Top Free Digital Art Software for creatives in 2021-Nftically

6 min readSep 7, 2021

As the saying goes, there’s an artist inside all of us. But, not every inner artist can afford a hundred dollars worth of Digital Art Software. Keeping in mind everything the beginning of this decade brought upon humanity, art has saved so many of us. When covid-19 hit, museums and galleries were the first places to shut down to maintain social distancing. Since then, art and artists have shifted to the digital art space. Being stuck at home has made us recognize how art can truly bring life around us. So for that inner artist of yours, we have curated a list of the digital art software for 2021 creatives.

Learning new digital software can influence your illustrations and drawing style. It is a great opportunity to master new tools and techniques that advance your creative process. Apps today come with a plethora of tools and often, an entire artistic warehouse built-in to capture unique styles. However, that doesn’t mean every platform will be easy to use or perfect for your needs. Therefore, free-of-cost programs are a great way to discover what works best for you before investing in a paid software. Otherwise, you can choose always just stick with the free apps afterward. Chances are, you will receive way more than you’ll ever end up using.

Krita

Krita has been one of the best free digital art software available to the artist community since 2004, and it has come a long way. The software has an incredibly intuitive and customizable interface that is ideal for both experts and amateurs. You can stack things around according to your own pace and even move panels to form a custom workspace. Krita offers over 100 preloaded professionally designed brushes (for example, pencils, watercolors, inkers, etc.). Paired with 9 unique brush engines, for instance, color smudge and shape. The strokes can be further extended and customized for genuine blending options and adjustments. Krita allows you to import brushes from other artists to expand your brush library, and the wrap-around tool lets you create seamless textures and patterns.

The app also has built-in vector tools to help create comic panels. It has brilliant software response to the speed of drawing and the pressure of the pen. Layer management is smooth and editing tools, such as maks and filters. One can smoothly draw illustrations and create concept art on the platform. Krita can even open PSD files that photoshop sometimes struggles with.

To sum up, Krita is easily a favorite, loved by artists in all stages. For those facing issues, the app offers insightful tutorials to guide you through the functions.

Platform supported:

Windows (8.1 version or higher)
MacOS 10.12 and higher)
Linux

Inkscape

Inkscape is the free opponent version of Adobe Illustrator. It offers all the vector graphic editing software tools and options Illustrator does. Moreover, the interface can easily handle complex drawings comprised of multiple objects. The digital art software offers several features such as object creation via pen, pencils, clones, calligraphy, and more. It supports object manipulation and illustration customization using path operational tools. Fill and stroke using the color selector, pattern fills, and gradient editor is supported.

The app upholds texts including multi-line sentences, letter spacing, kerning, and so on. Inkscape offers multiple rendering options, such as anti-aliased display, and alpha transparency support for the display.

Since it is open-source and cross-platform, a graphic created today can be easily saved in SVG format and opened again years later in an updated version. Apart from SVG, Inkscape allows other formats, namely PNG, EPS, sk1, PDF, DXF. PostScript export, etc.

Platform supported:

Windows (Windows 7 and higher).
MacOS (10.11–10.15 versions).
Linux

MediBang Paint Pro

The best part about MediBang apart from its impressive customizable 50 brush collection is that it is free yet zero ads pop up here and there. By the way, you can sync those brushes across other devices, as well. This digital art software is a beginner classic due to its spacious and organized interface that is notably user-friendly. MediBang Paint also includes a transparent guide for all artists to walk them through the functions.

If you’re into creating comic book illustrations, this is perfect for you. While, the comic planes and snap lines draw lines, curves, and perspectives. The platform also allows you to save all pages of your new project into one single file. Drawing here is a natural process without interruptions as related tools getting triggered due to the contextual interface.

Platform supported:

Windows (7, 8/8.1, 10).
MacOS (10.9–10.13 versions).
iOS (11.0 or later).
Android.

Honorable Mentions

Artweaver

The interface is intuitive and adjustable, and its powerful core uses hardware to its maximum. Artweaver features a mighty set of brushes with customization options and an expanded themes library. This digital art software also lets you replay the painting process, and even work together with other artists over the internet.

Platform supported:

MyPaint

MyPaint comes with versatile brush engines, distraction-free tools, and an easy to create brush system. The interface is decluttered in the fullscreen mode, giving the artist more space for imagination.

Platform supported:

GIMP

GIMP allows interference through third-party plugins. Hence, it is convenient to load anything missing on the platform directly. Other key features include photo enhancement, hardware support, digital retouching, and incredible file format support.

Platform supported:

Windows (Windows 7 and above).
MacOS ( 10.9 Mavericks and above).
Linux

Conclusion

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