Free Art Tools
(for broke digital artists)
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1.  Sorry, Mac owners.  The majority of the tools listed are for Windows only, and I did not review Mac-only (or Linux-only) tools.
2.  I've invested in a nice Wacom drawing tablet.  A tablet makes using almost all of these programs a lot easier, and if you're just getting into digital art you should definitely consider investing in one.  If you're broke, ask for one for your birthday!
3.  My credentials?  My general background is in traditional art (see the rest of the site), but I have broken into digital work during the past year or so.  There are many digital artists out there far more practiced than I, and I do not profess to be the most accomplished or experienced of the lot.
4.  I don't like trial versions.  All of the programs listed are either freeware or shareware, with no expirations or feature limitations.
5.  I do not cover everything.  Most of these programs can do many different things, and I am obviously only giving a brief overview of each tool.  I also realize that there may be some free programs out there that I did not acquire, but I tried to pick the best ones!
6.  Copyright Notice.  These programs are copyrighted to their respective owners and creators.  I have taken screenshots of the tools' interfaces, but the interface designs belong to the parties listed on the adjacent company/organization websites.

Also, a disclaimer:  I recognize that what I may see as a strength may just as readily appear to be a weakness to someone else, and vice versa.  It also goes without saying that the tools themselves are vastly different from one another in many cases, and that I am reviewing programs that are not intended to all function the same.  I am listing them numerically based on my feelings of the overall utility of the program, but this may not necessarily mean that #2 is better than #1 at the same things (for instance).  All of these programs are "good," which is why I am including them in this review.  Here they are:

Project Dogwaffle 1.2 is the younger cousin of the newest, $89 version of PD known as PD Pro Digital Painter.  Videos of the tool in action along with some of the reviews I've read make the $89 program sound promising, but the entry level version appears to be somewhat empty by comparison. 

I was definitely pretty impressed with the variety of brush options.  There are also many, many toolbars that can be opened that are not shown on screen in the above image.  Unfortunately, the barrage of toolbars and customization windows cause the interface and navigation to be frustratingly complex.  You can only work on one image at a time, too, which is a big inconvenience if you have any plans to copy/paste or even to sample colors from an existing image.  The program comes with an "animation" tool that I have not not used at the time of writing this review.

Although it is an interesting tool to paint with, I have to believe the functionality and interface have been much improved upon in the latest, paid version of the program.  Nevertheless, since no two painting programs function exactly the same, the flavor Project Dogwaffle offers is still certainly worth a taste.

9.  Microsoft Paint

As anyone who as ever touched a Windows computer can attest to, MS Paint has quite the legacy.  Over the years, it has provided graphics for many a grade school science project, Valentine's Day card and internet meme, and it is universally recognized by both hobbyists and nostalgia-lovers alike as the cheap, golden tool of image manipulation.  Where does it rate on the scale of "serious" editing tools?  That probably depends on who you ask.

Personally, I have always chosen MS Paint first as my favorite tool for pixel art and for creating tiny graphics.  I created this site's favicon in MS Paint, for instance.  It is also a fun tool to experiment with if you want to resize something and keep its pixilated appearance.  I did a comic a while back that required scaling some invented video game sprites up and down, which MS Paint handled perfectly because it didn't blur out the edges on anything.   Many artists embrace MS Paint as a challenge, while others enjoy the simplicity it provides.  If I could change just one thing about MS Paint, it would be the palette.  I would much rather have a color wheel present at all times to make palette customization easier.

I am absolutely serious when I say that I enjoy MS Paint as a tool, and that it does have a legitimate place in the long lineup of available art programs, paid and unpaid. Some more "serious" digital artists can burn me for that if they would like, but MS Paint has never tried to be anything more than it is.  And for what it is, it does a fine job.

8.  Pixia

Pixia originates from Japan, and some of the English language in the tool is translated bizarrely.  The the visual parts of the interface are somewhat awkward as well, and they feel crowded and a tad archaic.  Several times while trying to test different tools, my layer turned "transparent" for reasons I didn't entirely understand (I think this is how the tool denotes selections).  I have to applaud the developers for obviously keeping in mind the fact that their program would be translated into so many languages (11, to be exact), but I think a little bit more visual clarity could have really pushed this program to the next level. 

Despite the issues I have with the interface, Pixia actually boasts quite a number of impressive features.  The blending tool has a buttery smooth feel to it which is very satisfying.  The rest of the tools are diverse, if not a little confusing, and the addition of layers and .psd compatibility are nice bonuses.  The palette is great for tweaking colors around, but it unfortunately does not provide an easy visual reference for unsaturated colors.

All things said, Pixia has a lot of ups and a lot of downs, but I recommend a download for anyone with a little patience to learn the interface.

7.  Paint.net

Although the program is not overly complex, the thoughtful addition of inch/cm canvas measurements, layers, a history tool, transparencies, and a large number of additional drawing/editing toolbars are all well-implemented and decided improvements over Paint.  In addition to all of this, there is a large forum community for Paint.net through their official website offering support, image galleries, and plug-ins.  I have never tried any of the plug-ins, so I cannot remark on their effectiveness. 

Not everything about Paint.net is perfect.  The layers are handy, but their options are limited and they can only be preserved when the file is saved as a .pdn, or Paint.net file type, which cannot be opened in any of the other programs on this list.  I DO know that there is a plug-in for opening/saving Windows icons (.ico) and Windows cursor (.cur) files, so other file types may be available as well. 

Paint.net's brush tool is unfortunately very one-dimensional, but since Paint.net is not really designed to emulate painting (ironically), the lack of brush options feels intentional and therefore acceptable.  The available brush is very receptive to tablet pressure sensitivity, and it does not lag at all.  As a last comment, I feel like Paint.net could have been built in such a way to handle text a lot better than it does.

