Best Drawing Software
Drawing software products enable users to create original artwork with a variety of built-in tools. Users can use their computer’s mouse to draw, or may be able to integrate external devices such as electronic sketchpads that register strokes and translate them onto the screen. Drawing programs typically provide built-in effects options, and may integrate with photo editing programs or other design tools.
To qualify for inclusion in the Drawing category, a product must:
Best Drawing Software At A Glance
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Rebelle is an award-winning, hyper-realistic painting software with phenomenal oils, acrylics, watercolors, and other wet and dry media. Paint pigments color mixing, oil thickness, watercolor diffusio
3,818 Twitter followers
The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows and more operating systems. It is free software, you can change its source code and d
37,462 Twitter followers
Procreate is a digital art application designed exclusively for the iPad, offering a comprehensive suite of tools for artists and designers. It provides an intuitive interface that caters to both prof
314,790 Twitter followers
Sketchbook is a digital art application designed for artists and designers to create, sketch, and capture ideas seamlessly across desktop, mobile, and tablet devices. Its intuitive and streamlined use
Built for the latest stylus and touch devices, Adobe Fresco brings together the world’s largest collection of vector and raster brushes, plus revolutionary new Live Brushes, to deliver a completely na
957,057 Twitter followers
Clip Studio Paint is the artist’s app for drawing and painting loved by beginners and professionals, packed with innovative features to help you enjoy creating more. With dedicated tools for illustrat
PaintTool SAI is a high-quality, lightweight digital painting software designed to provide a seamless and enjoyable experience for artists. Developed by SYSTEMAX, it offers full digitizer support with
Whether you’re working on a school poster or brainstorming your next comic book character, Sketchpad makes it easy to bring your ideas to life. Easily draw, edit photos, or design your next business c
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 nat
Krita is a free and open-source digital painting and 2D animation software designed for artists of all levels, from beginners to professionals. It offers a comprehensive suite of tools tailored for il
Corel Painter is a premier digital art application designed to emulate the look and feel of traditional painting and drawing mediums. It offers artists a vast array of tools and features that replicat
84 Twitter followers
Epic Pen helps to draw, write or highlight directly over software, video, webpages or games.
2,567 Twitter followers
MyPaint is a free and open-source digital painting application designed for artists seeking a natural and intuitive drawing experience. Compatible with Linux, macOS, and Windows, it offers a distracti
3,270 Twitter followers
YouiDraw Drawing helps create stunning vector graphic design through html5 canvas with Google Drive without the need to download any software.
40 Twitter followers
MyBrushes Paint for Mac app is the best Mac paint tool to paint on Mac infinite canvas and PLAYBACK whole drawing.
Learn More About Drawing Software
What is Drawing Software?
Drawing software is the optimal solution for artists who want to create drawings digitally. While most artists are used to drawing with a physical pen and paper, drawing software mimics the act of using physical drawing tools to offset a potential learning curve. Users will find familiar tools within drawing software, such as a pen tool, brush sets, and markers. These tools allow artists to draw within the platform the same way they would on paper, substituting their hand with a stylus or mouse. In addition to the available familiar drawing tools, artists gain access to a variety of other editing tools to enhance their drawings in ways that are difficult, or even impossible, to do using a physical pen and paper. Instant graphic edits such as brightness adjustments and major color changes are easy to do using drawing software.
Key Benefits of Drawing Software
- Offers a large variety of drawing tools
- Drawings can be saved in many different formats
- No major learning curve involved
Why Use Drawing Software?
Drawing software is useful for anyone who either wants to create art or wants to convey a visual message. Artists who use drawing software find it useful for digital illustrations that don’t require heavy manipulation like photo editing software. Instead, drawing tools are meant to be a quick way to sketch images or create illustrations and branding materials. For example, logo designers may use drawing software to create shapes, colors, and typography. However, nonartists can use drawing software, too. Drawing software is relatively simple to use, so anyone can make a quick drawing for any reason they see fit. Brainstorming visualizations, quick visual drafts of interiors, and other 2D visualizations can be made on the platform with ease.
Who Uses Drawing Software?
Drawing software is particularly useful for artists and designers.
Artists — Unsurprisingly, artists who specialize in drawing gain the most out of drawing software. The tool allows artists to complete a simple drawing or a detailed illustration with a large variety of tools at their disposal.
Interior designers — Drawing software is a simple tool that interior designers can use to help clients visualize an interior. While it’s not a replacement for computer-aided design (CAD) software, it’s a great solution for quick brainstorming sessions. Without resorting to general-purpose CAD software right off the bat, interior designers can quickly conceptualize less technical ideas for clients for immediate feedback. Once ideas are agreed upon, the interior designer will typically move onto CAD tools that are meant to truly visualize an interior with 3D renderings.
Collaborative teams — Any department that holds brainstorming sessions can benefit from drawing software, especially teams that are fully remote. Adding drawings to collaboration sessions gives team members a representation of the visual thought process behind other team members’ ideas. Drawings can be easily exported and shared with other team members as well.
Types of Drawing Software
Drawing software caters to two specific subsets of graphic types: raster and vector. Both types of graphics can be created using drawing software.
Raster — Raster images are graphics made up of individual pixels. Each pixel within the digital canvas can be manipulated, so it’s ideal for detailed drawings. However, raster images cannot increase in size without losing a considerable amount of quality.
Vector — Vector graphics are images formed by a series of lines created by algorithms rather than pixels. This means that vector images are scalable and will not lose quality when resized. Vector graphics are ideal for artists who are creating solid color illustrations or logos, which are often required to be sharp and smooth. Drawing software can create vector graphics, but many artists with a prime focus in creating vector graphics are better suited to use vector graphics software.
Drawing Software Features
Drawing software includes several features that help artists to easily create digital illustrations:
Drawing tools — Users will find familiar drawing tools within drawing software, such as markers, pens, and brushes. These tools mimic the effects of their physical counterparts. In addition, many tools within drawing software are fully customizable. Artists can control the sizes and colors of the tools, as well as the thickness and gradients.
Scanning — Users can scan physical drawings into drawing software. Once scanned, the tool will digitize the image’s lines on a transparent background. From there, the artist can further edit the image with other artistic features such as coloring tools or cropping tools.
Predictive drawing — Drawing software often comes with artificial intelligence (AI) features that help artists draw more quickly and with less effort. For example, some platforms have predictive stroke capabilities, which act as an assistant to the artist by correcting strokes that were predicted to be a specific shape. This feature also smooths out shaky lines.
Layering — Users can add layers to graphics to easily allow users to edit the drawing without impacting the content in the other layers.
Multiple export formats — Drawings can be saved in a variety of formats, including popular formats like JPEG and PNG or larger formats such as TIFF.
Multiple device support — Drawing software is often optimized to be used on many different devices, such as mobile, desktop, and tablets.
Potential Issues with Drawing Software
Overwhelming user interface — While the editing features included in drawing software are straightforward (brushes, pencils, and pen features do exactly what their physical counterparts do), there are a lot of editing features to choose from. Upon first glance, the number of editing tools available may be overwhelming, especially to unfamiliar users. Tutorials and guides provided by the platform are great resources to reference for users initially confused by the busy interface.
