free downloadable paint programs The best free drawing software for 2021. Free drawing software has come a long way from its humble beginnings. While older drawing applications were severely limited, their modern counterparts are extremely powerful, offering lots of capabilities as well as plenty more tools available at your disposal. In fact, quite a few of these superb drawing software offer a realistic simulation of watercolors, oils, pastels, charcoal, and more. Some even let you work in three dimensions, so you can create your own models, apply your own textures and paint effects, and then combine them with 2D sketched elements to create scenes and even print in 3D. While these applications work well with a mouse, they work even more seamlessly with a stylus or touchscreen, as you have direct control over your virtual brushes and pens. All without costing you anything. Some of these tools are designed for serious illustrators, while others are better for keeping children occupied without the mess of real painting. There’s something for everyone – the only limits are your imagination and skill. The best drawing software overall is Adobe Illustrator CC If you're a professional designer or illustrator, there's no beating the industry standard vector editing software. Adobe Illustrator is available as a standalone app, or as part of the Creative Cloud suite along with Photoshop, Lightroom and much more.View Deal. 1. Krita. Top-quality drawing software, completely free for all artists. Specifications. Reasons to buy. Krita is professional-quality drawing software created by a team of artists with the noble aim of putting top-notch creative tools within reach of everyone. You can use Krita for any kind of drawing and illustration, but it's particularly great for comics and manga. There are panel templates, halftone filters, and perspective tools in addition to the usual brushes, fills and pens. Each brush is totally customizable, and you can save your bespoke brushes to use again later. Right-clicking anywhere on the canvas in Krita will bring up a selection wheel that lets you pick a new tool and select a colour in seconds – a system that's much easier than trawling through menus and settings. Krita was created by artists for artists, and it shows in the dozens of thoughtful little touches that make it easier to create great paintings. There are handy drawing aids for creating straight lines, vanishing points and smooth shapes. You also get layers, masks, various transform tools, HDR support, and advanced selection functions. Krita is an incredibly powerful drawing program, and it's yours to download and use completely free. Microsoft Paint. Microsoft began including MS Paint with its operating system decades ago and it's seen a few revisions since. But the original Windows XP version of MS Paint has remained a nostalgic favorite among them all. The particular version of MS Paint is the original version that shipped back with Windows XP and it remains compatible with newer versions of Windows to this day, including Windows 7, 8 and Windows 10 running both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. The main functioning of this primitive graphics editor is pretty basic, including tools like drawing, spray painting, shape creation and fill. You can select between many default colors and add new ones in the menu system. This XP version of MS Paint is great for all people, young and old. Using it is pretty simple whether you're using a mouse and keyboard or a stylus. All in all, go back a bit in time before Microsoft changed things and take a whirl at this classic version of MS Paint! 7 alternatives to Microsoft Paint. Who doesn't know what Paint is? It has been around since you had your first Windows computer. Unfortunately, all those years that passed did not bring that many significant changes to this application. Maybe you have some great memories of using it, but we think it is time to try something new and better. In this article, we share seven free Paint alternatives. They are not real competitors to Adobe Photoshop, for example, but they sure are more powerful than Paint is, and you can do more with them. Let's get started: 1. My Paint. The main problem graphic programs suffer from is that most of them have complicated user interfaces. You are often tangled in many layers of features and windows, and you do not know where to start. My Paint is an excellent alternative due to its simple and minimalistic interface. It has many features, like an extensive collection of brushes that simulate a pencil, charcoal, and ink. You can also use it with graphic tablets to create more professional drawings. The canvas is unlimited, so you never have to resize. Microsoft Paint alternative: MyPaint. 