint simulation in your digital painting software then definitely give ArtRage a try. For the cost it is a very enjoyable tool for experimenting with color mixing and blending. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have used ArtRage primarily as a space to play with color or blending experiments before moving to other software to produced finished work. I have enjoyed using its natural feeling traditional paint tools to even try out composition and color layouts before switching to traditional paints after working out an idea. ### 39. Great software for the price **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** May 11, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** Even right after I received my copy when buying a Wacom tablet, I was amazed by what this product can do. The first thing I noticed and liked (and I still like it) is the way it reproduces the natural texture of an oil brush. Then again, the version of Artrage I first tried was a very old one, and Artrage has added a great range of options since then. I liked the built-in stencil feature, the interface, and basically all the tools it provides. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** Maybe after you're used to Photoshop or Corel Painter, Artrage may give you some trouble finding all the things you need, but that's not really a problem, since there are tons of tutorials and artists you can ask for help. It somehow reminds me of Autodesk sketchbook, but maybe not that advanced regarding features and options. It's quite intuitive though, but it would be awesome if it gave us a bit more control on the way the tools are working. It's built as an intuitive simple software, but maybe pro-users could activate some more advanced way of tweaking the tools. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** I'd recommend you buy it, play with it, and see what it can do. I just went over to the Artrage website, and the version 4 costs 50 bucks only. It's not much at all, and I'm sure that these bucks go to the developers of this software (and you don't pirate it), it would enable them to give even more and better features! **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I wouldn't say it solved business problems or brought great benefit, but it surely acted like the fun and creative piece of software it is. I'd say it gives a lot of juice for the money you pay for it, so it's really really cheap, that is a great benefit in itself. ### 40. Perfect for achieving a traditional feel to your digital artwork **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** John T. | Freelance Graphic Artist, Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** Perfect software for achieving a traditional painting feel to a digital medium, it was the missing link in my process for digital painting, and it works perfectly with Photoshop. The default brushes which come along with the software are great so you don't have to worry about tweaking them or hunting the net for other brush sets, just get in and go crazy.I would definitely recommend this software to others! **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I wish i could use some of my Photoshop brushes along with the ones in ArtRage. Im not that fond of the layout of the brushes **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I was struggling with achieving a traditional painting feel to my digital paintings until i started using ArtRage, now along with Photoshop i get the exact style i want. ### 41. Great for graphic designers. **Rating:** 4.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Yuval V. | Graphic Designer, Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 17, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I like to have the ability to sketch a thought whenever I don't have a piece of paper and pen nearby. The smooth setting on the tools is very useful as well, it allows me to draw more natural strokes and shapes for my graphic design work. The 'Pencil' tool is great for sketching a quick drawing with shadows and perspective. The 'Ink Pen' tool, with the smoothing setting, is amazingly useful for quick illustrations to copy and throw onto illustrator (to continue my design work precess). **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I think the 'Watercolor' tool is not refined enough to be called a 'Watercolor' tool. I prefer to use my real watercolors. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** With Artrage I have the ability to quickly get my idea/sketch onto my computer. ### 42. A natural, intuitive and satisfying digital art experience **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Julian F. | Graphic Designer, Animator, Illustrator, Design, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 07, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** My favourite aspects of this program are the intuitive interface and the natural feel of the toolset. The interface is very clean and minimal, allowing you to focus on your canvas without having to look too hard for anything. Panning, scrolling and rotating can be achieved easily with shortcuts or using a circular widget, everything feels snappy and responsive. While having a limited variety of tools, Artrage makes up for this with a very natural experience with each tool. The physics of paint and watercolour tools is particularly satisfying, as is squeezing out tubes of paint and smearing them with a palette knife. My favourite tool is the pen tool which can be used to achieve very controlled linework using customisable smoothing and tapering options. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** Artrage has certain limitations, such as a limited toolset mentioned before and the ability to edit (cutting,cropping,isolating etc) is not nearly as intuitive as painting or drawing is. Artrage is best used in conjunction with other programs which is made easier by being able export to a variety of formats. The program struggles with larger resolutions and will occasionally crash or hang. Another issue is experienced when working for long periods of time, Artrage can take up a considerable amount of space with cached data which I'm guessing is from thousands of saved states for undo/redo. Restarting the application from time to time solves this issue. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** I would highly recommend this program to anybody wishing to acquaint themselves with a tablet or tablet monitor. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I use Artrage for commissioned illustration work. It speeds up my workflow because of the dynamic toolset of which a few I find incredibly useful. ### 43. Facilitative Interface **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Yusra M. | Media and Communications Professional, Media Production, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** The workspace is very well organized and the interface is quite intuitive. I remember when I first began using ArtRage and skipped through the intro in my haste, I was still able to find my way around the workspace and make a "guesstimate" of where every tool and option would be. This made my life as a newly-digital artist (back then) a LOT more easier. It was almost as convenient as physically picking up my tools from my desk. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** Nothing in particular. There's always room for improvement so I'd say perhaps more presets or greater format options would be better. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** I would recommend spending a few minutes exploring the workspace as it offers more than what meets the eye in the first glance and is very intuitive from there onwards. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I work with a lot of startups and social entrepreneurs who order artworks that are very first visual impressions of their brand values. ArtRage's easy to use interface makes it very convenient for me to work with people with varying tech competencies to sketch out our first drafts as a team and communicate our individual ideas for the art effectively. ### 44. Quick to learn, love to use **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Rajmund S. | Project Coordinator, Automotive, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 17, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** Easy to use, Intuitive interface, nice effects and tools. I was able to make some unique looks, wich would've been not possible, or difficult with other softwares. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** More professional possibilities, Image editing tools would be good. It would make the software more complex, thus leaving the slick design, but a more customizable palette and presets would solve it. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** If you are looking for an easy to learn, very flexible and quick drawing software, wich makes your process slick and streamlined, do not go further. It may lack some features compared to the "big ones" but those you'll only need a few times, and they aren't that easy and intuitive to learn. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I'm an amateur artist ### 45. Great Program for a natural painting experience **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Alexandria E. | Creative Services Specialist, Public Relations and Communications, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** Artrage provides a user friendly interface. It is not very difficult to learn especially if you have experience with other software such as Photoshop. However this program is different in the fact that it has some built-in presets and tools that are better suited toward creating art that has a more organic and less digital or computerized look to it. It does a good job of replicating a realistic painting/drawing experience in a digital environment. I would recommend to definitely use a digital pen and tablet with this program versus a mouse to get the full overall experience. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** There is nothing that I really dislike about the program. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** Artrage allows me to create paintings and drawings with the expense of buying additional art supplies because it's all digital. For that reason as well, it also does not require a lot of space to create my work, as it would if I were creating on physical paper or canvas. It also allows for easier experimentation or editing of art. ### 46. An Exciting Canvas at your fingertips, and No Cleaning Up required! **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Retail | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 21, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** Good for painting still life imagery or portraits of family pets or loved ones from a photo reference. Can import images for tracing and/or reference pics that can be zoomed in and rotated. Offers a range of canvases and papers to work on that mimic the look and effect of canvases and papers in the real world. Mediums that you can use, which include acrylic, water colour and crayons, blend together very realistically. If you are new to using a drawing tablet and find it a bit daunting, ArtRage has a very comfortable layout and offers tons of room for exploration and experimentation. And it remains comfortable to use as your skill with using the graphic pen advances. Works very well with Photoshop. You can start a project in Artrage, and use the export option to open it in Photoshop, and you will still be able to use the separate layers without any flattening occurring. I recommend ArtRage to people who appreciate both digital and traditional methods of creating artwork. It's a nicely laid out program that does not come with tons of complicated menus, it is easy to get into, and people who love working with real paints will not feel too alienated by working with these digital mediums that work almost as good as the real thing. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** While it is good for creating "realistic" looking painted images from photo references or mimicking the style of old masters, I don't find it very good for creating cartoons. For comic style projects you're probably better off using a vector based program, like Illustrator or Flash. I had a go at using the rulers, but found it quite awkward. I might need more practice. I'm not sure how an artist who does a lot of perspective drawing would get along with it. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** Traditional artists who are taking their first steps into the world of digital art and drawing with a tablet will find ArtRage quite comfortable to experiment with. Excellent for painting from a photo reference. Not too over-complicated. If you are an experienced digital artist who just wants to try out a fresh project or painting exercise (and you fancy a break from Photoshop) ArtRage is a pleasure to work with. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I have not used this for any corporate projects in a very long time, and I rarely used ArtRage for work, mostly for personal pleasure projects. ### 47. It feels like painting in real life without the messiness. **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 17, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I love the fact that it imitates almost perfectly the different styles of painting and drawing. When I first started to draw digitally, I was not very accustomed to other software. ArtRage was great because it is very intuitive. Another thing I like about the program is the way it blends the color - it really feels like the real thing. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** In my experience I know that saving files in ArtRage uses a lot of memory so I would always have to wait for a long time for my drawings to be saved. Also, I felt disappointed for a lack of CMYK workspace. