Digital art is rapidly evolving due to the various tools or applications that are being introduced by various companies. There are lots of digital painting software tools online and you can choose the best one which suits your need. Some of the best Digital Art Software tools are mentioned here in this article. These Digital Art Software tools come with all the necessary features which allow.
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Digital art software gets better and better each year.
The right software can help you paint faster and feel better about your artwork. Each program handles brush strokes and color blending differently, and the price tags vary from expensive to free.
- If you can't find what you're looking for here, our best digital art software and best 3D modelling software posts have lots of great options too, we've also got a roundup of the best places to find free vector art, and you could also check out our list of the best video editing apps. Free graphic design software: Vector art 01. Gravit Designer.
- Besides, this free digital art software works smoothly with layers, contains tools for drawing post-processing and provides a high level of detail. Read more how to fix Wacom tablet lagging. It is interesting that initially Krita was developed as a drawing tool, but now the program can boast of many additional functions for editing ready-made.
- The more I look around the more impressed I get with free art software. It seems like the open source movement really has grown rapidly with no end in sight. OpenToonz is a very nice open source program for storyboarding.
- Chasys Draw IES is a free image manipulation software, which can be used to draw digital paintings. Apart from image editing, it lets you draw on canvas of custom dimensions. Use paint brush, pen, and pencil tools to draw with various types of stroke to give different effects. Stroke size can be changed for detailed painting.
Adobe Photoshop still reigns supreme as an all-round industry standard for digital artists. Yet there’s always new software coming out to compete against Adobe’s throne.
Choosing your art software is no longer about the biggest features, but rather finding an application that suits your specific needs as an artist.
Beginners who just want to practice are better off choosing a free program compared to professionals who want to learn software for an industry job. If your goal is to work for a game studio as a concept artist then you’ll probably have a different set of goals.
In this post we’ll take an in-depth look at 7 of the most popular programs for digital drawing & painting by comparing their features and seeing how they stack up.
But if you’re in a hurry here’s a quick overview to help you decide:
- Professional Choice: Adobe Photoshop
- Free Choice: Krita
- Budget Choice: Clip Studio Paint
If you need a bit more info on these programs just keep reading.
Adobe Photoshop
Price: $9.99/mo
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Adobe Photoshop is the most popular and widely used software for digital art.
It’s feature-heavy, regularly updated, and you can use it to create everything from concept thumbnails to comic book pages or even photobashed pieces.
Photoshop started as an image-editing program for photographers. Over time it slowly became a staple for many other industries, digital art included.
With this software you have a huge variety of painting tools, brushes, filters, plugins, and layer styles.
It’s an industry standard for all digital artists across the entertainment industry because it just works. If you want a career in video games, animation, feature films, or any general production studio, knowledge of Photoshop goes a long way.
The learning curve is pretty steep here. If you are a beginner you may feel overwhelmed by all the options and get lost in technical aspects of the program. But once you’ve learned the basics, your imagination is the limit!
You can do anything in whatever style you choose and edit photos to boot!
![Free Artist Software Free Artist Software](https://storybird.s3.amazonaws.com/artwork/PaolaZakimi/full/hedgehog.jpeg)
Being the most popular software for creatives artists, there’s a mass of Photoshop tutorials available online. Adobe even released a series of up-to-date free tutorials which will take you from beginner to expert level.
If you ever have a problem or question on anything, a quick Google search will get you a video answer or helpful forum post.
Concept artists like Photoshop’s custom brushes and often create their own. Detailed layer settings, regular updates, and a sleek user interface are the driving force behind Photoshop’s continued popularity.
You can rotate your canvas naturally to mimic the rotation of paper. And you can setup grids and rulers for complex scenes, or even bring in 3D objects to paint over. PSD files(Photoshop’s native file format) play well with other Adobe programs and this file type is an industry standard.
That means you can import PSDs into almost any other art software without a hitch. GIMP and Krita both accept PSD files along with many other programs.