2. Paint.Net. Paint.Net was initially designed as a free replacement for Paint . However, it has grown into one of the most powerful drawing tools on the market. Its user interface is a little bit complicated, but its features are well organized and relatively easy to find. This app was often compared with Adobe Photoshop or Corel Paint Shop Pro thanks to its many diverse tools, functions, and effects. You can use this program for many tasks, like photo editing and image composition. Some plugins are available that add more effects and give you the ability to work with even more types of files. MS Paint alternative: Paint.NET. 3. GIMP. GIMP or The Gnu Image Manipulation Program is one of the most appreciated graphic applications. It can be used as a simple drawing program, an expert photo retouching program, and an image converter. It has an extensive collection of painting tools, like brushes, airbrushes, pencils, clones, and gradients. The size of the canvas is only limited by the space available on your disk. Also, it supports almost every image format, so that's a big plus. Alternative Paint: GIMP. Unfortunately, GIMP does not have an intuitive user interface, so you might struggle finding what you need. In the end, although it can be an excellent alternative to Paint , it might not be the one you like, so make sure to check the other apps from our guide too. 4. Inkscape. Inkscape is not as well-known as the other programs that we share in this article. However, it is suitable if you want to become or already are a web designer, an illustrator, or if you just need an occasional vector image creator or editor. It provides a user-friendly interface with some flexible drawing tools and is compatible with many image file formats. Unlike other free programs, it has a powerful text tool, including an extensive collection of fonts, and lets you shift letters horizontally and vertically. That can be quite convenient when you create a banner, a logo, or a diagram. Inkscape is available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. Paint-like program: Inkscape. Inkscape's main downsid e is that it has a rather steep learning curve, and its user interface is pretty complicated for beginners. 5. Artweaver. Artweaver has a free version and a premium version, Artweaver Plus , which costs about USD 40 (or 34 EUR). As you would expect, not all features are available in the free version. Even so, it is an excellent alternative to Paint . That's because most of the premium tools available in the Plus version are about image editing, not about painting. Artweaver provides standard image painting and image editing tools, such as brushes, fill, gradient, selection tool, crop, and filters. Furthermore, this excellent MS Paint alternative supports plugins, layers, and transparency. Paint alternative: Artweaver. 6. EZ Paint. EZ Paint has been developed with the specific purpose of becoming an alternative to Paint . It features a similar user interface as Microsoft Paint , which means that it is easy to use even by beginners. It includes many different painting tools, 2D and 3D shapes, and textures. While it feels a bit more advanced than Paint , it is ultimately one of the simplest and most user-friendly Paint alternatives we found on the internet. Microsoft Paint alternative: EZ Paint. 7. Fresh Paint. Last but not least, a good Paint alternative is Fresh Paint . It's an app developed by, surprise, Microsoft! Although Fresh Paint isn't supposed to replace the Microsoft Paint app that's present in all Windows operating systems, it can be an alternative for some people. Fresh Paint is an app that's distributed via the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 users. It comes with a simple user interface that supports touch, mouse, and stylus input, letting you draw or paint using pencil, pen, oil, watercolor, and pastel tools. The only real drawback, for us at least, is that Fresh Paint is designed to imitate real-life painting, so it does not have a bucket tool. . Otherwise, it is an excellent MS Paint alternative. Apps like Paint: Fresh Paint (made by Microsoft) What's your favorite Microsoft Paint alternative? If Microsoft's Paint does not meet your image editing needs, it is time to find a better alternative. The choices we listed are the most popular and appreciated drawing programs on the internet. We recommend that you try them and keep the one you prefer installed on your computer. All of them are free, so the only thing to "lose" is a bit of time. After you try them out, please share with us your favorite alternative to Paint . Download MS Paint for PC. Laws concerning the use of this software vary from country to country. 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Paint 3D is an updated and much improved version of Microsoft Paint. It has a collection of brushes, stickers, 2D and 3D shapes, and much more that make it easy to create unique designs. If you want the classic Microsoft Paint, don’t worry, this version also has the same brushes, shapes, and styles for 2D designs, just like the previous version of Paint, which is no longer available for download. Microsoft Paint 3D is compatible with all Windows 10 devices and is 100% free. How to Download and Install Microsoft Paint 3D. Click on the button on the sidebar, and a new tab will take you directly to the Microsoft Paint 3D download page. You’ll have to first click on the Get buttons, and then a dialog box will open, and you have to agree to Open the Microsoft Store. The Microsoft Store will open. If Paint 3D is already installed on your computer, you can click Launch, and it will open. Otherwise, select Install, and it will install on your computer. How to Uninstall Paint 3D. If Paint 3D isn’t the application you need, check the free alternatives below for some more advanced graphic design tools. You can remove Paint 3D from your computer in a few easy