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** It's a great tool if you are a beginner in digital drawing. And even if you are experienced, ArtRage is an awesome software to experiment on. I developed a lot of my style in it since I began to draw. What I like about it is that it is not expensive - you actually get it for free if you purchase a Wacom tablet (that's how I got it). Keep in mind that it does consume a bit of memory of your PC so I recommend that you take that in mind when you setup your file (size, DPI). **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I produced artwork for personal use and commercial use. ### 48. Pays for itself **Rating:** 5.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Jess W. | Center Sales Representative, Retail, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 17, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I enjoy the simple interface design and tool kit. In other programs I would be looking through menu bars and buttons trying to find the right tool but with ArtRage it's all presented up front. Selecting any tool also gives you immediate access to it's customizable options. It help facilitate my personal creative flow in ways previous programs didn't **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** When multiple layers are being used it's render speed decreases dramatically. The more complex the layers become the slower it can get, and I have found myself condensing layers earlier than I normally would on a project just to increase render speed again **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** If you're like me and are looking for a art program that won't break the bank but still gives you the feel of actual mediums, this is the one to choose. It's very affordable, works beautifully with art tablets, and is a fun experience **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** Ive been able to garner art commissions and projects that would have been more difficult otherwise. Thanks to the trace functions and other tools I can more quickly create projects from existing references from clients as well as draft new images from scratch more quickly ### 49. It's terrific. I replaced Corel draw with this from Day 1 itself **Rating:** 4.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Suraj S. | Android Developer, Internet, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 17, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** [1] Easy to use, intuitive and hassle free colour selection. The tools and colour palette are positioned at bottoms corners thus making it a lot easier. [2] I've been using artrage from v3.5 onwards and boy they've surprised me with such great updates right upto v4.3(currently using) [3] I'd never done water colors before Artrage. After using artrage for quite a bit, tried using water colours on paper and it took less than a minute to get used to real water colours on papers. Such realistic is Artrage. [4] And of course! You've Ctrl + Z now. The single biggest power you craved for everytime you missed drawing a straight line [5] The screen has minimum options, not overpopulated with tools (like Corel Draw) and is light weight. So doesn't take much toll on your system. [6] Overall, I've never grown tired of thsi beautiful software ^_^ **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** [1] I've used Artrage in Windows & OS X and the results are terrific. Only problem is that you don't have any version for Linux OS like Ubuntu (only workaround is using WineHQ which in itself is a headache task for programmer-cum-illustrators). [2] Another thing that a bit buggy is using rulers. Sometimes a wrong click somewhere on the ruler makes it take a wild turn and you lose your previous alignment for the ruler you needed. [3] When I have to make a quick outline of a picture, I use trace & reference. The reference is first of all a very small image and then the drag-n-zoom and drag-n-reposition are very difficult (not smooth at all). [4] It should think of implementing 'autosave' feature. **Recommendations to others considering ArtRage:** If you've tried Corel draw, try Artrage once, you'll definitely have a breath of fresh air. And for the first timers to digital art, a definitely goto software as it is easy, intuitive and clean. Also, it is lightweight comparitively **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I fulfil my passion of illustrating and digital painting using Artrage. Simple ^_^ ### 50. A pretty realistic painting software **Rating:** 3.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Graphic Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** March 20, 2016 **What do you like best about ArtRage?** I love how realistic it feels when using the brushes and other tools, and how easy it is to learn the program. I also really like the way the paint mixes, and how it allows you to turn that setting off if you want the paint to be dry. **What do you dislike about ArtRage?** I didn't like that the brush size doesn't scale with how big your canvas is. Sometimes you want to paint on a fairly large canvas so that it can be printed larger, but when you do that your brush size doesn't increase with the canvas if that makes sense. So filling in a larger portion of the canvas can become a chore. **What problems is ArtRage solving and how is that benefiting you?** I primarily used ArtRage for my digital painting class, but will sometimes still use it at times when I want a realistic painting experience without the mess of the real thing. ## ArtRage Discussions - [What is ArtRage Lite?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-artrage-lite) - [How much does ArtRage cost?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/how-much-does-artrage-cost) - [What is the best tablet for ArtRage?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-best-tablet-for-artrage) - 1 upvote - [What solutions have You put in place to counteract specific problem areas?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-solutions-have-you-put-in-place-to-counteract-specific-problem-areas) - 1 upvote - [Any chance there is a place I can find a info page so I can navigate the Android app easier, for a newbie??](https://www.g2.com/discussions/29647-any-chance-there-is-a-place-i-can-find-a-info-page-so-i-can-navigate-the-android-app-easier-for-a-newbie) - [View ArtRage pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/artrage/reviews?section=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-06-24+07%3A25%3A57+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=38c8159e-e9a5-4f9f-a491-d8cc65e88521&secure%5Btoken%5D=1932503772d892bc4e4df7e172d2340c0008f0e3726bdd04e37e029cbf210036&format=llm_user) ## Top ArtRage Alternatives - [Sketchbook](https://www.g2.com/products/sketchbook/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (173 reviews) - [Procreate](https://www.g2.com/products/procreate/reviews) - 4.9/5.0 (70 reviews) - [Krita](https://www.g2.com/products/krita/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (64 reviews)