This is why many artists combine Photoshop with other painting software. Depending on the workflow you’re going for you could do your concept and lineart in something like Clip Studio Paint, then bring it to Photoshop for coloring and final touch-ups.
Other digital art software doesn’t try to replace Photoshop but instead tries to improve on the interface for specific types of art(ex: comics, storyboards, environment paintings, etc).
Once you’ve signed up for a Creative Cloud membership you get a free, non-conditional seven-day trial version of Photoshop. This offer applies to Adobe’s other software as well. If you like Photoshop and want to buy it, there are four purchase plans to choose from.
The cheapest is the Photographers package which is $9.99(only available annually) and it includes Lightroom CC. If you want to buy a monthly plan you can get Photoshop for $29.99 a month.
If you want to go the extra mile and get the rest of Adobe’s software, the entire suite costs $74.99 monthly(or annual for $49.99 p/m).
Bonus Tip: Students 13 years and older get a 60% discount on the full Adobe suite plan!
People love Photoshop for its versatility and wealth of free knowledge online. Adobe has thrown millions of dollars into development so Photoshop isn’t going anywhere.
It’s a solid, professional choice for aspiring digital artists and concept artists.
Corel Painter
Price: $350
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Corel Painter is characterized by painterly brush strokes and a traditional artist’s feel to the interface.
Painter is for artists who love loose, messy brushwork and want to capture the beauty of traditional mediums on a digital canvas. It comes standard with 900 brushes covering every possible situation you could imagine.
As you might guess from the name, Corel Painter is focused on painting. But this should be great for artists who only want software to draw or paint digitally.
It has a 2.5D brush toolset that mimics real-world brushes giving you full control over the final “style” of your work.
Painter has been a serious alternative to Photoshop for several years and is the company always listens to user requests. They’ve been working hard to add new features every year and have added a bunch of artist-suggested tools into their latest release.
For example, some users complained of UI sensitivity and slow response times. Those issues were fixed with the 2019 version along with an entire UI design overhaul.
Icons were redesigned to be more intuitive and the interface was changed to a darker theme.
Among all the new features with that version, the most celebrated was the pinned color wheel.
You can position the color wheel wherever you like on the screen giving an instant look at color options without swatches. This spectral feature means you can work in detail without the circular brush icon obscuring your view.
In Painter’s web series “Paint like Bob Ross” you can learn how to paint digital landscapes in 30 minutes using their brushes—a great introduction to conceptualizing landscapes for beginners.
The software is feature heavy and beginners might still feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of brush options and settings. But Corel is worth learning because it is another trusted industry staple among character designers, concept artists, and visual development artists.
Free Artist Software For Windows
Corel Painter has been around since 1992 and you can find an extensive library of free tutorials on their website. Or if you search on YouTube I’m sure you can find plenty of free tutorials there as well.
You won’t find as many resources compared to Photoshop. But Corel Painter is still a beast in the concept art world, or just the digital painting world in general, making it an awesome choice for hobbyists or newbies just picking up digital art for the first time.
As of this writing, a brand new copy of Corel Painter costs $350 making it an expensive once-off purchase. Although you can get a free 30-day trial to demo the software and see if it’s right for you.
Krita
Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
Krita is a free open source digital painting program designed for cartoonists, illustrators, concept artists, and pretty much all digital artists.
The software was initially developed as a general image editing competitor to Photoshop but focused their efforts on digital painting starting in 2009. The Krita community donates monthly to the software efforts helping it to stay free and funding development of new features
If you have a background in some other digital art software(Photoshop for example) then Krita’s tools will be a little familiar and a little not-so-familiar.
Whether you’re switching or just getting into Krita it’s worth the time to watch a few tutorials to find out how everything works.
Krita hasn’t released many official tutorial videos but they have created detailed documentation online. If it’s your first venture into digital art then start off learning about the basic UI and toolsets.