steps. Type Add or Remove Programs in the Windows search bar. Scroll through the list of installed applications and programs until you find Paint 3D and click the Uninstall button. Confirm that you want to remove Paint 3D, and Windows will completely delete it for your computer. Microsoft Paint 3D Overview. Thanks to Paint 3D, creating 2D and 3D models have never been easier or more accessible. Easy enough for a user with no background or experience in graphic design but with tools that even a professional designer will use. Not only does Paint 3D have a range of brushes, stickers, and shapes, but you can also get inspiration from 3D models designed by other users. Use 3D text to add the finishing touches to your designs, and then share the project with others. Paint 3D isn’t the most advanced 3D modeling software, but it’s free, fun, and easy to use. User-Friendly Interface. Creating 3D models might sound difficult to create, but Microsoft designed Paint 3D to be as user-friendly as possible. You work with premade cylinders, cones, squares, and circles, or use the drawing tools to illustrate your work. Each image will have a bounding box around it so you can adjust the size and rotational arrows for adjusting the degrees and direction of each item. Additionally, with each tool or shape, you click on, the editing bar on the right will change, showing the different options available for each one. There’s no need to be overwhelmed by all the different options. Microsoft has a lot of tutorials that will help you build up the skills and understand all the different tools. You can also use built-in 3D models to practice your skills, customize it to fit your style, and view it from a different angle. Take Advantage of Community Creations. The Paint 3D community is very active, and many users share their designs publicly. Once you download a design, you’ll have the ability to make any changes or personalizations you want. Combine different elements and help bring your vision to a 3D reality. You can also download hundreds of stickers, which can be used to decorate your 3D models. All stickers will automatically wrap themselves around the 3D model, and if you add your paint or draw on, the sticker will be applied to the edges, completing the 3D look. Additionally, you can create any model you want by using the basic 3D objects available. You can even let your creative instincts run wild by drawing a 3D doodle, which is actually a 2D drawing that you create, add depth to, or inflate like a balloon. The artistic options are endless with Paint 3D. Mixed Reality. One of the best features that Paint 3D has is similar to Augmented Reality (AR), called Mixed Reality. Paint 3D will turn on your webcam and add your design onto the screen so you can see how it looks in your environment. You can adjust the size and location of where the model is on your screen, which can help you gain perspective of the size, colors, and anything else. If you’re not happy with how it looks, make changes in the editor, and they’ll appear in the Mixed Reality view as well. More Than Just 3D. While the main focus of the Paint 3D is 3D designs, it also includes complete tools for making 2D images, similar to the original Paint program. You can make 2D designs with a range of brush styles, effects, and text styles. Choose the type of brush, such as a calligraphy pen, brush, spray can, or paint bucket, select the color and thickness and get creative. Free Alternatives. GIMP : A free, open-source photo editing software with 3D editing capabilities, GIMP is a much more intense program than Paint 3D but has many of the same tools plus much more. From creating your own images to cropping, retouching, and resizing images, GIMP can pretty much do it all. The software also has text tools with all the major fonts and styling options, so your creations look exactly how you want it. SketchUp : A software used by students and professionals alike, SketchUp is perfect for creating 3D designs. Build models to scale, rotate them 360 degrees, change the texture, colors, and much more. You can download a free trial of SketchUp and start designing today. ?Is Microsoft Paint 3D free? Yes, Paint 3D is 100% free. Don’t fall for any tricks or scams on other websites where they try and sell you an “unlimited version” of the program. Follow the steps above and only download Paint 3D from the official Microsoft Store. ?Is Microsoft Paint 3D a good 3D Modeling program? It’s important to have reasonable expectations when you start using Paint 3D. After all, it is a free program and doesn’t have the selection of editing tools that come with Adobe Photoshop or the architecture level tools of SketchUp Pro. That being said, it’s a fun program to play with, and once you get the hang of the tools, you can create high-quality 3D models. ?Can I create transparent backgrounds with Microsoft Paint 3D? There are a few methods that can be used to remove backgrounds from images. The best option is to use the magic wand to isolate the image and then drag it onto a white background. The next step is to take the white background to make it transparent. ?Can I create 3D animations with Microsoft Paint 3D? Yes! With Paint 3D, you can save your creations in a variety of formats, including as an MP4 or GIF, and then animate both the 2D and 3D models.