All around, Paint.net does a pretty good job.  Still, I would argue that most of the other tools on this list are an improvement over any individual feature of Paint.net in some way.

6.  Artweaver

The Artweaver interface has the look of a "fancy" art program.  It's smooth and easy to navigate, and it feels expensive.  The brushes are customizable, the gradients seem decent, and there are plenty of layer options to choose from.  There aren't too many file types supported, but it DOES support Photoshop (.psd) files, which is pretty neat.  The palette feels deluxe, and Artweaver gives you the ability to save large custom palettes.

Despite all its promise, Artweaver loses major points due to some serious issues with what I am going to call "brush lag."  The brushes are choppy and lag behind my pen tip in a significant way, meaning I can't imagine actually trying to do any kind of inking, painting, or even touch-up work with the painting or drawing tools.  Some of the "special effects" types of brushes that don't require perfect hand-eye coordination anyway are interesting, but they aren't good enough to hold the painting part of the program up on their own.  The program is doing a lot right, but the choppiness is a huge mark against Artweaver's overall usefulness.  I have high hopes for Artweaver, and I eagerly await the next version to see if some of the issues get solved. 

Note:  There is a chance that the "brush lag" issue may be limited to my system.  If anyone has better luck with this, let me know.

5. Google Picasa

Picasa offers an efficient way to adjust photos, and a great searchable interface to make finding and viewing images a snap.  I can definitely respect the power Picasa might offer others more inclined to photography than I am, since I would definitely say this qualifies as a photo manipulation tool (and I am not known to take many pictures).

There are quite a nice range of image effects available in Picasa, but my favorite part of the program is the interface.  You do not have to be a photographer to appreciate the effectiveness and placement of the search function, and the viewing window is flawless.  The slideshow mode is simple, yet elegant.  I love the fact that you can add searchable tags to images, since sometimes file names are not all-inclusive.   

Overall, writing this review made me realize that I should use Picasa more often.  It really caters to the side of me that wants to keep my art and photos hyper-organized.

4. IrfanView

This is a very simple program, but it's one that that I have been using reliably for several years.  Anything that I want scanned goes through this program first.  It is also a great tool for cropping and resizing, and it has a gigantic library of file types it can open and save as.  The transparency selection tool is rudimentary but effective, especially for proportionally small files such as icons or small .gifs.  The program is also capable of slideshows and it is a great, fast image viewer.  If you are going to download it, I also recommend downloading the plug-ins.  It only takes 5 seconds, meaning here's just no reason not to.

This tool is certainly a far cry from being a full image editor, but it's where most of my projects start and end.  I scan in my pencils, darken them up and resize them if necessary, do all of my drawing in other programs, then bring the image back to make any last size adjustments and to save it as an appropriate file type.  IrfanView is easy on my computer's memory, and only takes a fraction of a second to load.  As an added bonus, IrfanView now opens video and Photoshop files as well.

My only qualms with the program are that it can only undo once, that the "Save" function is almost identical to "Save As" (which is more of a slight inconvenience than a glaring flaw), and that it doesn't give any kind of warning when closing the program about saving work.  With all of the upsides this program offers, however, its downsides are trivial.

3. openCanvas (version 1.1)

I have been using openCanvas 1.1 for about a year now, and it is absolutely my favorite free painting program available.  In fact, it trumps a lot of paid painting programs that I have tried.  Like Pixia, openCanvas is a Japanese program that has been translated into English, but with a much crisper interface.  Note that if you are installing it for the first time, you'll need to follow the instructions listed on the site in order to turn on the English captions.

Language is not generally needed anyway, however, since most of oC's interface is visually obvious and requires no words at all to navigate and manipulate.  The pen and watercolor tools are a little confusing to customize with no prior instruction, but they are quite intuitive once that initial hurdle is jumped.  This is a great program for inking and painting, and I've created many of the pieces on this site with oC.  The program is hugely popular among speed-painters, digital illustrators, and comic artists, and although I have yet to try the newest paid version of this program, it is apparently quite good as well.  An illustrator worth checking out is Ben, a fellow War for Arcadia artist, who uses oC 1.1 for nearly all of his impressive drawings.

Something else that is neat about openCanvas is the program's ability to export event files, which essentially relay all previous actions of a drawing as an animation (if you have tried the graffiti application on Facebook, event files are similar to graffiti's "replay" function).  You can also use Hamachi to connect multiple users to oC, allowing said users to all draw on a single canvas at the same time.

What openCanvas lacks are some selection tools (it has none), some different file type support, and more advanced layer options.  Sadly, it also does not record many undos and there is no redo function at all.

Note:  Portalgraphics.net has issued a statement that they will cease sale of the English paid version of openCanvas by July 31st.  If you are enamored enough with the free version to try the paid one, buy it now before you run out of time!

2. The GIMP (version 2.6)

Although my previous GIMP expeditions have produced nothing but frustration on astronomical levels, I re-downloaded the program recently and was pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of the kinks of older versions have finally been worked out. 

One thing that I think 2.6 improves on drastically from earlier versions of GIMP is the interface.  It's still not perfect, but GIMP used to be hellish to navigate and I commend the developers on finally figuring that out.  I have successfully executed a project I am quite happy with in GIMP, and I think there may be some merit to some peoples' claims that GIMP is (or will be) the first real open-source Photoshop clone.  I would still probably use oC for most of my painting needs, but GIMP covers nearly everything else.  You win this round, GIMP.  Don't go changin'.

1. Google SketchUp