Use the pop-up pallet to select your brushes, erasers, and colors intuitively. All other tools are stored in the panels to the left and right. Krita supports PSD files so that you can switch between Photoshop and Krita with ease.
And there’s a ton of freebies online like free brush packs that mimic everything from charcoal to watercolors and so much more. The beauty of Krita is the free price tag and the immensely supportive community around this software.
Krita has been criticized by some professional artists for its lag, seemingly unintuitive design, and uneven brush softness. Although the criticism has merit, the program’s core features work well and you will learn them with practice.
Also worth noting this has to be the absolute best choice for anyone on a Linux machine. Photoshop does not support Linux outside of a virtual emulator but Krita can run natively in any Linux distro.
This is a huge +1 for Krita since it’s really the best digital painting alternative for our Linux & Unix friends.
If you don’t have the cash to burn on digital art programs Krita is the perfect choice.
Use the program while you save up some money to grab another program. Or just stick with Krita and use it free for life! Many professional artists like David Revoy create all of their work with Krita and their stuff looks amazing.
Best thing about Krita is that it’s simple for beginners to learn and it doesn’t confuse you with a ton features or fancy tools. Krita’s purpose is digital painting and that’s precisely what it does well.
Clip Studio Paint
Price: $49
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Clip Studio Paint is the most popular software for creating comics and manga artwork.
Clip Studio Paint was originally named Manga Studio but changed names in 2013. It originated in Japan as specialist software for manga, illustration, and animators.
The program has long been a worldwide affordable alternative to Photoshop for digital artists but got more recognition with the name change.
The most notable drawing difference between Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop is the brush tool. In Clip Studio the brush tool instantly corrects any minor wobble you make while drawing on a tablet, leaving you with smooth clean linework.
Clip Studio is optimized for comic book creation and has various tools to speed up the process.
A canvas layout tool makes paneling quick with perspective rulers and a library of predefined formats. The pen tool lets you to work in a versatile vector format which means your creations can be scalable without quality loss.
In the most recent release there’s a new library of 3D objects and posable models. This is useful for concept artists who like to use references to get poses down quickly.
You can drop in a 3D model, pose it using an intuitive joint system, change the camera angle, make the character fat or thin, and choose between genders. After you’ve drawn over it you can use that same model’s shading as a reference for lighting.
Then when you’re done just delete it. Easy-peasy.
With CSP your art will always have a crisp digital finish as the software doesn’t strive for a traditional look. Although it’s possible to give your brush strokes a blended texture using brushes, Clip Studio Paint is not designed to mimic traditional mediums.
The standard version of Clip Studio Paint also comes with some very basic animation features. You can quickly test character movement over 24 frames without the annoyance of switching programs. But this is not really the best software for animation so it works best in conjunction with other programs for that purpose.
Now Clip Studio Paint comes in two versions: PRO(standard) and EX(full-featured).
Unless you’re planning on putting all of your projects through Clip Studio Paint and creating various manga & comic books, you’ll probably be happy with the PRO version. The EX edition has only a few extra features that would benefit expert users.
EX lets you save manga & comic pages in a ‘book’ which acts like one editable file. You can then bulk save them for printing which shaves off a ton of time and organizational effort.
The animation feature also gets an upgrade with EX and you can create an unlimited number of frames(instead of the standard 24).
EX comes with filters for 3D assets too turning them black and white for easier integration into your scenes.
Generally speaking, the PRO version is the same and EX minus the above features. It’s unlikely you’ll need those features as a digital painter or concept artist. Only serious comic and manga artists would find the EX features useful.
Try out either version with a free 30-day trial of both PRO and EX versions. If you don’t like it then just move on. The free version does give plenty to toy with so you’ll know whether you like CSP or don’t.
And it’s worth mentioning that the PRO edition is an affordable option at only $49 flat fee, while EX comes at a premium of $219.
Although sometimes you can get CSP at a discounted rate from annual sales so keep checking their prices.
GIMP
Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
GIMP is another open source program built as a free Photoshop alternative.
Back when computer graphics were slowly becoming “a thing” it was up to software developers to create graphics for companies. With Photoshop costing a lot more back then, buying it was out of the budget for many companies.
GIMP was built to fill the need for a cheaper option to digital imaging editing software.
Unlike other free digital art software, GIMP was designed to be a full replacement for Photoshop. This means you can use it for digital painting but it’s really meant for graphic design, photo editing, text effects, and similar features.
Likewise this program has all the tools you need for digital art. If you are looking for Photoshop’s functionality without the price tag you’ll be happy to with GIMP’s default functionality.
If you know a little about software development you can also add to GIMP’s code by creating your own plugins for the system. But the default setup is more than enough for artists.
Many versions of GIMP have been released over the years, but their team of volunteers hasn’t been able to keep up with the sheer financial power of Adobe. The user interface is definitely unrefined and will be very confusing to beginners.
There are loads of GIMP tutorials created by their loyal users and there’s enough content to help you learn everything you need about the software.
Although GIMP doesn’t have a dedicated support team to answer your questions, many issues are well documented on various forums and you’ll be able to troubleshoot a solution with a few Google searches.
The painting tools are reasonable, although in my opinion Krita is a stronger option if you just need painting.
Granted you can find plenty of free GIMP brushes all made for digital drawing & painting.
But really this software is the best all-round alternative to Photoshop. If you see yourself doing a bit of design work, some painting, and some photo editing, try out GIMP and see what you think.
ArtRage
![Free Artist Software Free Artist Software](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6b/Star_Wars_The_Empire_Strikes_Back_NES_cover.jpg)
Price: $79
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Platforms: Mac, Windows
ArtRage is a digital painting powerhouse that’s perfect for traditional artists moving digital and for existing professional artists.
Unlike other digital art programs, ArtRage has stepped away from the complicated user interface and ditched the blocky side panels. They want your focus on the canvas creating great work.
When you open the program you’ll find a semi-circular brush picker on the bottom left of the screen and a color picker on the bottom right. Both give you immediate access to the most important tools.
Small “pods” containing extra options hover just above the circles, minimizing extra clutter.
After you’ve picked your color and brush you can start drawing on the canvas. The UI automatically disappears(although this setting is optional) and without the UI you get a full screen canvas to work on without any distractions. Pretty cool!
If you’ve never used digital painting software before then ArtRage is fantastic. It’s beginner friendly and super affordable.
You can start off slow, familiarizing yourself with the various brushes, and slowly work your way up to painting full scenes and character designs.
If you are coming from Photoshop you’ll find the minimalist layout refreshing and easy to pick up. The brush presets are so good that you don’t need to waste time adjusting them much at all.
One of ArtRage’s most exciting features is called “real color blending”. It calculates realistic color mixing as you paint and it’s useful for digital painting in an oil or watercolor style.
If you want to try your hand at digital painting for the first time, this software will hold your hand and take you from hobbyist to professional if you put in the effort.
It doesn’t have all the gadgets and gizmos that some prominent art programs have, but it’s got all you need to make fun paintings(and a little extra).
ArtRage is budget software and friendly to those getting started. You can also use the demo version for an unlimited amount of time. The demo doesn’t let you save anything, which of course is a drag, but you can use that to familiarize yourself with the program.
If you decide you want the full version it costs $79 and you’ll receive all future updates included with your license.
If that sounds a bit expensive you could go for ArtRage Lite which is only $29.90. The lite version is great for beginners and includes all the painting features of the full version.
Think of this much like Krita but aimed for simplicity. It’s cheap enough that you could run ArtRage for life and it’s certainly refreshing when you come from a big bulky art program.
Paint Tool SAI
Price: $49
Platforms: Windows
Platforms: Windows
Lastly on this list is Paint Tool SAI: a simple painting program that’s exceptionally popular among anime & manga artists.
Paint Tool SAI was first released in 2008 to a wave of popularity. It quickly spread among the art community who loved the clean brush strokes and unique interface.
SAI is a small, old program and has not been significantly updated over the years. It only runs on windows and has a limited set of features.
That being said, it’s aged remarkably well and is easy for beginners to pick up.
Many artists use SAI to achieve a digital watercolor effect where the blending modes can mimic watercolor, but the overall feel is smooth and sleek. Others use it primarily for lineart, or for creating a ton of anime.
You’ll find that Japanese artists almost exclusively use SAI for their artwork. It’s a very popular choice in Japan, likely because this software was originally developed by the Japanese Systemax Software.
SAI’s learning curve is minimal and if you’re coming from Photoshop you’ll pick it up almost instantly. It’s still very detailed though and great to use as a sketching program.
Use the pencil brush to get realistic sketches down on a textured canvas. Then switch over to brushes and color your line art to completion.
Now there are some minor limitations like that new projects are limited to 256 layers per canvas. It’s also known to slow down with larger file sizes and glitch when trying to preview .gifs in the explorer window.
They also have a weird system of brushes where you can import textures to merge with brush styles and create totally new brushes. I haven’t mastered this setup but you can find a ton of textures in this post with dozens of free brush assets for SAI users.
SAI is a Japanese program and is priced in JPY(Japanese Yen). It costs ¥5400 which roughly equates to $49.
Compared to other software on this list, SAI is a tad on the pricier side considering the last update was in 2016.
Small complaints aside, considering the price tag and the anime-centric fanbase I’d say SAI is an awesome choice for anime lovers the world over.
Get started using SAI by following some easy beginner tutorials on painting in the program. If you put in the time you’ll be a pro within a few weeks.
A fantastic program for anyone serious about anime-style art or any kind of digital painting. Biggest downside is you’ll have to be a Windows user.
Although if I had to cast a vote for the absolute best digital painting software, that title falls with Photoshop.
Here’s hoping even more digital art software comes out in the next 10 years and gives some stiff competition to Adobe’s reign.
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From action scenes to snappy dialogue, everything can be captured in a great storyboard.
The entertainment industry needs quality storyboard artists and those artists need great software. If you search around you’ll find plenty of options but they each have a range of features, benefits, and prices(some free!)
So what kind of software is best for storyboarding? And which programs offer the best features to support your creative projects?
I’ll go through all the best options in this post and get you started on the path to magnificent digital storyboards.
Storyboarder
Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
The team at Wonder Unit has developed some really cool stuff for filmmakers. One of their coolest projects is Storyboarder, a free app made for visualizing stories.
This runs on all 3 major operating systems and it’s 100% free to download and use forever. At that price who can complain?
I’d think if you’re a newbie to storyboarding then you’d want to save money at every turn. That is why Storyboarder makes such a great choice for beginners who need a simple application to practice their boards.
From a single screen you can draw each shot, add dialogue/stage directions, and even port the entire thing into Adobe Photoshop if you need a larger toolset.
Also Storyboarder comes with a play feature so you can demo your boards in a slideshow preview much like a real animatic for animation.
An excellent program for presenting to clients, or just for mucking around and practicing on your own. And you can’t beat that price tag.
Toon Boom Storyboard Pro
Price: $60/mo or $999 one-time fee
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Looking at the complete opposite of free we’ll find Toon Boom Storyboard Pro. To my knowledge this is the most expensive storyboarding software on the market and it’s also the industry standard.
A good majority of studios use Toon Boom for boarding & animating so this is something you may want to learn if you want to break into the industry.
Now with that said, it does offer a cheaper monthly fee that most people could afford compared to the upfront cost.
This monthly fee gives you a chance to test the waters and see what you think of Toon Boom without committing to a massive single use license.
So what exactly does this program give you?
Really it’s a combo of both sketching and animating together. It’s a way to sketch your boards and see how they’d animate, all while tracking your script to make sure your scenes are on target.
Toon Boom is definitely more of an animator’s program.
It can work well for ad agencies or for board artists doing small skits. But the Story Flow tool makes it a breeze for writers to switch between board & script to follow each sequence, each scene, and each act.
You can also create dynamic camera movements along with some experimental 3D features that work nicely for 3D animators. Easily import scripts from Final Draft or export your layered panels for Photoshop. Plenty of support across all the typical art industry programs.
To put it bluntly: Toon Boom Storyboard is really the professional’s program. It is not necessary to buy this in order to create a pro-level board. However it would be worth learning if you want to work in animation someday.
Adobe Photoshop
Price: $9.99/mo
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Good ol’ Photoshop.
It’s been around for 20+ years and I don’t see it going away anytime soon.
Although isn’t it funny how much Photoshop gets used for other things besides photo editing? We see it used for digital painting, pixel art, and of course for storyboarding.
You can draw digitally just as well in PS as you can in other programs. In fact, I’d argue there’s even more support now with tons of brushes for the PS environment.
Not to mention all the free storyboard templates you can get in PSD format specifically for Photoshop.
I don’t think there’s much to say about this program because every artist knows about it already.
The biggest downside is the lack of support for Linux users.
But in general Photoshop is well-supported and managed by a trusted brand. Not to mention if you already use Photoshop for digital painting then you’ll know how to use it for boarding.
Storyboard Fountain
Price: Free
Platforms: Mac
Platforms: Mac
Storyboard Fountain is a newer program that I found just recently. It’s exclusive to MacOS only so it’s not an option for Windows or Linux users.
That said, if you do wanna give it a shot you’ll be impressed.
You can download the program totally free of charge from the main website. It’s currently in beta so there are many features still being worked out and smaller bugs in the process.
Once it does reach its v1.0 release I think it’ll stay free because the entire project is on GitHub. This means the source code is freely available and I doubt the creators would end up charging for it.
I really like the interface and the sidebar flow works incredibly well at presenting scenes in a linear fashion. You can quickly spot scenes that need work and rearrange them without messing up the rest of the story.
Take a peek at their preview video to see this software in action.
Considering it’s limited to Mac users this will have a smaller audience. But I’m really pleased with the GUI and the many complex features of Storyboard Fountain—especially given the $0 price.
Boords
Price: $12-$24/mo
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
Online SaaS products are quickly becoming “the norm” for software. I don’t think desktop programs will go away but we are seeing more web-based programs like Boords that offer great solutions.
Download Free Instant Artist Software
Boords works as a native storyboarding platform that gives you tons of free templates and collaboration tools.
If you’re working with clients they can log into your project space and drop comments on the work right from their computer.
You can also setup team accounts with multiple users if you’re working on a group project.
Boords has flexible frame sizes, tons of free templates, and a really cool animatic tool for presenting your storyboards before animating.
The monthly price is definitely affordable and this can work on every major operating system. Not many programs can offer this much functionality for so cheap.
Anyone looking for a collaborative solution should check out Boords. It may not suit your needs but it does offer a free trial period to see if you like it or not.
FrameForge
Price: $199
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Typically I see FrameForge referenced more in the live action world. It’s still a great program but may not be the #1 choice for animators.
Still, the art of storyboarding is not explicitly for animation. Plenty of marketing agencies need storyboards for commercials or small teaser videos. Same goes for complex movie scenes or indie filmmakers.
The nice thing with FrameForge is that you can work just like any other program, but with a heavier focus on the script.
It supports importing from the most common script writing programs like FadeIn and Final Draft. Plus you can easily jump back & forth between scenes to get an overview of the whole story.
I’d recommend this program more for artists with an interest in directing and cinematography.
It’s also fantastic for indie artists or aspiring filmmakers who want to get a new project off the ground without a huge budget.
Prolost Boardo for After Effects
Price: $29
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Platforms: Mac, Windows
So this isn’t technically a piece of software, but rather a complex add-on to the Adobe After Effects program.
Yet I think Prolost Boardo still belongs in this list because it almost feels like its own program. Not to mention plenty of TV & film artists will know the After Effects interface so it’s one of the best programs to work with.
This add-on lets you easily tilt, pan, zoom, and handle many other camera directions with a few presets. And you have the power of After Effects to alter anything else you place on the screen.
Add life to your boards with shaking motions and export everything into one final animatic, all from AE. Pretty cool!
This add-on does cost money but it’s a one-time fee of $29. That does not include the price of the After Effects software but if you already have a license for that you won’t need to worry.
Clip Studio Paint
Price: $49
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Many artists use Clip Studio Paint for drawing their comics and custom manga pages. These work well because CSP has tools that help you structure pages with boxes in a comic-esque style.
This also works nicely for storyboards since they take on a very similar look.
You can design a CSP template page and use that many times over to design your storyboards quickly. Or you could download a PSD template and import that into the software.
We recently covered a bunch of tutorials on Clip Studio Paint and it’s pretty easy to learn if you already do some digital artwork.
It also comes at a reasonable price considering it’s one of the better digital drawing/painting programs out there.
Will this work for everyone? Probably not.
But I do think it’s a viable option similar to Photoshop where you have one piece of software that gives you everything you need: drawing, painting, sketching, and boarding.
StoryboardThat
Price: $9.99/mo
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
I want to include Storyboard That even though it’s not made specifically for artists.
This free web-based program is made for quick informative boards and organizing stories fast. It does not directly support drawing beyond their pre-existing library of graphics.
Or at least, I didn’t see a way to draw judging from their free plan. To use this program you’d need to pay a monthly fee and that grants you unlimited boards with far nicer tools.
All that said I’d like to restate that I do not think this works well for animators. At least not in the serious scripting phase.
Use this more for planning compositions quickly or just getting ideas down. Even if you don’t have any artistic ability, Storyboard That can work well.
But I’d really recommend this program for anyone designing webcomics or small tidbits of visual information in a frame-by-frame format.
Certainly a nice program for marketing agencies or anyone working with an ad company that requires storyboards.
OpenToonz
Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Platforms: Mac, Windows
The more I look around the more impressed I get with free art software. It seems like the open source movement really has grown rapidly with no end in sight.
OpenToonz is a very nice open source program for storyboarding.
I still personally like Storyboard Fountain a little more if we’re talking about free options, but with OpenToonz you can run Mac or Windows which is nice.
The software is based on an original 2D drawing program Toonz which was used and customized by Studio Ghibli. OpenToonz is the free open source alternative to that.
It’s still under active development but it does have a lot of neat features. I specifically like the visual story mapping that lets you connect different scenes together and organize your storyline in a flow chart.
With that said, I do think the painting features need some work. OpenToonz doesn’t even come close to a powerhouse like Photoshop in regards to digital painting so it may not suit all your needs.
But for a free program it works very well. Especially if you’re just sketching boards and organizing a small story from scratch.
Krita
Price: Free
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
Totally free, open source, and surrounded by a loving community of artists. What more could you ask for?
Krita has to be the fastest-growing open source painting program on the market. It’s got hundreds of free brushes along with tons of handy tutorials for beginners to learn the ropes.
That said, Krita is not really a storyboarding program. It’s a digital drawing & painting program.
But here’s why Krita makes the list: it’s totally free and easy to learn!
Many storyboard artists like to draw or paint their work in color. And most storyboard artists enjoy just being artists, whether that’s drawing their own characters or doing some digital paintings for fun.
Krita lets you do all of this from one program with one set of tools, all at no charge.
And it runs on every operating system so there’s plenty of support for everyone. If your drawing tablet has working drivers you’re good to go.
As of this writing I have not found any Krita storyboard templates that match the dozens of PSD templates out there. But you can export a PSD into a PDF file and import that into Krita yourself.
Not the simplest option but it’s a great way to bring templates into a Krita workflow.
In general I’m a huge fan of Krita and really do recommend giving this a try if you need a free painting program. This software will be around for years and it’s only getting better with time.
Plot
Price: $10/mo
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
Plot makes visual storytelling super easy. For $10/mo you get unlimited boards, unlimited projects, and unlimited add-on users.
It’s basically the web-based equivalent of a beginner’s storyboarding app with some nice features that apply to animators too.
With this program you can run any operating system and still get access to a drawing pane. This way you can easily draw your frames and import them directly to your project, along with added dialogue and stage directions.
Since the app is visual you can easily change scenes just by clicking and dragging different pieces around the page. Easy peasy.
I also think the collaboration features are exquisite and far beyond other programs of this price range. Free simple photo editing software for windows 10.
Now if you can work out your drawings in a desktop program you’ll definitely have more control. Then you can always import those drawings into Plot and organize them accordingly. This way you’ve still got collaboration features with very detailed drawings all managed online.
You can try Plot’s free demo if you visit the homepage and click “create free storyboard”. Might be worth a quick test run.
Mischief
Price: $25
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Platforms: Mac, Windows
Mischief is custom art software made for drawing and sketching. You can find out more on their homepage and in this piece published by ArtStation.
Suffice it to say this program is pretty darn cool. It is not designed explicitly for storyboarding, however it is designed for continuous drawing and rough sketching without excessive tools getting in the way.
Because of its simplicity you can easily dive into Mischief and start boarding ideas fast. Almost no learning curve here.
I’d consider Mischief more of an idea program for artists. This is the best way to get your ideas down onto a page and see how they work in visual form.
No messing with templates or worrying about formalities. Also this program has a really cool feature infinite canvas which lets you just keep drawing onwards into infinity.
Your boards may feel a bit messy in this format but you won’t be hindered by any square borders or edges on the page. Keep on drawing to your heart’s content and get those ideas down!
Best of all Mischief offers two plans: one totally free with limited features and a pro upgrade for $25.
Creative Bloq published a review of this program if you wanna check out their opinion. But really it’s just a neat drawing program without limits on your creativity.
TVPaint
Price: $600
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, Android
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, Android
TVPaint is a fairly common program within the entertainment industry. However it does not have the same market share as Toon Boom so it’s not as well known or as powerful(in my opinion).
Yet many animators do enjoy TVPaint including veteran Disney animator Aaron Blaise. He publishes online art courses for animators and most of them feature TVPaint.
This program is incredibly versatile and it works exceptionally well for storyboarding. It can also be used as a true-blue animation program just like Adobe Animate or Toon Boom Animate.
Anyone who wants to do professional storyboarding would do well with TVPaint’s many awesome features geared towards boarding & animatic creation.
So why is this so far down on the list?
Mostly it’s an issue of price. For the same $600 you could basically buy Toon Boom which is, in my opinion, more powerful and a preferred choice in the animation world.
Yes there are major differences between the two programs and TVPaint does feel more like a “complete” animation package. It’s just tough to justify the price considering there are so many alternatives, even with limited features.
Now TVPaint still made the list and for good reason. It’s a great piece of software! So it’s totally worth checking out if you’ve got the scratch or if you like what you see on their website.
If you’re interested in serious 2D animation work or professional storyboarding then it’s worth looking into TVPaint. But if you’re a newbie to storyboarding I wouldn’t make this your first choice.
Mac remote access software. Absolute newbies would do better with free programs like Storyboarder, Storyboard Fountain, or even Krita if you can find some templates.
And no matter what stage you’re at with storyboarding I guarantee there’s a program in this list that’ll fit your needs.